Susan in her kayak
Local schoolteacher Susan Honan is celebrating after kayaking 1,600km around the island of Ireland with her friend Sonja Ewen.
Honan, a teacher in St Mary’s College, is one of only a handful of women including solo kayaker Elaine ‘Shooter’ Alexander to complete the circumnavigation challenge around seven weeks after she and Ewen set off from Carne beach on 7 June.
Not all of the days in between were spent on the water, as poor weather forced them on land at Slyne Head, Arklow and the Blackwater.
But the duo made up for lost time with some epic 65km paddling days, all in aid of youth counselling service Headstrong, a cause close to the Wexford native’s heart.
Honan and Ewen aren’t the only ones to complete the round-Ireland challenge in recent days, as Cork team Jon Hynes and Sean Cahill paddled into Kinsale to complete their own kayaking adventure after six weeks at sea.
Hynes and Cahill set off from Kinsale on 16 June, and according to Balls.ie they relied “solely on their own skills and equipment to cope in unpredictable Irish weather and windy conditions”.
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