Team Geared Up » China

Killarney Rowers Beijing Bound: Paul Griffin, Sean Casey and Cathal Moynihan

Aisling Coppinger — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:00:19 +0000

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) What is it with these geographical clusters of super-rowers!? Following on from our post about the three oarsmen from Northern Ireland off to Beijing, Fiola and Valerie (herself an expert master rower!) let us know about these three from Killarney that are Olympic competitors.

From Valerie:

Beijing Bound…Heroes and history combined as World champion rowers, Paul Griffin, Sean Casey and Cathal Moynihan, all from Muckross Rowing Club, Killarney, are representing Ireland in the lightweight and heavyweight coxless (-4) in Beijing, for the 2008 Olympic games. There is a very strong tradition of Rowing in Killarney going back over 200 years, there are five clubs in the town. Muckross Rowing Club are very proud of their olympic hopefuls, and rightly so! The excitement is building in the town. All club rivalries have been put on hold until after the olympic games!

We’ll be watching out for the Kerry rowers and wishing them huge success!

-Aisling-

Image from Valerie O’Sullivan.

Gobi March continues…

Aisling Coppinger — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:00:47 +0000

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) I thought of writing one of those posts saying the Gobi March was continuing and they’re through half way and Dean Karnazes appears to be in 4th position and there was a photo finish for the finish of Day 3. Or I thought I could write one of those posts as a wife and sister and friend to 4 of the competitors saying how worried sick I am and how it doesn’t really help that the organisers are painfully slow at putting up daily results and that they just keep saying it’s getting hotter and sandstorms are blowing tents down etc. etc.
Neither of which would be completely real because mostly I just hope they’re all enjoying themselves. I hope they realise that it’s an amazing opportunity to do something incredible, something very few people ever get to do or even dream of doing, that they’ll experience things that’ll affect them forever, that they’ll have shared memories that those of us who couldn’t go will never understand. That they aren’t taking the piss too much out of tent buddy Dean Karnazes and that when they land here next Wednesday 18th that it’ll be back to reality with a bang, which for Tony will mean he gets handed 3 kids, a lawnmower and a paintbrush. He better be enjoying himself. :-)

-Aisling-

If you wish to e-mail competitors you can do so here. The Irish are Robert Kiernan (Tony’s real name), Eugene Coppinger, Liam O’ Riain, Paul Moran. That’s them in my photo!

Tent Buddies for the Gobi March!!

Aisling Coppinger — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:10:55 +0000

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) Racing the Planet have just e-mailed competitors for the Gobi March with their tent allocation. The event kicks off in about a month and I wrote before about how husband Tony, brother Eugene and bestest mates Paul Moran and Liam O’ Riain were heading that direction. Well you’re just not gonna believe who they’ve bagged as a tent buddy!! They’ve only gone and been allocated to share a tent with the 27th most influential person in the World (that’s according to Time Magazine)!

Dean Karnazes is sharing with the Paddies on his second desert event this year, (he’s on a quest to complete all 4 of the Racing the Planet series of desert races). Unperturbed by the news of a celebrity in their tent one of the team can be qouted as saying:

I don’t believe the name they gave our tent - Langerville. And none of us are from Cark.
We should complain about no wans in our tent. Who’ll make the tea, do the wash up and wash our socks etc? Can anything be done?

Yeah there’ll be “words” at our next Wednesday Night session I can tell ya… ;-)

I had to counter balance that level of sexism with a hefty dose of gratuitous “Dean”-ism, i.e. the picture above. Just look at him go!!

-Aisling-

Image credit: Time Magazine.

Website Launch of Irish Gobi March Competitors

Aisling Coppinger — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:51:36 +0000

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) Olympic hopefuls, Dean Karnazes and a controversial torch aren’t the only things making preparations for getting to China this Summer. A group of experienced Irish ultrarunners, I think I just might know one or two of them ;-) , have been making preparations for Racing the Planet’s Gobi Challange. Long hours on the hills with heavy backpacks, long hours spent on the internet finding appropriate gear/ bags/ sleeping bags/ food and long hours spent racing every ultra available to them have meant that the gang are almost all set for the Irish assault on this 4deserts challenge. They recently launched their website, Endurance Racers, thanks to Rathfarnham WSAF’s Mick Bolger (and fellow Rotterdam marathon competitior), and are looking for donations for the Harold’s Cross Hospice.
Some info on the race:

It covers 257km/160 miles (in sections similar to 40, 42, 45, 40, 80, 10 km) run over 6 days (7 for some) - equivalent to 6 regular marathons. In addition to that, competitors have to carry everything they will need for the duration (apart from a tent) on their backs in a rucksack (food, clothes, medical kit, sleeping bag etc). Water is rationed and handed out at each checkpoint.

The gang are Tony Kiernan (my husband!), Eugene Coppinger (my brother and coach!), Liam O’ Riain (Bestest Mate Ever!) and Paul Moran (crossed the line with me in the Connemara Ultra the year I won!).

On the 5th day, you will set off across the barren wilderness to complete a 50 mile stage. Few people complete this before dark that evening and some will not come in till after dark the next night. Its tough, so don’t say that nobody warned you in the strongest terms.

Best of luck!

-Aisling-

Olympic stops climbers on Everest & funding cuts

Neal McQuaid — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:12:33 +0000

KILDARE, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) -
Ukclimbing.com are reporting here that the Chinese government are refusing all permits for Everest this year from their side of the mountain (strange to describe ’sides of a mountain’ being an issue not due to climbing difficulty!). They’re also pushing for restrictions from the other Tibetan side for similar reasons (the Olympic torch is being relayed via the Everest summit as reported here on TGU).
Unofficially it seems due to worry over ‘Free Tibet’ protests. I don’t know the full situation so won’t argue - I’m sure that’s a factor, along with the fact they don’t want to queue to get the torch to the summit!

Anyway, the more interesting comment I saw in the post was in relation to funding in the UK for climbing:

Jack Geldard, Editor of UKClimbing.com has this to say;
â€œIt’s a blow to mountaineering. Government funding for mountaineering in this country has been cut to virtually nothing, grants for expeditions have been completely stopped and there is no funding for competition climbing. The little money we did receive has been channelled in to Olympic sports. It is oddly fitting that the Olympic Everest debacle turns out to be another kick in the teeth for climbers worldwide.â€

Is the Olympics not missing the point a bit if they’re sucking up all the funding for ALL other sports that aren’t involved in it? I’ve heard of similar stories here in Ireland? is it the same worldwide? let us know.
Frustrating does not go anywhere near describing my thoughts on this!