Tara McEvoy: ‘The panic of them calling for help is terrifying’
I’ve been swimming since I was very young and getting better and better as I got older. It’s only the last two years though that I’ve really copped on, trained hard and put the head down and now I realise I have the potential to make the national team and represent Ireland abroad.
It’s interesting because both of my brothers have represented Ireland. My whole family, my cousins and my aunts and uncles are all involved so it’s been passed down to me.
I’ve been training all of my life but this year it has become more intense. Last summer I trained nine times a week and twice a week in either the gym session, beach session or pool session which are two hours each. It’s been a huge commitment just trying to sort out which days we’re going to the beach and stuff like that. It’s a lot to have on my plate when you’re training like that, I’m only 18 and going into Leaving Cert so it can be tough.
Definitely the front crawl. I love the 400m open water event, the long-distance swims really suit me because I’m a taller swimmer and have bigger shoulders than most.
This summer I actually worked at Fanore Beach in Clare as a lifeguard. I did have to rescue two young kids on a bodyboard who got in a bit of trouble so I had to run down to get them. I hadn’t done much lifeguarding before that so that was a big scare for me. I’ve done all of it so many times in practise but the real thing is different. The panic of them calling for help is terrifying but then you just think to yourself, ‘hang on, I’ve trained for this’ and then go in. Then you have to deal with their aftershock, it’s a big adrenaline rush. Now though I can look back on it and see what I could improve on so it’s great that I could acknowledge that. Thankfully there were no serious injuries or casualties, it could have turned out so much worse.
Not swimming between the flags. There are signs saying to stay in between them, there are big huge flags, but you still see people swimming away outside them. You see that everywhere though. A lot of people wouldn’t be regular beach goers so you have to be on the ball the whole time.
The open water swim is probably the best and worst thing to do. You have to break it into stages because if you think about how long the swim is you’ll panic. It’s just trying to keep re-motivating yourself all the time when you’re in the water. We’ve done it all before so there’s nothing to be afraid of.
Before the race you feel sick to your stomach. Just the thought of going in and racing and getting to the finish line. That’s when your teammates are so important to give you support. Once you’re in there though it’s just absolute focus and telling yourself to keep going.
Just swimming really. It takes up so much time it’s hard to do other sports. I teach kids how to swim as well in Ennis so that’s my focus. I tried GAA and camogie like everyone, but swimming was the one.
People ask how do you do it with the 5am starts with swimming but you get into a routine. I don’t really think about it any more. My teachers ask how do I manage school, study and everything but it’s just the routine. I find it actually gives me great time management because we know exactly how much time we have.
We had a practice week, so I was eating lots of carbohydrates and resting was the main thing. We had done all we could before that, we weren’t going to get better or worse. We did a few gym sessions but nothing excessive, it was all aerobics at that stage.
The main challenge we had going into it was the weather. It could’ve been windy or stormy with big waves but it turned out we got beautiful weather at Kilkee. A sandbank at Kilkee played havoc over the few days of competition. We did long swims, paddle around the course, paddle on surfboards, and running. It’s tough and draining but really exciting to watch because it’s a scramble for the line.
It was amazing. I’ve gone to all my brothers’ European competitions through the years and they haven’t gotten many medals, my eldest brother didn’t get one at all, so to come home with three golds was phenomenal. I wasn’t expecting to get any medals, so it didn’t really sink in until I was up there on the podium singing the national anthem. Hopefully it happens again sooner rather than later.
It was hilarious this year, the Italians were running into the water and freezing in shock. They didn’t have wetsuits or anything so it must have been awful. It’s the same with us going into hot water in togs, we’re used to wetsuits so it’s different everywhere you go.
Obviously studying is my main focus now as well. I’ll have to try and get into a good college but swimming is my priority at the moment.
I’m too old for the juniors now which is U18’s. So hopefully I’ll be going onto the seniors which will be in Italy next year. That can be any age so there’s a big gap between being the oldest at juniors to the youngest next year. I’ll just train hard and try to make the senior team next year.
Tara McEvoy was part of an Irish team that won 44 medals at the European Junior Lifesaving Championships at Kilkee Beach and UL Sports Arena last week. This haul included 20 golds, 16 silvers, and 8 bronze, placing Ireland fifth in the overall combined pool and beach competitions.
I’ve been swimming since I was very young and getting better and better as I got older. It’s only the last two years though that I’ve really copped on, trained hard and put the head down and now I realise I have the potential to make the national team and represent Ireland abroad.
It’s interesting because both of my brothers have represented Ireland. My whole family, my cousins and my aunts and uncles are all involved so it’s been passed down to me.
I’ve been training all of my life but this year it has become more intense. Last summer I trained nine times a week and twice a week in either the gym session, beach session or pool session which are two hours each. It’s been a huge commitment just trying to sort out which days we’re going to the beach and stuff like that. It’s a lot to have on my plate when you’re training like that, I’m only 18 and going into Leaving Cert so it can be tough.
Definitely the front crawl. I love the 400m open water event, the long-distance swims really suit me because I’m a taller swimmer and have bigger shoulders than most.
This summer I actually worked at Fanore Beach in Clare as a lifeguard. I did have to rescue two young kids on a bodyboard who got in a bit of trouble so I had to run down to get them. I hadn’t done much lifeguarding before that so that was a big scare for me. I’ve done all of it so many times in practise but the real thing is different. The panic of them calling for help is terrifying but then you just think to yourself, ‘hang on, I’ve trained for this’ and then go in. Then you have to deal with their aftershock, it’s a big adrenaline rush. Now though I can look back on it and see what I could improve on so it’s great that I could acknowledge that. Thankfully there were no serious injuries or casualties, it could have turned out so much worse.
Not swimming between the flags. There are signs saying to stay in between them, there are big huge flags, but you still see people swimming away outside them. You see that everywhere though. A lot of people wouldn’t be regular beach goers so you have to be on the ball the whole time.
The open water swim is probably the best and worst thing to do. You have to break it into stages because if you think about how long the swim is you’ll panic. It’s just trying to keep re-motivating yourself all the time when you’re in the water. We’ve done it all before so there’s nothing to be afraid of.
Before the race you feel sick to your stomach. Just the thought of going in and racing and getting to the finish line. That’s when your teammates are so important to give you support. Once you’re in there though it’s just absolute focus and telling yourself to keep going.
Just swimming really. It takes up so much time it’s hard to do other sports. I teach kids how to swim as well in Ennis so that’s my focus. I tried GAA and camogie like everyone, but swimming was the one.
People ask how do you do it with the 5am starts with swimming but you get into a routine. I don’t really think about it any more. My teachers ask how do I manage school, study and everything but it’s just the routine. I find it actually gives me great time management because we know exactly how much time we have.
We had a practice week, so I was eating lots of carbohydrates and resting was the main thing. We had done all we could before that, we weren’t going to get better or worse. We did a few gym sessions but nothing excessive, it was all aerobics at that stage.
The main challenge we had going into it was the weather. It could’ve been windy or stormy with big waves but it turned out we got beautiful weather at Kilkee. A sandbank at Kilkee played havoc over the few days of competition. We did long swims, paddle around the course, paddle on surfboards, and running. It’s tough and draining but really exciting to watch because it’s a scramble for the line.
It was amazing. I’ve gone to all my brothers’ European competitions through the years and they haven’t gotten many medals, my eldest brother didn’t get one at all, so to come home with three golds was phenomenal. I wasn’t expecting to get any medals, so it didn’t really sink in until I was up there on the podium singing the national anthem. Hopefully it happens again sooner rather than later.
It was hilarious this year, the Italians were running into the water and freezing in shock. They didn’t have wetsuits or anything so it must have been awful. It’s the same with us going into hot water in togs, we’re used to wetsuits so it’s different everywhere you go.
Obviously studying is my main focus now as well. I’ll have to try and get into a good college but swimming is my priority at the moment.
I’m too old for the juniors now which is U18’s. So hopefully I’ll be going onto the seniors which will be in Italy next year. That can be any age so there’s a big gap between being the oldest at juniors to the youngest next year. I’ll just train hard and try to make the senior team next year.
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