Paddle Board Challenge for Mark Millar in support of Home-Start

On Wednesday February 23rd local dad Mark Millar set out to raise awareness and funds for family support charity, Home-Start Causeway through his paddle board challenge. Home-Start co-ordinates a team of over 35 volunteers who support families in Coleraine, Ballymoney and Moyle council areas. Support is given to families experiencing post-natal depression; isolation; bereavement; disability of parent or child; multiple birth; or who are just finding parenting challenging. Mark succeeded in a sponsored long distance paddle on the River Bann. Paddling 55Km from Toome to Coleraine, Mark made the journey on a stand-up paddle board completing the paddle in 6 hours 5 minutes. The River Bann is a popular venue for water sport enthusiasts. However, this method of travel is unusual over this long stretch of water. Mark is no novice and prepared carefully for this new challenge. Close friend Al Mennie, big wave surfer, provided safety back-up with the support of 'Starboard'who provided advice, safety equipment and further publicity for the event. Mark set off to Toome early at 5.30am on Wednesday February 23rd. He completed the full 55Km in a marathon session completing in well under 18 hours. In fact his paddle time was 6 hours 5 minutes. Weather conditions, unpredictable at any time of year, provided additional challenges during training and the event itself had to be postponed from the original date of Dec. We would like to thank Mark for completing this unusual challenge for the benefit of the families suppported by Home-Start Causeway.