Donncha Cuttriss crosses the finish line after cycling up St Patrick’s Hill 100 times. Picture: Larry Cummins

Cycling up and down St Patrick’s Hill 100 times will go down in Cork history, supporters of endurance athlete Donncha Cuttriss have said.
The Mayfield man completed the gruelling challenge in less than six and a half hours on Sunday.
In doing so he has helped raise more than €2,000 for Mayfield Action on Suicide but, more importantly, has helped raise awareness of the wider issue of suicide and mental health.
Starting at 10am yesterday morning, Donncha carried out the feat without taking a break, eating and drinking at the top of the hill.
As he neared the end of the challenge, the crowds got larger and larger and there were hundreds of supporters gathered on the hill to cheer him on.
Speaking this morning Donncha said: that with the amount of negativity around at the moment it was great to do something positive. “The crowd was just amazing. You are so used to going out on long-distance cycles on your own so it was great to have people cheering me on. The last five laps were tough but the crowd helped me,” he said.
A humble Donncha said people face much tougher obstacles in their daily lives.
“There are people getting over things in their lives that are a lot harder than what I was doing today. They inspire me,” he said.
Darren O’Connell of Mayfield Action on Suicide said Donncha’s achievement would become part of Cork legend.
“It will be up there with Mick Barry throwing the road bowl over the Chetwynd viaduct,” he said.
“What he said after the challenge about the difficulties people face in their daily lives was really inspiring,” Darren added.
The St Patrick’s Hill Cycle may now become an annual event, and may form part of The Gathering next year.