Legendary kayaker and MND campaigner Adrian Harkin dies at home surrounded by family

It was only six short weeks ago that Adrian embarked on what was the biggest challenge of his life – organising an all-island adventure to raise money for MND research, a disease that had robbed him of so much. Accompanied by his youngest daughter Jessica in a double kayak, Adrian was able to make the journey from Greencastle on the Inishowen Peninsula to Moville, where he ran Inish Adventures – an outdoor adventure centre on the shores of Lough Foyle.

He knew on that sunny April day when dozens of his friends joined him in the water and on the shore that it would be his last paddle, his last day on the water, the place where he was most at home.

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Two years ago Adrian’s worst fears were realised when something that began with a slight tremor in his hand was diagnosed as MND.

In a very short space of time, he went from being the fittest of men to being in a wheelchair, being peg fed and communicating with friends and family with an eye gaze computer.

No longer able to get out on the water, he turned his attention to trying to raise money for research into MND, coming up with the summit2sea4mnd which saw every section of the Irish coastline paddled with the summit of each county climbed in one day. To date over €100,000 has been raised with money still coming in.

Adrian was not only a world class kayaker, he was also a champion swimmer. If he wasn’t in a kayak on the water, he was in the water swimming across the small bay in front of Inish Adventures in Moville.

Kayaking brought him around the world and around the country. Pride of place in his home is the photograph of the nose of a kayak floating in a big expanse of calm, blue water. It was taken on one of his many trips to Norway where he paddled the fjords.

Growing up in Derry, he’d fallen in love with the River Foyle when he’d started fishing along it, building shelter and fire when he was just 12 years-old. It fostered a life-long love of the outdoors, of camping and of adventure.

For those of us who had the privilege of swimming with him, it was as if he possessed super power and he would always be the first to a destination wondering what kept the rest of us when we finally made it.

Like the British rugby league legend and fellow MND campaigner Rob Burrow, who urged people not to waste a moment of their lives, Adrian’s message was for people to live every day as if it was their last.

Adrian’s funeral will take place on Saturday. He is survived by his wife Sharon, his daughters Jessica and Kayleigh, his step children Ryan and Leanne, his seven grandchildren and many friends.