Monaghan man reverses trailer nearly 70km in aid of charity

Monaghan firefighter Aaron Corley has reversed a Massey Ferguson 7620 and a trailer roughly 68.8km to raise money for Make-A-Wish Ireland and LA519.

Despite not driving a tractor in over two years, the challenge didn’t prove too difficult for Corley, who described himself as “born with a steering wheel in my hand”.

Corley beat the existing Guinness World Record for reversing a tractor and trailer at the 45km line; however, for the Monaghan man it was always about the charities.

“The idea started from a friend I lost to suicide and I wanted to do something that way, so that’s why the local charity LA519 came to mind.

“The charity was set up by parents who lost their son, Luke Aughey, to suicide after exams, he passed away in May 2019.

“I also work with kids all the time, so I wanted to do something for the kids too, and that’s where Make-A-Wish came into it,” Corley explained.

The drive

Corley had a long history of driving tractors before he was a firefighter, and had even owned his own for “a little wee while”.

“It was just something I came up with and then I said why not do it the length of the county?

“I had a great committee here on board with me, and that’s the way I went from there (from attempting the world record to crossing Co. Monaghan).

“I didn’t really think it was going to be as big as it was, but it turned out very large,” Corley said.

He mentioned that he had to place a tracker in the tractor for the Guinness World Records so that they could pinpoint the exact length of his journey.

Corley undertook the Reverse and Raise challenge to raise funds for LA519 Light Giver and Make-A-Wish Ireland with help from his sponsors, LA Gymnastics and Universal Graphics. Source: Reverse and Raise Facebook

He had driven the distance a couple of days before the trip and it had come back as 68.8km.

Corley took five breaks during his drive, stopping in every town and village he passed along the way.

“We did a bucket collection in each of the towns, and to be honest, I was making too much time as well, so the breaks, we had to take breaks to kind of make up the time.

“We started at 7:00a.m and we were back here in Clones at 3:00p.m, but all in all, I think we could have done it in about three and-a-half hours.

“We were five hours, 40 minutes on the tractor reversing, but there [were] two of the stops that didn’t stop the tractor, which didn’t register it as a stop then.

Corley avoided doing a forward manoeuvre throughout the drive, but when he parked up in Smithborough, a couple of cars pulled in right behind him.

“I didn’t want to do them [forward manoeuvres] and I didn’t have to do them, so I said ‘you’re going to have to move’ to the cars tight behind me.”

Local fire services got on board with the fundraiser, escorting Corley through Monaghan.

“We got Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Monaghan and Clones.

“Each one did as far as they could go, to each boundary, and then at the end there was a bit of a surprise for me, there [were] about 60 or 70 bikes escorting me down the last wee bit,” he said.

Corley was surprised at the level of support he received from the very start, saying “the further we got, the fuller the towns got”, describing Clones as “wedged” with people.

Future for Corley

Corley has no future plans of undertaking any such challenges again.

“It was a once-off thing I wanted to do, with losing a friend and that, and I had a wee bit of a rough spell myself.

“I’ve gotten through that and that’s why I wanted to make it so hard, to show people that no matter how hard something is, there’s always light at the other end of the tunnel and it’s always doable”.

Corley expressed how thankful he was for the support of everyone who helped out with the event, including his sponsors, LA Gymnastics and Universal Graphics.

The Massey Ferguson 7620 and trailer that firefighter Aaron Corley reversed for the record-breaking challenge

He also outlined that he was “blown away” by people’s generosity having rais