THREE adventure-hungry young professionals are driving 10,000km from Cork to Georgia to raise money for charity and have one hell of a good time.

Maeve and Eoghan Carroll and Mark Walsh are driving a 1.2l Honda Jazz across Europe, with a detour through Turkey and Iran, along the Russian border to Georgia.

The trio are taking part in the Mongol Rally, created by The Adventurists. The rally was originally supposed to go to Mongolia, but was unable to travel across Ukraine because of the Russian invasion.

Speaking to The Echo, Maeve said that after two years of the pandemic the three of them have decided life is too short and they want to have an experience to remember.

The group are fundraising for the Irish Community Air Ambulance, and have already raised in excess of €2,000.

Maeve said local businesses have been extremely supportive of their expedition.

“Suit Distributors have offered to give us two tickets to the Man Utd vs Brighton match on Sunday, August 7 in Old Trafford,” she said. “The winners will also be suited up for the game by the business in award-winning Jack Doyle casual clothing range.”

Suit Distributors weren’t the only business to help out, with Automania giving tyres and a roof rack, Carey’s Tools providing tools to keep the car going, and Keyfast providing a spare key for the car.

Maeve said they are hoping to keep the car going themselves.

“Mark is a mechanical engineer and Eoghan was taught to look after cars by our dad; he would be fairly handy with cars.”

The Fry paid for camping gear for the trio, who will be sleeping rough on their long trip.

Maeve said the rally officially begins in Prague on July 16 and they have three weeks to complete it, getting to their destination by August 6.

“We would love to be able to drive the car all the way back again; we are not sure if we will manage it, but we would love to try,” Maeve said. 

“We have to be back for August 20, as Eoghan has a wedding: His best friend is getting married!”

Maeve said her and Eoghan’s mom, Rosemary, is a “bag of nerves” about the trip.

“We lost our dad three years ago. That is another reason we want to go: His anniversary is coming up. We wanted to do something big.”

The trio’s campaign is open for donations on gofundme.com.