4 Man crew from Belfast and Wexford set record rowing coast of Ireland
They have etch their names in the history books by embarking on a world-record journey, rowing 800 miles around the Island of Ireland.
Last updated 28th Jul 2024
A 4-man crew from Belfast and Wexford have etch their names in the history books by embarking on a world-record journey, rowing 800 miles around the Island of Ireland.
The row started and finished at Bangor Marina.
The row was entirely unsupported, meaning that all food and equipment for the entire expedition was on the boat with them.
The team was made up of four friends, Jack Norris, Aidan O'Reilly, Ciaran Breslin and Ryan Davin.
The money raised is going to two charities that tackle suicide, Pieta and PIPS. The rowers want to make a difference in the realm of mental health and suicide prevention.
The team has spent three years, fundraising, planning, and saving to make this dream a reality.
Front man Jack Norris said: “We had to get a weather guy to look over the last 10/20 years of weather data to figure out if it’s even possible to attempt something like this. We spent the last sort of year on the rowing machine in the gym. When we go out there, we are rowing for two hours on, two hours off, 24 hours a day… so it’s incredibly demanding physically.”
Aidan O’Reilly said: “We didn’t get off the boat, we didn’t touch land, we didn’t accept anything from other boats, even when we were offered beers! We were confined to the whole space of our tiny boat.”
He went on to say although there was a lot of tough times, there were some real highlights: “Some of the sunrises we seen were like nothing else. I remember coming round the corner in Dingle and Ryan and I see this little dolphin come up and this big orange sun coming over the horizon just lighting everything up. You just get to see the country from a whole different perspective.”
Ciaran Breslin said: “While we’re trying something new and groundbreaking, we thought we could raise some awareness and money for accouple of great charities, Pieta House and PIPS.”
Due to the ‘chaotic’ summer the country has had so far… the expedition, which was meant to take two/three weeks, ended up taking four weeks and five days.
He went onto say: “Being stuck on anchor for seven days in a very confined space you find yourselves going mad, that’s definitely the hardest part of the expedition because you can train, you can be tired, you can sleep, but when you’re confined to a small space, that’s something you can’t really train for. It was a really hard mental challenge.”
The four men said they helped each other through the hardest times out on the water, and it was extremely emotional landing back at Bangor Marina after almost five weeks.
Ryan Davin said: “You haven’t seen anyone apart from these three faces and then you see everyone! It’s overwhelming,”
They wanted to give a huge thanks to their sponsor ‘Forward Emphasis International’ for helping to make the mission happen, and to all the 250 club members who helped them get over their fundraising line. They also thanked Rural Wi-Fi for providing them with Wi-Fi throughout the trip.