Snow Logo’s

As any of you who have been following my blog will know…Sponsors have proved to be a real problem for me. Getting the right companies on board, getting Irish companies on board has proved next to impossible to date. With timescales being what they are I am now considering the very real possibility of having to find an alternative way of fund raising for this challenge. Ideas on a postcard please? Or maybe with all this snow it might be best to just email me!

Some of the sponsors who had committed to sponsoring the challenge have now decided not to follow through on their agreements due to the economic climate which means I have actually taken a step backwards in terms of where I need to be.  With a shipping date less than 10 weeks away for my boat there is a very real possibility that there will be “Snow more logos” on the boat. When I started this challenge everyone who I spoke with told me the hardest part would be getting to the start line. Well this was a very very accurate statement. The stress of all this is really hard to manage. I really believe that being associated with a project like this is a great opportunity for brands that are cutting edge risk takers who like to be associated with Winners. Safe run of the mill brands need not apply!

All of that said I had some positive news this week. Thanks to the wonders of Twitter, help has come my way with regards to my sponsorship strategy.  So hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel. Fingers crossed!  I will hopefully be blogging about some great news soon.

On the other side of things, training has been going a lot better. The marathon did really affect me physically. I lost a lot of weight which is really not good at this stage. I really need to be putting on as much as possible. I had a great session with Toby (my trainer) in Henley two weeks ago. There were mill pond conditions on the Thames. This coupled with the cold foggy weather made for a serene day.  Things are going a lot better in the boat now. My stroke is getting more consistent and I am getting better and maintaining a constant rhythm.  

My weekly training will now ramp up to a serious level…Three heavy weights sessions a week with longer boat and rowing machine sessions!

So I guess that brings things up to date for now… hopefully in the coming weeks there will be some real progress made in terms of sponsorship.. If anyone would like to offer any help, advice or indeed sponsor the project please do get in touch.

By the way I did a short TV appearance last week on RTE 2. I was interviewed on Elev8 which is a young adults program here in Ireland. Take a look…

Elev8 TV 31/11/10