FOUR employees of Sykes in Shannon are to take part in the Mongol Rally, in which they will drive between 10,000 and 15,000 miles this summer, making their way to the capital of Mongolia, Ulan Bator.

The group have christened themselves Exploding Marmalade and it consists of Mark Cunningham from Mullagh, John Moriarty of Kerry, Portugese native Pedro Ribeiro and Paul Concannon of Roscommon.
They will be raising money for two charities. The first is the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, which works to help underprivileged children at risk of economic or sexual exploitation and the second is Mercy Corps, which is a team of 3,700 professionals that seek to turn crisis into opportunity for millions around the world.
If certain targets are met, Exploding Marmalade may seek to aid other charities.
Mark said he expects the trip to be ‘the adventure of a lifetime’ and he’s looking forward to it.
“We’ll be leaving Ireland on July 23 and during the route we expect to go through 15 countries. You can take as long as you need, but it’ll probably be about four weeks and we’ll cover between 10 and 15,000 miles.”
The group is currently looking for sponsorship for their vehicle and for donations from the public. To make a contribution visit www.explodingmarmalade.com.