Two former professional Connacht rugby players are undertaking an all-Ireland car trek this weekend in aid of autism.
Peter Bracken (Tullamore RFC, Connacht, Wasps, Ireland A ) and Mikey Smyth (Terenure RFC, Connacht ) will travel the 32 counties on Saturday and Sunday in a fully electric VW ID4 car, while also having "a bit of fun, song, and craic".
The pair will be on FB live from their respective Facebook pages, Peter Bracken and Mikey Smyth Music throughout the weekend as they sing a county song when entering each county.
Mickey, now a professional musician, will be doing the singing and Peter, who will be doing most of the driving, says "nobody wants to hear me sing so I’ll spare people that torture”.
.
The men will be joined by a special guest singer from Offaly - "well known to be fair" - as they pass through the county.
Theo pair are starting from Mikey’s house in Dublin nd heading straight towards the Faithful County - by about 10/11am ish.
"It depends how excited Mikey gets in his singing," says Peter. "He’s known to keep playing passed a schedule."
"The whole intention is to have some craic without over planning it. It’s a bit like waiting for a delivery and they give you a four-hour window when the delivery driver will arrive.
"We’ll head from Uibh Fhaili towards The Deise across then to the Rebel county up passed the Kingdom, on towards the Banner county and eventually an over night stay in Mayo. On Sunday morning we’ll set off inwards towards Cavan, then up to Donegal, around the size counties and then back down towards a finish in the Pale."
Peter, who is a advocate of green energy, says the trip is not race.
.
"We’ll be charging the car and our bellies as we go. We’ll go with the flow, see where things take us. We’ll give people a few hours’ notice of an estimated time of arrival to different counties, exactly where we’ll be as we’re traveling. If anyone wants to meet us, sing a song with us, they are more than welcome. All social distance protocols will be adhered to."
Connolly Motors in Ballina, Co Mayo has given the duo the car for their trip - a new all-electric SUV.
