Paul Gleeson Tori Holmes



Daring Atlantic rowing challenge for Corbally man
23 April 2005
WHATEVER star he was born under let’s hope it will prove to be a guiding light when 26-year-old Paul Gleeson from Corbally and his Canadian girlfriend, Tori Holmes, set off in their boat, the Christina to row 3,000 nautical miles across the Atlantic. Yes, we are talking rowing here, and we are talking about a young man who readily admits that he is no seafarer. And he says that until he made the momentous decision to embark on this voyage, he didn’t even possess any worthwhile knowledge of boats, trade winds or navigation.
But scheduled to dip their oars in an ocean rowing race from the Canary Islands on November 27, Paul and Tori will now be competing with 47 other teams. They intend to use the event to raise their target sum of 250,000 euro for the Third World Agency, Concern. The voyage. they predict, could take anything from two to over three months. From now until November the adventurous couple, who work in Dublin, are steeped in preparation for the rowing feat. But what, one wonders motivates this cheerful, optimistic and undoubtedly courageous young Limerick man to undertake such a potentially dangerous and hugely demanding challenge? He modestly reminds me that in 2003 he completed a cycle across Australia however. The charity cycle was from Perth to Sydney and raised 400,000 euro for the Australian charity, World Vision. It was while he was in Australia that he met Tori whose grandparents come from Waterford. A graduate in Business Studies from the University of Limerick, Paul was keenly interested in sports since his early school days and later went on to play rugby with Old Crescent. "I’ve always been into fitness and played some golf as do my mother and father - Dad is deeply involved with Limerick County Golf Club in Ballysimon. "After my first job with Price Waterhouse Cooper I went into the broader financial advice sector but always wanted to travel. With two pals, Bevan Cantrell and Ray Neiland, I went to New Zealand and Australia for a few months before heading on by myself to South Africa and then heading home.” With the wander lust taken care of for a while, how come he hit on the idea to row across the Atlantic and how did that go down with his parents, girlfriend and family? "I was sitting in the Locke Bar with an old classmate of mine, Shane O’Neill, with whom I’d done a lot of cross-country running. He had heard of the organised rowing race across the Atlantic and put it to me, just like that, that we go for it. "Initially the idea was to go for a team of four, but for various reasons that didn’t happen but by then the idea had caught hold and I couldn’t let it go. What happened next is that Tori decided she wanted to join me in a team of two.” What was his and Tori’s parents’ reaction? "They were totally against it - my parents were horrified and I can fully understand why. They stayed that way for a long time but at the moment they appear to be resigned to the idea. Tori’s parents were not too happy either . . . " Not at all daunted that neither he nor Tori had ever rowed a boat before, this intrepid pair determined to set about rectifying that and embarked on an intensive training round that includes rowing, a sea survival course, a first aid course, an intensive Ocean Master Course which covers navigation, weather forecasting, navigation plotting, as well as collision regulations - all these courses are through the Royal Yachting Association. The only other Irish entrants to ever contest the organised race were Carlow brothers, Eamon and Peter Kavanagh, who came fifth out of an entry of 30 participants in 1997. On hearing of Paul and Tori’s decision to race, the Kavanagh brothers magnanimously offered to lend them their boat, Christina, named after their late mother. "This was the wake up call that spelled out to us just exactly what we were committing to. "We began to take lessons in Arklow from Gearoid Tuohy who rowed in the Olympics. As we’re working in Dublin we do our training there and rowing in Arklow. We’re delighted to have been given the Christina which successfully completed the race and is tried and tested. Made from marine plywood, we have to put in a new steering system but we know the boat is totally reliable and can self-right if it does collapse. "By the end of June the boat will be completely overhauled and we’ll be spending weekends in it, training in the mouth of the Estuary of the Avoca. "Up to now 48 teams from all over the world have entered the race. Three support boats will accompany the fleet which will leave from La Gomera Port in the Canary Islands on November 27. Each boat participating in the race will have a satellite phone, a VHF phone and an EPERB which sends out very high frequency. We will also carry a life raft. "To win the race we would have to complete it in 40 days, which given that we’re up against some world champion rowers will be very difficult - our aim is to complete it in 60 days. It’s going to be very tough but we’re extremely competitive and are really looking forward to it,” said Paul. Another preoccupation at the moment is getting extremely fit and that involves a lot of training and being guided by a nutritionist on diet. They will also have to stock up on suitable food and water supplies to survive out at sea. "Our food has to be high in energy as we’ll burn about 8,000 calories a day. We’ve received sponsorship from Flahavan’s Porridge who are giving us dried food products and water and we’re being advised by the nutritionist, Andrea Cullan who also advised the Munster Rugby Team. Andrea is helping us to bulk up a bit as we’ll be battered by the elements while out at sea.” Although they have been helped with sponsorship they require another 25,000 euro for the trip. Anyone interested in sponsoring them can contact their website, www.row4concern.com "We’ve planned a number of events to fundraise for Concern including a climb of Carranntohil in Kerry which is the highest mountain in Ireland.” A mind-focusing indication of how potentially dangerous this challenge will be comes when Paul says that he and Tori have agreed that in the event of one of them being so seriously injured that they have to be carried off by one of the support boats, the other will continue the race. "We’ve spoken at length about this and agreed that we would owe it to the other to continue and finish,” he says.