‘There’ll be another challenge because that’s just what he does’

“It's a tremendous achievement, it's hard to get your head around it,” remarks Joe Browne from Mount Temple this week, as he reflects on his cousin Damian's mind-blowing feat this week to become the first Irish person ever to row from New York to Galway after 112 days at sea.

The former professional rugby player, previously a coach with the Marist College, Athlone, and a friend to many in Buccaneers RFC, received a hero's welcome from family, friends and well-wishers when he arrived into Galway on Tuesday. Among them was his proud father, also Joe Browne, who grew up in Baylin, and the pride felt in Damian's achievement extends from his home village right around Westmeath and across the country.

“He's a very humble guy. His motivation is exploration and a challenge and fulfilling things, he's that kind of individual,” his cousin Joe Browne tells the Westmeath Independent on Thursday. “First of all, I'm not surprised knowing the man. Anyone who knows him knows he could do it but knowing the reason he did it, and how much he wanted to row into Galway as a Galway man, we are very, very proud of him that he actually made it.”

When Damian was kicking off the challenge 18 months ago, he spoke to his cousin about it, and so impressed was Joe, that his company BRIDGE Transition became one of his main sponsors.

In fact, when Damian set out on the adventure, titled Project Empower, in Manhattan on Tuesday, June 14 at 3.10am the local company name was emblazoned across his 18-foot boat.

Speaking about his astonishing achievement on RTE television, adventurer Damian Browne described the entire journey as “a fight” from start to finish in very challenging conditions and he was just delighted to be back on solid ground.

What many people will not know is that Damian initially started the monumental endurance challenge with his great friend Fergus Farrell, or Gussie as he is known, a man with an extraordinary story in itself. Following an accident, he was told he would not walk again, but walk he did, beating all the odds.

“He started off with his friend to row from New York to Galway, but 13 days into the expedition, very sadly, Fergus was getting progressively ill and needed oxygen. He had to be rescued off the boat and taken ashore to New York,” explains Joe. “Typical Damian rather than most mortals, who'd say that's it, pull me up too and tow in the boat - he carried on as an individual and rowed the last 100 days or so himself.”

“They (the family) are all very proud of him. All of the people who were in Galway and indeed in the Midlands. Loads of people would ask me regularly in the village how he is getting on. There was a lot of interest in him.”

Joe describes the homecoming and the reception in Galway to greet Damian as “extraordinary” and he looks forward to catching up with him in Baylin and Athlone in the near future.

“I suppose there was a tinge of sadness there that he didn't get to row the boat directly into the dock, because as you know he was scuppered on rocks five or ten minutes up the coast at Furbo beach. But in some ways, I think that's an extraordinary story in itself that he literally crawled off the boat onto the beach.

“I mean I think it's an amazing story because whilst rowing into the docks straight off the boat would have been nothing short of phenomenal, he did come in on a rib so it was still good.

“I actually think in the fullness of time Damian will agree there is a certain irony in rowing across the Atlantic and literally crawling off your boat in Galway. It's kind of like an age-old explorer. There was something very natural and extreme about it," Joe maintains.

“I'm sure he felt terrified at 1am in the dark trying to crawl across rocks onto the beach to get safe. Then a few hours later he did row the boat into the dock, like a second homecoming.”

While it's an incredible story, Joe says he doesn't expect Damian to stop there with another major challenge on the future horizon. When he retired from pro rugby, having played with Connacht, Brive and Northhampton among others, he did the Marathon des Sables, running for six days in an ultramarathon through the Sahara Desert. Then he did an Atlantic row from Spain to Antigua, meaning he has now rowed the Atlantic west to east and now from east to west. He has also climbed five of the seven highest peaks in the world.

Asked if the Browne DNA has some daredevil or adventurer tendencies, Joe laughs in the positive, but says that Damian takes it to another level!

“I know he is already deep into planning for another expedition which I'm sure he'll announce in the weeks and months to come,” replies Joe, adding that Damian is a very humble, thankful, reflective guy, who missed his family like crazy, especially his wife and young child during his spell on the water.

His cousin expects Damian, who hadn't seen a soul in 98 days prior to arriving in Galway, to maybe write a book, do a documentary, and give many talks on how he handled the pressure of the mammoth row before he moves onto the next adventure.

“There'll be another (challenge) because that's just what he does,” he ends.