A huge feeling of pride is hanging over the Erne waters down at Portora as members of the Enniskillen Royal Boat Club eagerly anticipate local rowers Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney’s first appearance at the Olympics.
The Fermanagh pair have booked their place in Paris and will represent Ireland in the historic tournament.
Coach and former Olympian Derek Holland will be keeping a close eye on his two former apprentices.
“For me personally and for the club, we’re obviously delighted for them and not amazed but we’re just excited and delighted for them,” Holland said.
“Hopefully, it all goes to plan for them now in the next seven, or eight weeks (going) into Paris. It’s very exciting times. For me personally, it's good to see two lads who I worked with, who other coaches worked with doing so well.
"They’re still two young lads in our eyes, going to their first Olympics and for the younger rowers seeing them at that as well, it shows them that they can achieve what they’re achieving as well if they put in the craft and miles and stuff like that.
"We’re all looking forward to see how they perform in Paris over the next couple of months.”
Holland competed at the 1996 Olympics, at the age of just 22, grabbing 4th place in the Men’s Coxless Four.
He added that although nerves may be higher than usual for the pair in Paris, natural instincts will kick in once the action begins.
“Looking back, the thing about rowing in the Olympics is there’s not much pressure on them,” he said. “It’s their first Olympics. You should just go and enjoy it and learn from it.
"They’ll put themselves under a little bit of pressure but that will just be from themselves, I don’t think anybody on the inside is putting pressure on them to perform.
"But to be honest, the training that you do in the build-up to the Olympics and the selection can be a harder race than the Olympics. They’ve gone through the mill the last couple of months just to get their names onto them seats, so, they will be well prepared and able for the pressure of it.
"I don’t think you feel the pressure as much as maybe a spectator feels watching it if that makes sense, I don’t think they’ll have any pressure with problems that come their way.”
Holland knows the long and winding route to success in the sport and believes mental strength has been the key factor in getting Corrigan and Timoney to where they are today.
“I think a lot of my rowers would have been able to do it, but these two boys never had any excuses, they were hard trainers from day one,” he continued. “They were a bit more technically very good, but they were driven from within.
"They wanted to go to the top and they went about it the right way going to a rowing university and keeping their foot in the door with the federation and stuff.
"I don’t think it was ever in doubt just whether they had the mental toughness, which they do have, to go on and do it and they certainly do have after getting this far.”
When asked about the future of rowing in the county and the impact the two boys’ participation in Paris will have on the younger generation, Holland responded: “It already is growing, we’ve got some great rowers around here and never mind Fermanagh they’ll be inspiring others around the country as well.
"There’s probably people who haven’t even started rowing yet that will be watching them wanting to be a part of what they’re doing in the future.”
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