Paris 2024: Fledgling crew ready to take on the world

For the last time tomorrow morning, a boisterous Irish group of supporters will make the journey to the picturesque municipality of Vaires-sur-Marnes.

Located 35km west of central Paris, it is home to Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium, the world class rowing facility that opened in 2019.

Team Ireland's sole representative at the Games is the mixed double sculls crew of Katie O’Brien and Tiarnán O'Donnell, and their supporting entourage has numbered more than 100.

With the vast majority using train as the means of transport, the past two mornings has seen a green supporting cast emerge from the local station and walk the 2km to the venue, a green snake meandering through a well-heeled neighbourhood under the watchful eye of a heavy security presence and equally enthusiastic volunteers.

Tomorrow will be no different, as the pair plot to end the Paralympic debut on a high.

The fact they have made it to the line at all is something of a minor miracle.

O’Brien, who has spina bifida, qualified the boat with Steven McGowan at last year’s World Championships, but O’Donnell was rewarded for his form having come to the sport late from wheelchair basketball.

O’Brien however has endured a torrid 2024, with injuries, surgeries and illnesses meaning she only returned to training about six weeks ago. The pair have only had four weeks together in the boat, so if they had 20 sessions together, that would have been the height of it.

"We were down to one session a day," O’Donnell explains. "We had a two-week camp and a few days in Cork before we left."

Despite her pedigree – O’Brien was world champions two years in the single sculls ago – and his seamless transition into the sport, the training required to seriously challenge wasn’t there.

They