REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRIZEGIVING CEREMONY
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRIZEGIVING CEREMONY AT HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA
Thank you, Chair, for your warm words of welcome.
I was delighted to receive your very kind invitation to be here today and to present the prizes at this year’s Regatta. Rowing has played a major part in the life and loves of my family, so much so, that they insisted on coming with me. To have the family together in the one place at the one time is some achievement in itself as anyone associated with rowing will know only too well. I believe that the microwave meal was invented for us and us alone!
While there can be few more English institutions than Henley Royal Regatta, it has for much of its history had a strong Irish involvement and I like to think that my presence here today is a fitting part of that distinguished history. Indeed Neptune the club with which a majority of the family is associated has a fine record of six wins here which I must mention or else seek permanent political asylum here.
My old Alma Mater Trinity College is credited with the first recorded organized rowing in Ireland back in 1836, but it wasn’t until 1870 that they made the then arduous boat and train journey to compete at Henley for the first time. They carried off the Visitor’s Cup on that first visit and this encouraging start saw many an Irish team competing here since. They were not all successful on the water but out of the fun and the respectful rivalry they brought back to Ireland a store of great memories and a network of enduring friendship !
Few sports make the demands that rowing does. We have seen today how fiercely the races are contested. We have also seen and not for the first time that the bonds of admiration and esteem between rowers transcend the disappointment of defeat or the glow of success. Every competitor knows how tight the margins are between commiseration and congratulation and so I thank everyone who participated in this wonderful sporting spectacle for sharing with us their spirit of determination, their relentless pursuit of excellence. To the winners, enjoy this day, the culmination of so much hope and effort. You join a litany of great names who triumphed here on other great days. Not only do you have the joy of taking home the cups and medals but you take home the certainty that where two or more rowers are gathered for generations to come, your win will be spoken of and young men and women from all over these islands and far beyond will dream of a day like this and set out on the long hard journey that begins on a damp cold winter morning when there are no crowds to cheer, no Pims to warm, nothing but your own dream pitted against your own self and that miraculous volunteer, the rowing coach who relives his or her dreams through your days of triumph.
Martin and I warmly thank the Chair, the Secretary and the Stewards for their hospitality and kindness to us throughout this wonderful event.