15 October 2009 Edition

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Séamus McElwain Challenge Walk

IRA Volunteer Séamus McElwain

IRA Volunteer Séamus McElwain

THE Séamus McElwain Challenge Walk will take place this year on the Cuilcagh Mountains on Sunday 1 November.
Séamus McElwain was an IRA Volunteer from Scotstown, County Monaghan. At the age of 18, Séamus joined the IRA and rose through the ranks to become one of the most influential guerrilla fighters of the IRA campaign.
Imprisoned in 1981, he was to play a key role in the mass escape from Long Kesh two years later. Seamus was one of the escapees who managed to evade arrest and, shortly afterwards, he was back on active service along the border.
During his active service in the border counties, he walked many miles, including the Cuilcagh Mountains. He continued to play a part in the armed struggle until his untimely death at the hands of the British Army’s notorious undercover SAS near Roslea, County Fermanagh, in 1986.
In January 1993, an inquest jury returned a verdict that Séamus had been unlawfully killed. The jury ruled that the SAS squad had opened fire without giving Séamus a chance to surrender and that he was actually shot dead five minutes after being wounded.
The Séamus McElwain Challenge Walk on the Cuilcagh Mountains is a joint fund-raising event by Sinn Féin’s Fermanagh Comhairle Ceanntair and Cúge Uladh.
The challenge walk, to be held on 1 November, will begin at the Bellavally Gap and finish at the Shannon Pot in Glangevlin, County Cavan, covering an approximate distance of or 14 kilometeres.

Four-person teams must raise £50 or €50 per person sponsorship to enter.
Contacts:    Stephen: 07536032718. E-mail: [email protected]
    Marita: 00353861548988. E-mail: [email protected]
    Sean: 0759504920. E-mail: [email protected]


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