Gallen continues to excel in rowing on world stage

Athlone's Paul wins two medals in Prague

Not content with being one of the chief driving forces behind Athlone Boat Club’s impressive boathouse development in recent years, Paul Gallen continues to excel on the international stage as a rowing competitor himself.

Gallen recently won a gold medal and a silver medal at the World Rowing Indoor Championships. The event, which doubled up as the European championships, was held in the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic.

Competing at lightweight (75kgs) in the 70-74 years category, the Athlone man secured a gold medal in the 2000 metres and a silver in the 500m.

Although Paul points out that competing in indoor events “lines you up to keep you fit for outdoor rowing”, he was justifiably delighted with how things went in Prague.

Having completed an intense programme of training leading into the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships, Paul decided to take on the challenge of testing himself against the world’s top athletes in his age category.

“The real test is the 2,000 metres, that’s the top category really. If you can rank well in that, you know you’re in good shape,” said Paul.

“The 500 metres is like a blast whereas you have to bring a little bit of strategy to the 2,000 metres; you don’t want to fly and die by going out too hard at the start.”

In the 2,000 metres, Paul recorded a time of 7.15.2, beating the second-placed competitor, Henry Wischusen from the United States of America, by a decent margin of almost seven seconds.

“My strategy was to keep with the leading group for the first 1500 metres.

“I was racing lower times than the others so I knew I had it in me to hold them off in the last 500 metres,” said Paul, who turned 70 last August.

Fine margins came into play when Paul was narrowly denied a second gold medal in the 500 metres.

“In the 500 metres, I was beaten by half a second (by a Canadian competitor); it’s probably less than one stroke,” remarked Paul, who recorded a time of 1:33.9.

The way large scale indoor events are conducted, it’s as close to the real thing of competing on the water as possible.

The venue for the World Indoor Championships was the O2 Universum in Prague. The audience in attendance could see the progress of the various races, with mock boats displayed on a massive screen. The competitions themselves had a small screen in front of them to gauge how they were doing as their race progressed.

Last September, Paul competed in the World Masters Rowing Regatta, which was held in South Africa.

The Coosan man was part of a quad, alongside two men from Belfast and one from Cork, who were crowned world champions.

Paul was also part of a successful international crew of eight along with a group of English rowers.

Prior to his exploits in South Africa, Gallen competed in the European Masters Regatta in Munich, where he won his lightweight single scull event. “It was my first time to win an international single which I was delighted about,” recalled Paul.

Gallen broke three Irish records in one day in the Irish Indoor Championships in January of this year (1,000m, 2000m and 500m), and he holds the over-65s record in three different categories.

He also broke the Irish 5000m record for his age category during a training session earlier this year, in preparation for the World Rowing Indoor Championships.

And when he went to Prague, he managed to break two of his own national records.

All going to plan, Paul will compete in the European Masters Regatta in Munich in July of this year, and he then hopes to return to Germany for the World Rowing Masters Regatta in Brandenburg.

His hunger for competing at a high level shows no sign of abating.

“I kind of have my own training programme and I generally train six days a week, with two aerobic sessions and two high intensity training sessions,” Paul pointed out.

Living in Shancurragh on the edge of Lough Ree, Paul takes advantage of his proximity to the water.

In the past Paul also excelled in basketball, playing for Athlone during a golden age for the sport locally, when the club competed at National League level. Indeed, he received a lifetime achievement award from Athlone Basketball Club last year.

“I went back to rowing and I started rowing with guys I rowed with in school,” he said.

From a group of eight who rowed together when in the Marist College in the 1960s, Paul is one five who still row together. The others are Francis Keane, twin brother Michael Keane, Des Campbell and Tony Henshaw (Robbie’s father).

And like a rock band that got back together, they are still going strong.

“We got back together about 20 years ago and we have been rowing ever since,” said Paul.

Benny Dunne is another Athlone Boat Club stalwart with whom Paul has competed in various events.

“Rowing is a great sport for longevity as it’s non-contact, and there is not the sort of turning and twisting that you have in some sports,” said Paul.

Meanwhile, Athlone Boat Club said it was “extremely proud of Paul and his accomplishments to date”.

Extending congratulations to Paul on behalf of the club, Athlone Boat Club PRO Padraig Hegarty said: “Paul has set an extremely high standard for our club from our new club development to his rowing ability.”