Introducing ‘Row Your Demons’ in conjunction with St. Patrick’s Rowing Club
We’re inviting every club in Ireland to participate in Row Your Demons which takes place between 25 and 31 October. We're asking individuals, families and teams to row a total of 60 minutes during the week and support turn2me’s online mental health services.
St. Patrick's Rowing Club, Ringsend, Rowing Ireland and Crew Class have partnered with turn2me to run Row Your Demons during the last week in October (25 to 31). Find out more at https://www.rowyourdemons.ie/
If you are a member of St. Patrick’s Rowing Club or Crew Class we will be holding a Row Your Demons Day on Sunday the 31st of October from 9am-6pm. Members will take to the water or an erg to row for one hour on this day. More information on how you can book your rowing slot will be released soon.
Participation is easy:
1. Sign up
2. Pay for your seat via eventbrite* or set up a donation page on iDonate.ie**
3. Row a total of 60 mins between Oct 25 and 31
* Seats via Eventbrite cost €50 per person plus vat and participation is at your own risk.
** You can set up a team page on iDonate to get sponsored to complete your challenge
*** Participation is at your own risk
If you are an experienced rower you can participate at home, in your club, on the water or at the gym and row for one hour straight. Alternatively you can spread the challenge across Row Your Demons week in 5, 10 or 15 minute sprints. Ask friends and family to sponsor you or get them to join in and complete Row Your Demons between them. As always, please do so safely, wear appropriate clothing and footwear. Warm up and cool down to avoid injury. Olympic Rower Niall O’Toole’s tips on getting Row Your Demons Ready can be found here. Seats cost €50 per person and you can get people to sponsor you by setting up a sponsorship page on iDonate.ie or on facebook. We have produced merchandise (tshirts) to support the event and every purchase will include a contribution towards the Green Blades development fund.
Row Your demons is a positive way for turn2me.ie as an organisation to open up and highlight the importance of mental health and well-being. The action of rowing, as we all know, blocks out distractions and requires focus. It is easy to get involved with the event which is open to rowers of all levels. Every euro donated supports turn2me’s work so that mental health support is literally available at your fingertips through their mobile-friendly online platform www.turn2me.ie.
Many of us experienced first hand the impact of mental health on some of our members last year. Rowing Ireland is supporting turn2me through Row Your Demons year in remembrance of team members we have lost, and we believe it is important for us as a sport to reach out and talk about mental health and wellbeing. St. Patrick’s Rowing Club in Ringsend are actively involved and are working closely with turn2me to make the event a success. Will you and your club join in too? Sign up at www.rowyourdemons.ie.
turn2me offers peer support services to adults and young people aged 12 plus and one to one counselling to adults. turn2me’s platform is purpose-built, confidential and delivers secure online mental health services. It is a safe place to interact online and the service helps you understand your feelings and helps you develop the tools you need to get through tough times. turn2me’s clinical team has scheduled a series of Row Your Demons peer groups during the event. The groups are confidential and anonymous and open to anyone who wants to find out more about mental health and well-being. You have to register as a user with turn2me to participate in the peer group. There are separate peer groups for adults and young people aged 12 and over. In the coming weeks a number of talks and discussions on mental health and wellbeing for Rowing Ireland Clubs will also take place.
Note:
If you know someone or you are directly affected by any issues raised in this article, visit the
turn2me website for support. If you are in crisis text 50808 for support. If you want to sign up for free peer support groups sessions, you can do so here
About:
turn2me was founded by Oisin and Diarmuid Scollard in 2009 after they lost their brother to suicide. This was the impetus for change and they decided to create a platform that would help people to get the right mental health support when they needed it most. Since then, the charity (CHY18803) has continued to revolutionise mental health care here in Ireland thanks to support from the HSE, Sláintecare, NOSP, Pobal and private donations.
St. Patrick’s Rowing Club based in Ringsend, Dublin 4 is a highly successful competitive coastal rowing club. It has over 100 members from junior rowers to senior ranks. The club has an open door policy and welcomes everyone to try the skill of traditional skiff rowing.
Rowing Ireland is the national governing body (NGB) for the sport of rowing across the island of Ireland. There are almost 4,000 registered racing members in more than 100 clubs and universities around the country. The overall rowing community estimated to be at two or three times this number. In addition, the organisation engages with approximately 30,000 Get Rowing members through Rowing Ireland’s schools programme called “Get Going…Get Rowing”.
Crew Class was founded by Niall O’Toole, Ireland’s first ever rowing World Champion, three time Olympian 1992, 1996 and 2004 Olympics, and former World Record holder. A multi-medallist, his pioneering international rowing career spanned two decades, including 15 World Championships. Niall is also the founder of The Annual Dublin Docklands Regatta which has been running since 2016.
