One of our lunches, at Café Milano, the Rick’s Café of Washington, began at 1 P.M., and ended at 11:30 P.M. At about nine o’clock (though my memory is somewhat hazy), he said, “Should we order more food?” I somehow crawled home, where I remained under medical supervision for several weeks, packed in ice with a morphine drip. Christopher probably went home that night and wrote a biography of Orwell. His stamina was as epic as his erudition and wit.

Taken from http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/12/postscript-christopher-hitchens.html#ixzz1ggnWa0CxI

I came to Hitchen’s writings late in my life (and even later in his, it has sadly turned out), but I stand in awe of the man’s wit, intelligence, style and turn of phrase. A giant of a man, in all senses of the word. We are genuinely worse off  as a culture without him and there really aren’t that many people you can say that about.

I’m really very sorry I never got to meet him. It will stand as a regret of my life. Sometimes these things are not meant to be, but I am fairly certain from his writings and his bombast that we would have got on. Of course, now I’ll never know.

So according to the BBC news site this morning, Anders Behring Breivik has been found to be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

Psychiatrists assessing self-confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik have concluded that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
They believe he was in a psychotic state during the twin attacks on 22 July that led to the deaths of 77 people and injured 151.

Given the nature of his crime, this isn’t that surprising. However, I was intrigued by the use of the term ‘psychotic state’ as I recently read and enjoyed Jon Ronson’s excellent recent book ‘The Psychopath Test.’ He discusses at length in this book the nature of psychopathy but I realised I didn’t really know what a ‘psychotic state’ was in relation to pyschopathy, so I googled it.

One quick trip to wikipedia later, and I think someone has been a bit bold.

Psychosis (from the Greek ψυχή “psyche”, for mind/soul, and -ωσις “-osis”, for abnormal condition) means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a “loss of contact with reality”. People suffering from psychosis are described as religious or psychotic.

Ouch. Harsh.

[EDIT - I see it's now gone. For the record, it wasn't me! Here's a link to the page showing what it looked like before the revision was made.]

I shall still update this one, but I will be splitting off my food-related content to a new home: Well Fried Onions

It’s a bit sparse over there at the moment, but I’m sitting on a tonne of content for both that blog, and this one. Over the next week or so I intend to load both of them up.

Are you the idiot in other people’s lives, or are they the idiot in yours?

A comforting thought for a Tuesday morning.

This story has generated a lot of interest on Twitter, and I’ve picked up a lot of foodie followers as a result. Hopefully you find it interesting – Alex

Star Turn
Published in The Sunday Business Post on May 15th, 2011, by Alex Meehan

How hard could it be? I’ve just persuaded Martijn Kajuiter, the Michelin-starred chef at the Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Co Waterford, to let me do a stint in his kitchen.

Now I’m wondering exactly what I’ve let myself in for.

It won’t be a case of dropping in for a couple of hours – Kajuiter has made it clear that he expects me to do a full shift and that I won’t be getting any special treatment. It’s a little more than I bargained for, but it’s an opportunity that’s just too good to miss.

Kajuiter is one of the very few – six to be exact – chefs in Ireland who hold a Michelin star, and is the only one of that small group who is based outside Dublin. Born in the

Netherlands, the 35-year-old came to the Cliff House in 2008 at the invitation of owner Barry O’Callaghan, having worked with some of the biggest names in the culinary world, including Pierre Koffmann, Marco Pierre White and Henk Savelberg.

A physically imposing man – he is 6 feet 8 inches tall – Kajuiter has established himself as one of the most innovative chefs working in Ireland. Winning a Michelin star in 2010 and keeping it in 2011 has put his restaurant on the map, and made the Cliff House a place that people go out of their way to visit.

While it’s hard to put an exact value on winning a star, at a time when many Irish hotels are struggling to stay open let alone turn a profit, the Cliff House enjoys enviable occupancy rates.

‘‘When we opened, everyone said, ‘oh he’s aiming for a star’ because of what we were serving, but I really wasn’t,” says Kajuiter.

‘‘I was looking for happiness in life, believe it or not. I wanted to work with a great team, be creative and cook in an amazing place. I wanted to do that with my wife and kids alongside me.

‘‘Of course I’m proud of our achievement – I am a chef after all – but the star came because of our approach and our commitment to quality, not because we set out to get one.”

What makes a Michelin-starred kitchen special? Obviously to the diner and the Michelin inspector, it’s the food on the plate – the quality of the ingredients, their seasonality, the design of the dish, the presentation and the taste. But that’s only one part of the picture.

Consistency is the real challenge. It’s one thing to be able to put together a plate of food to Michelin standard, but it’s quite another to do it on a busy Saturday night in a full restaurant, executing each and every plate to the same standard, and making sure that every dish gets to each diner at the right temperature, and at the right time.

Achieving this means starting early.

When I arrive in Kajuiter’s kitchen at 11am on a Saturday morning, the place is already buzzing. It’s relatively small for an operation of this size, but it’s functional. The main kitchen area is constructed around a central island of stoves and ovens, with each station operating in its own distinct area.

Meat and fish are in one corner, as are pastry and desserts, stocks, baking and garnishing.

At the front is the pass, the place where garnishes are finished and assembled dishes pause under the heat lamps for the few critical seconds it takes to get the chef’s approval before they are sent to the dining room.

Kajuiter shows me around, introducing me to a succession of slightly harassed looking junior chefs who are busy making stocks for sauce bases, preparing garnishes, making fresh pasta and ravioli, and otherwise prepping for lunch service in the bar and dinner in the main restaurant that night.

All of the ingredients are sourced locally – on the menu tonight are scallops from west Cork, organic salmon from Bantry Bay, Waterford spring chicken, Helvick monkfish, Black Angus beef, lamb from Lismore and duck from Skeaghanore.

For the kitchen staff, service starts in earnest at around 6.30pm, and once the first guests are seated, there is no longer time to tidy up loose ends.

One mistake can derail the whole effort, and making sure that doesn’t happen takes an enormous amount of advance preparation.

For the senior staff, the working day starts with the daily morning meeting, which is held in the dining room over freshly brewed coffee.

Kajuiter and his second in command, sous chef Dirk Mooren, sit down with Paul and Nick (the meat and fish chefs), and Gareth and Patrick (pastry, desserts, baking and petit fours) to dissect the previous night’s service and discuss their plans for the evening ahead.

Kitchens are notoriously rough and ready places to work, and while Kajuiter is soft spoken and respectful with his staff, there’s no question about who’s in charge. He is ruthless in identifying where things could have been tighter the night before, and when a suggestion is made for a potential special, he quickly points out that it’s not seasonal enough.

‘‘We have a journalist with us today, but I don’t care about that,” he says. ‘‘Everyone is to do things exactly as you otherwise would. He should see things as they are. No pretty faces just for today.”

With that, we’re up and off. The others head back to prep, and Kajuiter brings me out to one of his newly-built greenhouses in the grounds of the hotel, where he grows some of the more delicate and perishable herbs and edible flowers which he uses in his dishes.

There’s cress, marjoram, pea shoots, chervil, beetroot, rocket, fennel, sweet woodruff and edible viola, or Irish molly flowers, as well as a vast array of other unusual herbs he’s grown from seed.

Seasonality and the use of local produce are at the heart of Kajuiter’s food, but that creates its own problems.

‘‘This isn’t Dublin – if we run short of something or sell out of something, we can’t just nip out to get more,” he says. ‘‘We’re in Waterford, and that means careful planning and working with the seasons.”

With this in mind, a few years ago he came to an agreement with the managers of St Raphael’s residential and daycare centre In Youghal to bring its organic nursery back to life.

We spend part of the afternoon in the two large poly tunnels there, picking out fresh produce from the evening service.

Back in the kitchen, as the afternoon wears on things start to heat up, both literally and figuratively. Junior chefs are shouted at when it looks like standards might slip; a fire alarm goes off when someone overloads a tumble dryer, but the kitchen staff barely stop to acknowledge it; and when the staff meal is served at around 5pm, it’s eaten standing up.

It’s an intense working environment, so it’s natural that emotions run high.

The staff are all extremely skilled in their own right – most of them could easily get a head chef job somewhere else if they wanted it – but they stay because they know they’re getting the kind of experience that will stand to them for life.

At one point during the evening service, what seems like a full-scale riot breaks out in the kitchen as Kajuiter picks up on a mistake.

One of the line chefs has got his timing wrong, resulting in three main courses being ready to go at the pass, while one more is late.

The chef is not a beginner, but this is a rookie mistake.

To make matters worse, when he’s asked about his timing, he tries to cover for his error, something which riles Kajuiter more than the initial mistake. He gets a severe dressing down, while around him, his colleagues avert their gaze and keep working.

The atmosphere is extremely tense, but five minutes later things are back to normal and all seems to be forgiven.

‘‘There might be shouting or harsh words, but it’s forgotten about quickly,” Kajuiter says. ‘‘If I’m out of line I’ll apologise. I don’t believe in a culture of fear in the kitchen. It doesn’t get the best out of people, and you don’t keep staff.

‘‘People who work here do it for more than just a pay cheque.

Every single person has a function in the kitchen, and they all make it work. If the kitchen porter doesn’t deliver the goods, we’re all screwed.”

Kajuiter is acutely aware that a Michelin star can be a double-edged sword. While it has sent the profile of the Cliff House sky high, it has also probably led some people to presume that it is out of their price range.

‘‘A Michelin star puts you in a box,” he says. ‘‘It makes people think you are expensive and exclusive, but that’s the wrong way to look at it.

‘‘Having one star means that you are an exceptionally good restaurant in your own category. It’s about what’s on the plate – your restaurant could be in a shed in the middle of the mountains, but if you are cooking fantastic food, you could get a star.

It has nothing to do with being expensive, or Having Wedgwood plates, or what the room is like.”

Prices haven’t gone up in the restaurant since the star was awarded – a three-course meal costs €65,while an eight-course tasting menu costs €85.Matched wines cost €25 or €40 per person with the tasting menu.

If Kajuiter could ask one thing of his customers, it’s that they don’t pre-judge the experience of eating in his restaurant.

‘‘Sometimes people have such high expectations that if one little thing isn’t how they think it should be, then the whole experience is ruined for them,” he says. ‘‘If something isn’t right, it isn’t right – and please tell us if that’s the case – but this isn’t a competition between the kitchen and the guest. It’s a celebration.

We want you to be thrilled.”

It’s 8.30pm, and service is in full flow. The restaurant is packed; 72 guests are eating dinner tonight, and 14 of them are having the tasting menu.

Earlier in the day I’d prepared garnishes and helped with prep, but for the last hour or so I’d been watching from the sidelines, as service started in earnest.

Suddenly Kajuiter is explaining tome what he wants done and how to do it.

The dish is a salmon starter I saw prepared earlier – the organic fish from Bantry Bay is served as a ballotine, as an ice cream and also marinated, along with preserved cucumber and beetroot textures.

It has to be plated up with herbs and leaves in just the right place, and with sauces added dot by dot, in the right order and quantity.

At the pass, it’s topped with a glass dome, and a special gadget is used to ignite oak sawdust, which is then pumped under the dome.

The plate is then whisked away to the dining room, where the server presents it to the diner by lifting off the dome and releasing the smoke. It’s a clever take on smoked salmon – or maybe smoking salmon would be a more accurate description.

By now I’ve watched quite a few of these plates make it to the pass and enjoyed the theatre of the final preparation.

Now, Kajuiter is beside me. ‘‘So you’ve seen how to do it, yes? Okay, time to get those pristine whites dirty.”

He has me plate up with him, watching each step to see if I’ve got it right.

The atmosphere is suddenly tense, and I’m aware that he’s not treating me like a guest in his kitchen any more – we’re working on food that is going out to the dining room.

‘‘Okay, that’s good. Do four more.”

He moves away, leaving a plate for me to copy and I’m on my own, concentrating as hard as I ever have.

The noise and bustle behind me fade away while I hunch over the plate.

A minute later he’s back, examining my work.

‘‘Yes, that’s it. Good. Okay, take them to the pass.”

At the front of the kitchen, the restaurant manager and two servers are waiting.

Kajuiter is beside me, telling me to hurry up.

I load up the smoke burner, switch on the pump and get ready to light the wood. It’s a fiddly job, and Kajuiter is getting impatient with the delay – there are paying guests waiting for this food, and the salmon must go to the table at exactly the same time as other dishes, which have just arrived on the pass.

I’m suddenly painfully conscious of the audience of servers, management and other chefs watching me from the corner of their eye.

‘‘Okay, go! Add the smoke. Like that. No, add more. Okay, and the next plate. Hurry up. Get it right. Too slow! Okay, there. It’s done. SERVICE! Go go go!” The plates are taken away, and I’m struggling to turn the blowtorch off. I’m sweating and my heart is racing. Kajuiter is smiling.

‘‘How did that feel? Scary, huh? That’s how Marco made me feel my first service with him. It’s a buzz, isn’t it?”

Fourteen hours after I arrived, I’m sitting in Kajuiter’s office having a coffee. In the dining room, the last guest is nibbling on petits fours, while in the kitchen, the staff are starting the clean-down process, scrubbing the room until it gleams and is ready for it all to happen again tomorrow.

Including amuses bouches, sorbets, starters, main courses and desserts,430 plates of food have left the kitchen this evening. It has been an exhausting and exhilarating experience.

But, most importantly, it didn’t kill me.

So there’s lots of stuff to come here in the next few days. See you on the other side . . .

Alex

London Fields
Published in The Sunday Business Post on March 13th, 2011, by Alex Meehan

There may be just under 18months to go to the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games, but for anyone considering a trip to London to cheer on the Irish team, next Tuesday is an important date.

On that day, applications open for tickets for the Games, and with the event just an hour away by plane, demand for tickets is expected to be huge.

To get to London 2012, Irish fans will have to compete in a lottery-style ticket allocation system for all but the most niche interest sports. ‘‘The reality is that there are no 500,000-seater stadiums, so unfortunately, not everyone will get to see the events they want to see,” says Stephen Martin, chief executive of the Olympics Council of Ireland.

‘‘Generally, the most popular events from A ticketing point of view are the ones that are really dramatic. Athletics is extremely popular, and the finals of events like the 100 metres and the relay races towards the end of the athletics programme are all prime events.

From an Irish point of view, we have a strong boxing element to our team, so two or three of the boxing finals could also figure prominently for us.”

‘‘Everyone wants to see the same batch of events, and the finals are always oversubscribed in pretty much every discipline. It’s easier to see the early rounds of most sports, most notably those like football where there are big stadiums.

There will also be a little bit of pressure when it comes to getting access to opening and closing ceremonies.”

For the city of London, the prospect of welcoming hundreds of thousands tourists for the Games, in addition to those who are visiting the city for other reasons, represents an unparalleled promotional opportunity.

‘‘It’s the world’s biggest sporting event, and we’re expecting a lot of visitors,” says Jacqueline French of Visit London. ‘‘London is a well-connected city that is relatively easy to get to, and we’re hoping that this will encourage people to come. In particular, we think that fans of Olympic sports who normally watch the Games on TV may make the effort this time around.”

Visit London estimates that around 320,000 international visitors will travel to Britain for the Games, but is unable to predict just how many will come from Ireland.

‘‘We have done research which says that the appeal of, and interest in, the Olympics is just as high in Ireland as it is here in Britain,” says French. ‘‘That would suggest that a lot of Irish people are likely to visit, probably more than from many other countries.

There’s already lots of interest from Ireland, And we only expect that to build as the Games get closer.”

French’s advice for Irish people thinking of travelling to the Games is to book ahead and to consider all options. ‘‘By the time the

Games come around, we should have around 120,000 hotel rooms available in London itself,” she says.

‘‘It’s likely that once the tickets are on sale, people will start looking for accommodation, so there will probably be a rush. It’s worth looking ahead for accommodation, but bear in mind that many hotels haven’t yet released prices.

Keep an eye on the different hotels – once one or two of them start launching Olympic packages, then they all will.

‘‘There are quite a few of the budget chains, such as Travelodge, that offer great value for money, and groups can often benefit from self-catered apartments.

They allow you to come and go as you want and cater for yourself, and that can help keep costs under control.”

With any large event, it’s not unusual for the hospitality industry to capitalise on increased demand by pushing prices up.

However, efforts have been made to try to keep this to a minimum.

‘‘We’ve been working on a fair pricing and practice charter, predominantly aimed at the hospitality and events industry,” says Jacqueline French.

‘‘What we’re saying is that this is our chance to showcase London, and we’re encouraging people not to mess that up by hiking prices.

Obviously, we don’t have any official control over prices, but we’re all interested in promoting the city for the future as well as just for this event.”

Getting around London is relatively easy, if sometimes time-consuming. Ideally, visitors will attempt to base themselves near the locations where their chosen sports are scheduled to be played.

The main Olympic village itself is in Stratford in east London, and it is in this area that the main events, including athletics, swimming and cycling, will take place.

‘‘Some of the other sporting venues in London will also be used, such as Wembley Stadium for football and Wimbledon for tennis,” says French. ‘‘Tennis isn’t such a popular Olympic sport, but getting tickets for Wimbledon itself is often very hard, so this is an opportunity for tennis fans to watch top-tier tennis in Wimbledon as part of the Games.

The atmosphere there is always great, and I’m sure that will be carried through to the Olympics.”

But just how many Irish athletes will be heading to London 2012? ‘‘Traditionally, we take part in ten to 12 sports, and send 40 to 50 athletes to the Olympics. London looks like it will shape up similarly,” says Stephen Martin.

‘‘It’s hard to say right now how many Irish sportsmen and women will travel to the Games, because in many sports the qualification process is still ongoing, but it could be anything from 40 to around 64.We will know better at the end of this year.”

Martin says the fact that the Games are Taking place to close to home will probably mean more to spectators than it will to competitors. ‘‘Proximity to Ireland doesn’t really make a huge difference to our efforts – we still have to qualify in each event,” he says.

‘‘There will definitely be more interest in the Games themselves though, because they’re so close. There will probably be much more coverage here in Ireland of the Games, and we do expect more Irish spectators to visit London.”

According to Martin, there is strong potential for Irish representation in athletics, badminton, boxing, canoe slalom and flat water, road and track cycling; equestrian events including showjumping and eventing; judo; modern pentathlon; rowing; sailing; swimming; shooting; triathlon and taekwondo.

‘‘In athletics, we have quite a few potential qualifiers, with around eight athletes and a relay team.

These eight include a couple of walkers – Robbie Heffernan and Olive Loughnane – who finished in the top eight in the world and Olympic Games in the last few years.

We also have David Gillick and Derval O’Rourke, who made the finals in the European or world championships in the last few years, and Paul Hession, who has made the semi-finals in the 200 metres,” he says.

‘‘They are the athletes that most people would expect to qualify and do well, and there will be quite a few people looking out for them.

There is also potential for a women’s relay team in both the 100 and 400 metres in track and field, but we have to be in the top 16 in the world to qualify.”

Badminton players Scott Evans and Chloe Magee, both of whom competed in Beijing, are seeking to qualify again.

‘‘In boxing, the national champions are preparing for the world championships, and that’s the first opportunity they will get to qualify,” says Martin.
‘‘We have people like Paddy Barnes, who has maintained a consistent level since Beijing and who has gone on to win medals at the European championships and Commonwealth games.

Because Joe Ward beat Kenny Egan in the national championships, he will be going to the world championships, and Kenny Egan won’t. If Joe secures a quarter-final placing, that will qualify him for the Olympics.

There’s a chance that Kenny might try to get there by a different route, but it all depends on how they do at the world championships.”

Katie Taylor is probably Ireland’s most high-profile Olympic hopeful, while her fellow boxer John Joe Nevin is also aiming to qualify for London. ‘‘John Joe was the first to qualify last time around for Beijing, and he won the national championships this time around as well,” says Martin. Other Irish Olympic hopefuls include road cyclist Nicolas Roche, Beijing Olympian Eoin Rheinisch in the canoe slalom, and flat-water canoeist Barry Watkins.

‘‘In the equestrian events, we have Denis Lynch and Billy Toomey, who are in the top 15 in the world showjumping rankings, as well as eventing riders Jane Doherty, Captain Geoff Curran, Sam Watson and others.

Natalya Coyle will hopefully qualify in the modern pentathlon, while Lisa Kearney is well on her way to representing Ireland in judo, and is currently ranked ninth in the world,” says Martin. In rowing, Ireland’s hopes rest with a largely new team which is under 23 years of age – the experienced rowers retired after Beijing, leaving the field open to a new generation.

In triathlon, Aileen Morrison has won medals on the world cup circuit, while in sailing Peter O’Leary won the Skandia Olympic Test event last summer in Weymouth in the star class.

‘‘In some events, you either qualify or you don’t, but in others there is more time to approach qualifying from a few different angles,” says Stephen Martin.

‘‘The fact that the Games are so close to Ireland will raise the profile of Irish sport, So we would like to try to make use of it and get people interested in taking part. Sports that don’t usually get much coverage here will probably also get more attention this time around, which should be great for their profile.”

PANEL OUT: How to get tickets

Approximately 8.8 million tickets will be made available for the 2012 Olympic Games, with applications being accepted between March 15 and April 26 2011.

To get tickets, applicants need to visit a special ticket website to register their interest. For sessions where demand exceeds supply, the organisers have said they’ll use an automated and random selection process to ensure the fairest allocation of tickets. People successful in securing tickets can pay for them between May 10 and June 10, with prices ranging from £20 up to an eye watering £725 for some of the most high profile finals. Prices average at around £90.

Package deals are also on offer from three official hospitality companies – Thomas Cook, Prestige Ticketing and Jet Set Sports. For more information and to register for tickets, visit www.tickets.london2012.com

PANEL Lisa Kearney – Judo

With several world class wins under her black belt, 21 year old Northern Irish Judo competitor Lisa Kearney is well on her way to the 2012 Olympic games.

Currently ranked at 9th in the world in her category, she easily falls inside the qualifying cut off point of being within the world’s top 14 competitors, but in order to make to the games she has to maintain this position between now and the start of the event.

“Our qualifying process doesn’t finish until April 2012, so there’s a fair bit of time in front of me,” says Kearney. “It takes three years to qualify in Judo, so it’s really long compared to some of the other sports. I’m about half way through now. At the start of the qualifying cycle, my coaches and I decided we’d have a go at it, but the more I’ve competed and the more success I’ve had, the prospect has become quite realistic. Now it’s achievable but there’s a lot of work to do.”

Kearney has relocated from her home in Belfast where she trained with the Yamakwai Judo Dojo to Edinburgh where she now trains full time with the British squad.

“There is no full time Judo set up anywhere in Ireland, so I had to move away. I was looking at different places – but there’s a full time training facility in Edinburgh and it’s used as an Olympic training centre, so I know I can get the best quality coaching and other players to train with. My coach from my home club, Ciaran Ward, has been excellent and he knew the coaches over here so he was able to set it up for me.”

Kearney has been practicing Judo for 13 years, since she was 8 years old, and believes that an early start is definitely an advantage when it comes to stepping up to the standard of judo found at the Olympic games.

“It’s good to start young — it definitely helps — but it’s not absolutely necessary. The Olympic standard is completely different to what you see in normal international competitions, but it’s quite close to what I’m seeing now here in the UK. I’m competing in the world cups, grand prix, grand slams – and the people who are at these competitions are the people who will be at the Olympics. The standard is much higher but I have a good idea what I’m going to face.”

One challenge all Olympic athletes face is how to fund the in depth and often full time training required to compete on the international stage.

“It’s very expensive to do what I’m doing. I’m attending university in a part time capacity, but I’m doing it really slowly and fitting it in around training. My parents help me out, I get some grant money in Northern Ireland but I’d love to be sponsored,” says Kearney.

“Success in Judo comes from having a high level of fitness, a high level of training and just that little bit of luck as well. Sometimes there are things that are outside your control – how a referee’s decision goes, what kind of draw you get and even if you have a cold on the day or not. Sometimes a little bit of luck goes a long way.”

PANEL Sam Watson – Three day eventing

Born in Carlow, the 25 year old Sam Watson is currently based in the UK, where he is in intensive training for his chosen equestrian discipline of three day eventing, along with his horse Horseware Bushman, or George, as he is otherwise known.

“Sports eventing is like the pentathalon in athletics except for horses. We do three phases – dressage, show jumping and cross country – and I think the cross country is the centrepiece of the sport,” says Watson.

“It’s traditionally the most watched phase and it’s the most physically demanding on the horse. Dressage is a little like gym-work for a horse – teaching it to go sideways, backwards and forwards –it’s very much a discipline thing and control over the horse is very important. It builds up lots of muscles in the horse and strengthens it –it makes a horse into an athlete.”

Watson is considered one of Ireland’s best hopes for qualification, although he narrowly missed out on winning an automatic place at the Olympics at last year’s world games.

“There was one event last year, the world games, which offered a one off chance to qualify straight away and we narrowly missed that – we finished seventh and the top six automatically qualified. To make matter worse, we were sitting in sixth place for most of it and lost out at the last minute,” he says.

“As of March 1 though, there is a 12 month window where every international at the top level will count towards individual rankings, so this is the year to work hard.”

Watson has based himself in the UK in order to get access to more regular competitions. “Ireland is a big country for breeding and producing sports horses for show jumping and eventing. We breed great horses and many of the top German, English and American riders are riding Irish horses. England and Germany is where you find the best trainers though. We also only have one three star event in Ireland – the equivalent of a European championship. The Olympics is a four star event – we don’t have any of those, but there are two in the UK every year.”

Like other Irish Olympic hopefuls, Watson would love to see more sponsorship money made available to those athletes and competitors that have large overheads.

“Horses aren’t cheap. It costs me about €25,000 a year to run a top level horse and that’s before I support myself or pay for things like sports psychology, nutrition and all the other assets that make the winning difference,” he says.

“I’m lucky, I come from a horsey background so I’ve never had to buy a horse, but I’ve spent ten hard years training my horse and a lot of effort has gone into him and there’s no back up there if something happens. Most of the wealthier riders we’re up against have three or four top level backups in the stables. I can only run my horse six times a year, tops, but they can ride much more often.”

Watson is one of five athletes to get an Olympic scholarship and while he is extremely grateful for the money, he argues that “it’s not much in the grand scheme of things.”

“It’s around €20,000 between now and London 2012. That’s just over €1,000 a month, which does make a big difference because it takes pressure off me, but it’s nowhere near enough money to allow me to dedicate myself to training full time.”

PANEL Bryan Keane – Triathlon

Currently based in Spain, ex photographer turned full time triathlete Bryan Keane has overcome some serious setbacks to get himself race fit for the Olympics. Last September the Corkman was hit by a car while out cycling, breaking his kneecap in the process.

“My season has been affected as a result – I’m starting a little late but I hope to be race fit for the end of April or beginning of May. I should be fine,” he says.

Keane races Olympic distance triathlons, which involves swimming 1500 metres, cycling 40 kilometres and then running 10 kilometres. Considered one of the most demanding and difficult of Olympic events, it requires special determination to be in with a chance of winning.

“It’s pretty hardcore. The International Triathlon Union is our governing body and we race a circuit in the same way that tennis or motorsport has its circuits. It’s separate to the ironman brand – we’re more short course than long course athletes.”

Keane has been taking part in the triathlon for just three years, but has previously both run and cycled for Ireland and had competed in swimming. He made the choice to switch to triathlon when he realised he could combine his abilities in that discipline and reach a higher level than in the constituent sports.

“I knew what I could achieve within running and within cycling – I had brought myself to an international standard in those fields and I knew I couldn’t really make a living from them. I always wanted to do triathlon so I decided to go for it. The training routine is pretty full on though – I’m currently training 25 to 30 hours a week, roughly broken down in four sessions a day.”

“I swim six days a week, and cycle between 25 to 40 kilometres a week. Each athlete has weak points and strong points but in triathlon you’re only as good as your weakest event. You might spend more time in the pool or on your bike depending on where you know you need more work.”

Keane is training full time and says it’s not really possible to train at this level and also hold down a job. “It’s a full time endeavour  so sports council funding is extremely important. I’m relying on funding and I have some good sponsorship. We get good TV and media coverage for our events, so that makes it worthwhile to sponsor us, and the prize money is good,” he says.

“It costs between €35,000 to €40,000 – it’s expensive, but not compared to sailing or horse riding. Kinetica, a nutrition brand, has been very good to me not just with financial aid but also in lending me a nutritionist. I’m also sponsored by a bike shop in Ireland, so I do all right,” says Keane.

PANEL Annalise Murphy – Sailing

For most people sailing is a sedate and relaxing hobby, but not for 21 year old Olympic hopeful Annalise Murphy. Racing laser radial dinghies is a passion that has lead her to the top of her discipline and to within reach of qualification for the 2012 games.

Murphy recently cracked the top ten world ranking list for the first time, after coming fourth in her event in the latest round of the International Sailing Federation’s World Cup in Miami. Now ranked ninth in the world, she has deferred finishing her science degree in UCD to pursue her Olympic dream.

“There are eighteen months to the games and that seems like both a long time and no time at all to me. I’ve basically been sailing full time for the last two years and the time has just flown by. It’s gone so quick I can’t believe it,” she says.

“I sail laser radial, a small dinghy used for women’s Olympic class racing. It’s basically one person in a boat with one sail. I’ve been sailing all my life, since I was three or four and I’ve been sailing radial since 2005. I come from a sailing family, and actually my mum Cathy sailed in the Olympics in 1988 so it’s a family tradition now.”
“It’s a passion, something I’ve grown up doing and I love it. It’s become harder as it’s no longer just a sport I do for fun – I’m doing it as a full time job and that’s obviously different.“

The Rathfarnham based woman has clocked up some very respectable wins in the time she’s been sailing full time. In July 2009, she became the first Irish sailor to win a Europa Cup event in 13 years and later that year at her first world championship as a senior in Japan, she won the under-21 world title. In 2010 she picked up wins in Brisbane and Melbourne.

“Everything I do every day is geared towards getting as good as possible in advance of the 2012 Olympics. My parents and some family friends are covering most of the bills, and I get a grant from the Irish Sports Council because I was eighth at the world championships in 2009, and that makes a huge difference. But sailing is a hugely expensive sport,” she says.

“We have so much more costs than everyone else – an athlete just needs a new pair of trainers every now and again but we need a new boat, a new set of sails for every race, and that costs €500 each time – it all adds up to quite a lot. You can have corporate sponsorship but it’s hard to get.”

ENDS

Alex