"Stand back and watch this - that's what we say when we're gonna do something stupid."
Three cousins from West Waterford are setting off on the trip of a lifetime on July 1st - raising vital funds for local mental health charities in doing so.
Ryan, Jack and Cillian O'Connor from Cappoquin are cycling from Amsterdam to Athens this summer - taking in the wonders of Europe, with plenty of laughs, pints and arguments expected along the way.
The cousins are determined to do something for their local community, as they feel that the stigma attached to depression and associated issues needs to be better highlighted.
Teaming up with Donnchadh Mulcahy and the West Waterford Suicide Prevention and Support Group - the trio have already raised €3,400 and are hoping the efforts of their excursions will be felt on the ground.
Cillian O'Connor explained to us how the cycle came about:
"Jack and Ryan were off in Florida and they gave me a ring saying, we have to come up with an idea. Are you up for a cycle? I said absolutely yeah. I was thinking we might cycle the length of Ireland. We might do something crazy like that. Then they said to me, we'll go the length of Europe. I said that's a great idea! So it kind of grew from there. We said then, if we're doing something like this, we might as well do it for charity. We kind of picked on a charity that kind of resonates with a lot of people from home and everybody really. A lot of people have been affected by suicide - so we said it's a perfect charity for the cycle."
Ryan and Jack O'Connor said it's fantastic to be able to do something mad with your cousins, have the craic while doing so and raise much-needed funds.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I want to do this. I've wanted to do this sort of thing for years now. Ever since we put it public, anytime we go out, we're meeting somebody - you're going cycling across Europe, most of them are shaking their heads like we're eejits, but they're right, like we are eejits and most of them know we're eejits anyway!".
Plans are in place for the group to take in Eindhoven, before crossing to Germany, working their way down hitting Cologne before heading on down into Munich and across Austria to Innsbruck.
"From Innsbruck, we'll go down to Lake Garda then in Italy, cycling the whole, well, not the whole length of Italy, a good length of Italy, we're going to ferry it across to Croatia, and then Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and to finish off in Greece."
Jack, Ryan and Cillian enjoying their radio debut with WLR.
"Inspiration and raising money - that's what Stand Back and Watch This is all about. The cycling itself could inspire people to say - look, I'm not trapped. There's nothing to say that I can't just take off and do something. Like, we're just taking off. We've worked for a couple of months, we've saved up our money and we're just taking off. So it just kind of shows people that if you feel like doing something, just do it - don't be staying in the one spot going to the one pub every weekend - just take off!".
To hear the full interview with the O'Connors ahead of their continental cycle, tune into The Last Leg with Jordan Norris from 6pm on Monday, June 24th - if you miss it live, the interview will be available afterwards in our podcast section.
To donate to Stand Back and Watch This - click here.
For the latest Waterford News and Sport, tune into WLR News on the hour and download the WLR app for news on demand.
