Flogas supplies the boost for the 'Great Hop'

Sponsored by Flogas Ireland, on Sunday 10 February, arthritis sufferer Geoff Davis and his fiancé Carol O'Neill (pictured) took to the skies in a hot air balloon for the first-ever 'Great Hop', in aid of Arthritis Ireland and the Mater Hospital Rheumatology Unit. Their mission, which raised over €5,000, was to fly a one-man, hot air balloon from sunrise to sunset, a feat which according to Geoff, has never been attempted before.

Said Geoff Davis, "I am an arthritis sufferer and this flight is my way of saying thank you to the two organisations for the help they have given me since I came over to Ireland a few years ago."

The balloon can only fly for around an hour because it can only carry one tank of gas, so Geoff and Carol each took turns to fly, changing gas cylinders along the way. Flogas supplied the several hundred litres of liquid gas needed for the attempt and a crew of family and friends provided the vital backup support on the day.

Continued Geoff, "We had a few close calls during the day, one of which was when Carol landed in a real quagmire of a field near Ballyjamesduff and got saturated before the crew could reach her. I myself was dragged across a field near Oldcastle when landing. Any one of these could have resulted in the end of the mission but thanks to our fantastic crew, we were able to continue the attempt."

Geoff and Carol managed to stay aloft for almost 7 hours, lifting off from the outskirts of Navan Co Meath and landing close to Ballyconnell in Co. Cavan.

Said Eoin O'Flynn of Flogas, "We were delighted to have been involved in such a noteworthy event and our sincere congratulations to Geoff and Carol and their team for their hard work and effort in raising much needed funds for these two very worthy causes."

Its not too late to sponsor Geoff and Carol's courageous adventure – http://sponsorme.arthritisireland.ie.