Tom's friends raised €11,000 in Oz cycle

A FUNDRAISING cycle in aid of Tom Eustace, the young Castlemore man who sustained serious injuries while attending a friend’s wedding in Rome in early June, was a great success.

James Connolly, a childhood friend of Tom’s and organiser of the 100km Sydney cycle, told The Nationalist: “It went really well and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.” Friends and former teammates set off from the Opera House at sunrise, cycling south to Wollongong, through the Royal National Park. James said they were lucky with the weather, “apart from the wind for the last 30km or so”.

Former Carlow County footballer, Éire Óg’s Eoghan Ruth, travelled from Melbourne to take part, with other friends flying in from Brisbane and Perth to participate. James, who has known Tom since their primary school days, said the cycle raised almost €11,000. He also paid tribute to friends Eoghan and Ryan, who “had to book additional flights because theirs were cancelled with the Microsoft outage, but they made a big effort”.

Tom travelled home to Ireland earlier this month and is continuing his recovery in a spinal ward at a Dublin hospital. He took to social media recently to thank his friends, family and community for their outpouring of support.