Something a little different for the show this week: we’ve flipped the format and put usual host GT in the hot seat! Gearoid Towey needs no real introduction. A three-time Olympian, he rowed for Ireland at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Games. He’s also a rowing World Champion, winning golds at the 1996 U23 World Championships and the 2001 Lucerne World Championships, as well as bronzes in 1999, 2003 and 2006.
In 2005, Gearoid and his rowing partner Ciaran Lewis attempted to cross the Atlantic in a 23-ft rowing boat. After 40 days at sea and only 1440 km from landfall, their boat was pitch poled by a 10-meter wave, leaving the men to be rescued by a supertanker in the middle of a force 9 storm.
Gearoid retired from rowing after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and experienced firsthand the difficulties of athlete transition. Realising more needed to be done to assist athletes post-retirement, he established athlete mental health and transition not-for-profit Crossing the Line.
CTL communications manager Lorna Hankin chats to GT about his love of rowing growing up in Ireland, his near-death experience in the Atlantic and how Crossing the Line is helping athletes today.
