Charting a steady course on his Viking Boat

Known to many as simply Viking Mike, Michael McDonnell is an instantly recognisable figure around Athlone, despite only arriving in the town 15 years ago. As proprietor of Viking Tours, one of Athlone"s main tourist service providers, Michael has been an ambassador for this area to thousands of visitors. And due to his outgoing, convivial personality, he has become part and parcel of the local community in the intervening years. A Tralee man by birth, it"s almost 35 years since he left Kerry, and after a spell in Leitrim, he arrived in Athlone in the mid 1990s. Much of his early career was spent in the agricultural business - a throwback to his family"s involvement in the farming and butchering trade in Kerry. His affinity with water probably developed as a teenager sailing in Fenit Bay in Kerry, although there was no family tradition in boating. Athlone arrived in Michael"s life almost by chance. He was working with an English company at the time and the post involved significant travel. Athlone"s central location made it stand out as an ideal new home. The BSE crisis ensured that job finished sooner than he expected and another chance happening, this time a meeting with the then owner of the Viking Boat in Athlone, opened a new door in his life. 'I met him in Golden Island and said: "If you are looking for a crew member for the summer, I am doing nothing.' He was offered the post as skipper and a year later bought over the boat. The Viking Boat remains one of Athlone"s iconic tourism attractions and with the help of his son Ciaran, who regularly works on the boat, Michael has built up a successful business in the fraught world of tourism. As an outsider to Athlone, Michael is ideally placed to assess the town"s tourism potential - and he is enthusiastic about what could be achieved. 'Coming from the South I have often made the point that if that river or lake was in Cork or Kerry, it would be worth millions to the local economy,' he said. Although he believes Athlone could better exploit its tourism potential, the current situation is not as positive. Tourism in Athlone peaked in 2001, in Michael"s view, and has been declining gradually since, with an accelerated fall in the last two years. For Michael, the main reason is easy to pinpoint - the cost of holidays in Ireland, particularly for the domestic consumer, compared to overseas destinations. 'A lot of places are simply not giving good value for money,' he argued, with characteristic candour. 'When I started first most of my business was the home market or the casual passing trade, there were very little incoming tour operators. Now it"s completely the opposite. My business now is mainly the incoming tour operators, the passing trade is just a top up.' However, international economic difficulties mean the tour operator section of the business has also been on the decline in recent times. 'There seems to be the perception that we were giving great food, giving great service and giving great value for money. The truth is we were expensive and you have to be giving a great product to justify that,' he argued. Athlone, as a town, could also help the tourism business by the provision of better services and facilities. For example, he argues there is a need for proper public toilet facilities, pointing out that, invariably, that the first thing he is invariably asked by a tour group when they arrive in Athlone is the whereabouts of public toilets. Michael believes Athlone has significant untapped potential - not only because of the lake and river, but due to its location. The volume of passing traffic heading east-west on the new motorway and Athlone Relief Road provides a ready-made market. 'The scope is phenomenal,' he argues. And he has backed up his opinions with an application for funding to Failte Ireland for a major development showcasing this area"s Viking heritage. With drive, focus and the correct strategies, it is possible to develop Athlone as a major tourism centre, he believes. And he points to the example of how Tralee, traditionally the poor relation in tourism terms in Kerry compared to Killarney, Kenmare or Ballybunion, pulled itself up by its boot straps, thanks mainly to the Rose of Tralee Festival. With such a passion for his business, Michael has clearly taken Athlone to his heart. He is married to Athlone native Paula Fitzpatrick, a beauty therapist with her own business, Vitalite, on the Dublin Road, and has immersed himself in the life of the town. 'Living in the area, I wasn"t going to sit inside in an apartment every night and watch television,' he explained. And this desire to get involved locally means this has become his home. 'I probably know more now about this town than I do about Tralee,' he said. He is now President of Athlone Lions Club - and involved in that charity"s many fundraising events. And as Secretary of the Athlone branch of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, for some ten years, he has been able to indulge another of his interests - a passion for the outdoors. It"s an interest that saw him travel to the Antarctic in the footsteps of Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean over two years ago as part of the Beyond Endurance programme. Led by famous mountaineer Pat Falvey, Michael was part of a team who crossed South Georgia, retracing the voyage of some of Shackleton"s team. As a youngster travelling with his father on meat deliveries, Michael was fascinated by one of the stops, the Annascaul Inn, a pub once owned by Crean. And when the opportunity arose to experience some of the trials and tribulations of the famous Kerry adventurer, Michael grasped it in both hands. For once words fail Michael in attempting to describe the sheer, breathtaking beauty of the Antarctic. 'It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,' he sums up.