Balla woman rows the extra 2,400 miles

HARD AT IT Orla is pictured training on the rowing machine.

Orla Dempsey is planning to row from San Francisco to Hawaii

Interview
Oisín McGovern

A BALLA woman who has never sat in a boat before is attempting to row a colossal 2,400 nautical miles from San Francisco to Hawaii in June.
Along with two other women, Orla Dempsey is aiming to row halfway across the Pacific Ocean in aid of three different charities.
Orla, Jane Leonard and Vicky Anstey hope to reach Hawaii’s shores 60 days after departing California, which would beat the current World Record of 62 days, 18 hours and 36 minutes.
As part of ‘The Great Pacific Race’, the three women will also be raising funds for three different charities; Inspiring Girls International, the Harlequins Foundation, and Mates in Mind.
The aforementioned foundations advocate for raising the ambitions of young women, positive mental health and participation in sport respectively.
“I’m not actually into rowing, I’ve never rowed a boat in my life,” Orla, who works as a PE teacher with the Ministry of Education in Dubai, told The Mayo News.
After moving to the Middle East, the 27-year-old from Mayo became friends with former British soldier and England rugby international, Jane Leonard.
Shortly after moving back to the UK as the Covid pandemic struck, Leonard – who has also never rowed a boat - signed up for the challenge before getting in contact with her friend from West Mayo.
“They were looking for a third crew member in January or February so she rang me up and asked me would I be interested in this. And I said: ‘Why not?’
Despite having no rowing experience, the former Balla Secondary School student is no stranger to sport.
Having played Gaelic football and soccer back home in Ireland, Orla is a founding member of the first women’s rugby team in the United Arab Emirates.
Working from an already high level of fitness, her current training regimen consists of running, Olympic lifting, and 90-minutes to two-and-a-half-hour sessions on a stationery rower.
Factoring in six or seven training sessions a week, plus mental preparation sessions and navigation training, Orla estimates that she is currently putting in between ten and 15 hours of preparation per week.
Today (Tuesday), she flies out to San Francisco where she will meet her team-mates on May 23, both of whom have been quarantining in the Caribbean island of Antillia.
The trio will then have five days to practice rowing in the water before the challenge begins on May 28.
Apart from being accompanied by two safety boats in the event of an emergency, they will be entirely self-sufficient for the 60-odd days.
Sailing non-stop through the serene waters of the Pacific in their 24-foot craft, the three women will be armed with oars, a supply of food, three changes of clothes, and sheer willpower and perseverance.
Their progress will also be the subject of a UK study into female athletes in endurance sports.
“We’ll be on a three-hour rotation. At any point in the sixty days the maximum sleep we’ll have is two hours,” Orla explained.
“We’re going with 4,000 calories per person per day. That’s what’s recommended in terms of what you’ll be able to physically take in.
“As soon as you come off the oars your three-hour break has started. In that time you need to eat, take off your wet clothes and put on your dry clothes, take care of the admin on the boat, try and get some sleep, wake up and get ready for your next shift which starts within that three-hour period.”
Despite the arduous task ahead of her, Orla insists that most of the hard work is behind them and that she is ‘excited’ to begin the voyage.
“I’m looking forward to the start line but I’m looking forward to finishing it as well,” she admitted.
“Once we’re inside the last 100 or 50 miles I’m looking forward to how I’m going to feel at that point. Once I’m off the boat a couple of my family members are going to meet me in Hawaii. I’ll probably just have a beer and a proper meal and relax for a week.”
Writing on the Dream.Dare.Do website, the Balla native makes no secret of her steely motivation to see out a challenge that is beyond the mental and physical limits of most mortals.
“In order to find new limits, I have to push past the only ones I know,” she wrote.
‍“Honestly, the number one reason why I agree to challenges, or get involved in events is because ‘no, I couldn’t do that’, has never entered my mind.
‍“I believe this comes from being truly blessed with the family I have, where ‘you can’t’ or ‘it’s not possible’ were never phrases that were heard in our house,” she adds.

To sponsor Orla’s challenge, head to: https://www.dreamdaredo.org.uk/sponsorship.