18 NEWS THE KERRYMAN I Wednesday, January 27, 2021 THE KERRYMAN I Wednesday, January 27, 2021 NEWS 19

Nelson’s Dockyard La Gomera In training Victoria and her Victoria’s partner Saf Greenwood. set for the

high seas FACT FILE 3,000 mile journey across the Atlantic from San Sebastian in La Gomera to Nelson’s Dockyard in and Barbuda. VICTORIA CARROLL, A DESCENDENT OF THE FAMOUS World record for completion of same race is 50 days. Victoria Victoria with her grandfather Noel and her Mom Bernadette. is hoping to beat this record. Victoria and partner Saf Greenwood will row 24-hours a day in to Victoria and she certainly intends Rowing who work to promote the importance of “We will be like ships in the night. When I CASEY BROTHERS FROM SNEEM AND WHOSE two hours shifts for the entire duration of the journey. to be ready for all eventualities but sport in the development of young people and am rowing she will be resting and then we will nothing can quite get them ready The Fawcett Society who’s vision is for a society swap. We are different personalities, she is more The race takes place in December and finishes around the first for what they will face. They could in which women and girls play equal roles. of thinker and I am gung-ho noisy person but week of February with about 30 teams. GRANDFATHER NOEL IS A TALENTED COACH AND be stuck for days without moving The challenge has been in the making for more together we work,” says Victoria. Each team will row in excess of 1.5 million oar strokes over a race. if weather goes against them or than two years since Victoria first heard of the “I work in marketing so have taken on the The waves the rowers will experience can measure up to 20ft their boat could get damaged by race in 2018. website, social media and sponsorship side of Marlin fish, as has happened this “The idea actually came about, as most great things. Saf’s military background means that ROWER, IS TAKING ON THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE year’s crews. ideas do, over a drink at Henley Regatta back in she is fantastic at managing projects so she “We have got a pretty good 2018. A fellow rowing club member mentioned has been masterminding the planning of our The current pandemic is one of the reasons that chance but it all depends really.” that she had always wanted to give it a go and told training courses, equipment, food supplies etc.” ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, WRITES SINEAD KELLEHER. Victoria and Saf decided to wait until December “You can’t replicate what you will go through me all about the race and something in my crazy However, the two girls will surely get to know 2021 to face the challenge. They had considered so you have make sure you are fit and your body blood led to me to think I would love to do that. each well when they spend the best part of two NE could say it is no surprise over the race. “I learned to row in Sneem. My family would ocean expanse. undertaking it in 2020 and would now be out in is resilient, and you are not injured, so you can It sounded amazing, and I said I have to do it.” months out in the ocean together facing a host that Victoria Carroll is taking on Two yachts will travel with the boats for have boats on the water in Sneem. They were Currently in training for the big event Victoria the ocean as crews currently are, but decided to withstand what you will go through.” The rest is history and since then Victoria has of unknown challenges together. a rowing challenge like no oth- emergencies but the teams are not allowed to fishing and rowing all their life,” says Victoria. is spending lock-down working from home and postpone. Undertaking such a mammoth challenge her eyes firmly on the event though she has faced er, given her family’s impressive seek help from them. “My grandfather taught me how to row in training on a rowing machine in her spare room. “It is frustrating not being able to get out on the comes with a huge financial cost and much of more than a few hurdles not least her original history on the water but this chal- The two girls must bring all their food sup- a ‘Tub single’. He would tie a rope on to it and Due to the restrictions she can’t get to the water we were to do the race this year, we were the team’s time is also spent on fundraising. rowing partner, who was the girl who first told lenge will certainly top the Casey plies with them as well as a quantity of water push us off and we would practise balancing and water to train but is hopeful that they will be preparing for it but then in April we decided to They need to raise £120,000 in total - the her about the race, became pregnant with twins family’s long list of achievements. to support the sea water they will desalinate. rowing. We had a great time.” back on the water by Easter and the rest of the defer to give us an extra year to fundraise, train majority of which goes to cover the cost of the and had to pull out. She then met Saf through In just 10 months Victoria (35), and However, such are the rules that fresh water can Though the boat for the race is different to year will see the two girls training weekends and and do courses.” boat. The girls have already raised substantial her rowing club Vesta. She was coaching Saf and Oher team-mate Saf Greenwood, will be joining only be used in emergencies and a time penalty what is used in traditional rowing in Kerry and for days at a time. “We will meet this year’s crews when they get funds but are still seeking sponsorship and having asked around for a partner for the chal- crews from all over the world to compete in the will apply as using this water would make the to what her great-grandfather and grand-father In the interim it is weights and indoor rowing back to get tips. We will be in a strong position fundraising and Victoria is hopeful she will get lenge, Saf agreed and the pair will now spend 50 premier event in ocean rowing. boat lighter. trained and rowed in, it is a custom built rowing in a bid to be at the peak of physical fitness by to go in December.” support from Kerry for her quest. Funds will days out on a rowing boat in the ocean together? YOU CAN’T REPLICATE The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge will “From the minute we step onto the boat we boat with no sailing aids to help across the 3,000 next December. The key to success is to be prepared according also be donated to two charities, London Youth Will this be tough? WHAT YOU WILL GO see the pair row over 3,000 miles across the At- won’t be getting off again until we get to Anti- lantic Ocean from San Sebastian in La Gomera gua,” explains Victoria from her London home. THROUGH SO YOU HAVE Canary Islands to Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua The World Record for completion of the 3,000 and Barbuda. mile precarious journey is 50 days and Victoria TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE This is a rowing event like other with crews is aiming to not only complete the race but to FIT AND YOUR BODY IS completely unsupported on the ocean facing beat this world record. It is no small feat but numerous physical and mental challenges as they Victoria is determined - a trait I’m sure comes RESILIENT SO YOU CAN battle sleep deprivation, sea sickness, physical from her family back-ground. injures, sores from salt water and unknown Victoria was born in Buckinghamshire but WITHSTAND WHAT YOU weather conditions, to take on the ultimate has strong links to Kerry where her grandfather, WILL GO THROUGH challenge across the ocean in a rowing boat, with Noel, is one of the top rowing coaches with an no sail aids or support to help. They will row 24 impressive list of accolades to his own name hours a day in two hours shifts and during that particularly in the UK where he rowed for Vesta time will row in excess of 1.5 million oar strokes Rowing Club, now Victoria’s own club. He trained the Women’s 8 for the 1984 Olym- pics and was the coach when Vesta won at Women’s Henly Regatta, one of the top women’s rowing events in the UK. He emigrated from Victoria says the thing she fear most is ‘salt Sneem to the UK but has since returned home sores’ from the salt water hitting her skin and and at the age of 87 is still coaching some of chafing and of course weather conditions on Kerry’s top rowers. Noel and Victoria hail from which much of their race will depend. She will ZZZZ the legendary Casey brothers, once dubbed the also be unable to do the simple things in like FROM THE MINUTE WE ‘Toughest Family on Earth’ for their rowing and shower and wash her hair and communication wrestling prowess and who are immortalised in for the two months with her family will be STEP ON THE BOAT IN a statue in the South Square, not far from where limited though they will have a satellite phone DECEMBER WE WILL NOT her grandfather lives. allowing for some contact. Her mother is Noel’s daughter, Bernadette, But whatever lies ahead for Victoria she is BE GETTING OFF AGAIN who rowed for Great Britain at various World ready for the challenge and confident that she and European Championships and can also list can add another impressive accomplishment UNTIL WE LAND IN a host of accolades to her name. It is no wonder to the family history. ANTIGUA IN FEBRUARY then that rowing is in Victoria’s blood. Having “This is the next generation accomplish- competed at National Championships, major ment... It is more an expedition than a rowing HAVING ROWED 3,000 Head races and qualifying for Henley Women’s race .. This is my chance to do something amaz- regatta several times as part of Vesta Rowing ing and carry on the family legacy.” MILES IN THE OCEAN Club, she is no stranger to competitive rowing, And what does her grandfather think of just like her family before. However, this is a her plan? challenge of a different nature. “When I told him he said: ‘I knew you were It was in Sneem that Victoria first learned to mad but I didn’t know you were that mad.’ row, home on her summer holidays in the village, “He will be obsessively tracking the boat and under the tutelage of her grandfather. Victoria Carroll. The Casey family including Victoria’s grandfather, Noel second from right. Far left is Steve ‘Crusher’Casey one of Victoria is getting ready for the challenge. he will be a bit worried.” the best known Casey brothers. Photo taken circa 1971.