My world walk blog New Zealand 16

High-Performance Athletes and their coaches.

I took a rest day with Ross Steel, a long time supporter of the walk. That worked out really well as the weather was pretty wet in the afternoon. It is said "Life is a journey" and I'm certainly enjoying it.

Ross is a keen prolific marathon runner and as his name suggests, a man made of steel. He also has a novel way to decorate his Christmas tree, with his race numbers and the tree is still standing. We also enjoyed a visit to Blue Spring Park and followed that up with some good old fashioned fish and chips and a couple of beers. 

 Back on my route and before I started walking we had lunch together and had a nice chat with a man called Jim McAllister. His father was born in Ireland and he is obviously is proud of his Irish heritage for he went to a $700 expense to get his own "Irish 02" vehicle number plate registration.

My host, in Cambridge, Limerickman Ger Sheehan came out to me and I commuted forward from Tirau. Thanks to Ger and his wife Caroline for a wonderful time. She hails Skerries, Ireland. They moved here last March along with their two young daughters Kate and Carrie. They all love the outdoor life that New Zealand has in abundance. "When we arrived here at first our girls were going around looking at other children walking around barefooted, as is the Kiwi culture. They wondered why this was, because back in Ireland if people walked around barefooted they would be considered poor!"

"Naturally, our kids loved this, we all love New Zealand sports culture and feel so safe in the country. Many schoolyards have two children's play areas and unlike the litigation-conscious culture of Europe or America. Here if you don't want to get hurt you have a choice. "Don't play in the schoolyard?"

Caroline is a Sports Scientist and Physiologist and is now working for High-Performance Sports NZ where she is a lead Physiologist working with the New Zealand rowing team. New Zealand is among the highest achievers on a global level. There are four Irish rowers here at the moment and are gaining immense experience in a seven-week training camp. There are also many championship races they enter and that means that they can pitch their wits against their hosts and gain valuable experience.

Back in Ireland, Caroline was a Head of Performance Sciences for the Irish Institute of Sport where she worked for 18 years. She also worked with most of the Irelands leading Olympians over the last two decades.

Ger is an engineer and a Health and fitness coach and still loves rowing after getting addicted to the sport 30 odd years ago. He helps people with their physical and financial health also as part of their online Nutrition programs. He is proud of his wife and even said to me:

"Tony, the missus is a bit of a legend but please don't tell her I said that!" Indeed she is the reason they moved down-under when she was offered a job here. Ger was fortunate that the company he worked for also do business in New Zealand, so he managed to get a transfer.

Two of Caroline's proteges: Silver medal-winning Irish Olympians from the Rio Olympics are brothers, Paul and Gary O'Donovan. They are here on a seven-week summer camp. Coincidentally, also hailing from Skibbereen, County Cork and on the same summer camp is Mark O' Donovan. Despite Mark sharing the same surname as the brothers Gary and Paul and the three of them are from such a small town in Ireland they are not related. Along with their Rowing Ireland coach, Domnick Casey they are all here for warm weather training, far away from the cold Irish winter.  Paul also went on to win Gold at the World rowing championships two weeks after Rio and the following year in the Lightweight Singles in 2017. Mark and Shane O Driscoll rowed in the Lightweight pair category (one oar each) they won Gold at the worlds 2016 and 2017. Unfortunately, this is not an event in Olympics for that boat class. However, they plan to go up several weight divisions to make the heavyweight grade for the Japan 2020 Olympic games.

That night I had a great chat with Mark, Shane, Ger and coach Domnick Casey. The lads normally do two training sessions per day in their boat and three times a week they do an additional gym session. Much of their training is pretty much the same as a marathon runner would do including some speed and interval sessions. Their standard training distance is about 20 kilometres. Unfortunately, Paul and Gary O'Donovan were busy and I sure hoped I could meet them that Saturday after I walked the thirty kilometres from Tirau to Cambridge.