WITH over a month on the quayside killing time, Sean McGowan has endured as much mental hardship as a sportsman can face during any physical endurance. A four week delay for the start of the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race has put the solo oarsman to the test and all while not a stroke of an oar has been made.
Weather patterns, sea states and safety concerns have kept the solo and team based rowers at their base in La Gomera in the Canary Islands, but Sean came home for Christmas. Spending time with the family over the holiday period was the first choice made by the Limerick rower and as he said earlier last month, “it’s good to be at home with the family and we can spend Christmas together and relax”.
But that tune quickly had to change as Sean returned to the island of the coast of Africa and readied for the first post Christmas departure. That came undone on December 29, but an early morning text this Monday to this reporter confirmed what we had all been waiting for, a lunchtime start on January 4, 2010. Sean and his fellow competitors got their clearance.
Sean is a very focused and determined character, you’d have to be to endure anything between 70 and 100 days at sea on a solo Atlantic rowing challenge. Ask Tori Holmes and Paul Gleeson, who’s boat hangs in the UL Arena after their Atlantic battle. Ask the Olympians that have faced the challenge and failed. In fact some would think it so remote for the norm that it would be considered mad. But to Sean, who teams up with Tess (his boat and only companion for the trip), this is about getting something done, taking a personal challenge to a new level and all to raise money for the Sowetto Challenge, the charity that Sean aims to raise over 1 million Rand for.
“If you aren’t scared facing into this then there would be something wrong with you – I’m excited and looking forward to this, I’m ready for this now, the highs and lows over the last few days have been huge.”
This is the fifth attempt that the organisers have had to start the race, as a delayed shipment of flares and unsightly weather patterns made their mark on the race in such an early stage.
Sean notes that he has gone through all these phases of readiness, expectation and then “massive gut wrenching lows”.
But that’s gone now for the solo oarsman from the Shannon Rowing Club and now the race is on – he has left the dock and his loved ones behind and the open sea awaits in front.
In about 14 days, Sean said “we are going to get hit with a storm that is brewing of the coast of America”, stating the challenge is “to get out and get south”.
Sean has set himself a 100 day goal for the crossing and is hoping to break that barrier, but the weather and solitude will be always on his mind as the first fortnight of this epic journey unfolds.
The aim is the finish line at Antigua, his family that awaits and the personal goals he has set himself. The solo rower will have the backing of a region in pursuit of all three as 2,500 nautical miles stand in his way.
Follow Sean’s progress with Post Sport on www.limerickpost.ie and www.atlantic09.com.
