Cycle Against Suicide
One of the largest cycling events of the year departs Belfast for Dungannon on day four of the cycle
IN A BID to break the cycle of suicide in Northern Ireland, hundreds of cyclists today, 1st May, departed Belfast for Dungannon on day four of Cycle Against Suicide’s annual 10-day cycle event.
The cycle, which commenced on Saturday 28th April in Dublin, has already travelled 230 kilometres and today’s leg from Hazelwood Integrated College in North Belfast to St. Patrick’s College in Dungannon will be almost 90kms. The cycle will then visit Cookstown, Omagh and Irvinestown before returning to Dublin via counties Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Leitrim and Longford.
With over 1,000 cyclists taking part, the 10-day event across Northern Ireland and Ireland helps to break down the cycle of suicide. Cycle Against Suicide is an initiative to raise awareness of the help and support networks that are available to people across Ireland that are battling depression, self-harm, at risk of suicide or those bereaved by suicide.
Each year, Cycle Against Suicide brings together cyclists with different backgrounds and stories to help break the cycle of suicide in Ireland. Since 2013, the event has seen over 15,000 cyclists take to the roads to help spread the message that ‘It’s OK not to feel OK; and It’s absolutely OK to ask for help’.
Official statistics released by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) last year (14 November 2017) showed that 297 people’s deaths were registered due to suicide in 2016, with males accounting for approximately three quarters of all suicides (74 per cent).
The power of the cycle and its message is something that brings families, communities, organisations, schools, individuals and cyclists of all abilities together with a common purpose of ending the cycle of suicide in Ireland today.
Cycle Against Suicide 2018 is running from Saturday, 28 April 2018 – Monday, 7 May 2018.
