Hi, first an introduction - my name is Paul although I also go under a few aliases' two of which I will share here "Butch91" is my sign on to the C2 UK forum and "Beowulf" is a kind of adopted motivation name which I use to gear myself up for the "pain" sessions. I'm originally from the UK (Yorkshire) although my father's family is from Belfast. I moved to Ireland (Cork) in 2005 and have lived and worked here since then, before I moved to Ireland I weighed in at about 120kg (19 stone) - played No.6 for my first team Rugby club every sat and trained in the gym five days a week - weights and some indoor rowing for CV - oh I am also getting a little long in the tooth coming up to 38 in August.

When I came here (Cork) I stopped the rugby and took up an old sporting interest of American Football for 4 seasons but in 2009 I finished with this as well as the gym. Then the inevitable happened - I gained weight - got to about 137kg (21.5 stone) 2 years ago, and so in March of 2010 I started back in a gym and after reasonable amount of CV work I got down to 127kg (20 stone) but I needed more motivation - I was no longer playing rugby or American football and I needed a reason to go to the gym or I'd get bored and start skipping it.

This is when a flash of inspiration appeared "Gym Challenge" which I only found out on a Thursday night and did it on the Friday, 1km bike - 1km x-train - 1km run - 1km row, in that order, I came fourth overall but found my rowing smashed the rest of the guys so with the help of the internet I found the concept2.com website, on here I found my 1k to be a reasonable time for the distance (bearing in mind I'd just completed the other tests as well) from that website I ended up on the therowingcompany.com website which had a forum of guys from around the world discussing indoor rowing (as well as OTW and cycling and a host of other topics) my interest was further aroused by the "Rowing Ireland Indoor Championships 2010" the topic of which was my grand introduction - boasting of my 3:10.6 1k and 1:25.0 500m LOL - at this point I was introduced to a few of the "PaddyPower IRC" members (no affiliation to the bookmakers) whom over time helped me out immensely and a team I am now proudly a member of .

So after a little work and encouragement I found myself entering the 2010 RIIC and managed a PB with 6:20.1 coming third in the 30-39H group. After coming home I was hooked, checking out the records on the C2 UK website I found that the Irish 30-39H record for a 2k was 6:07.1 - I had a new target ;o) - so set myself the objective of going back to the Irish the following year (2011) and taking Gold and the Irish 2k record. I also found the English Indoor Rowing Championship was being held in January 2011 and entered, at this point I was lucky enough to find a mentor/coach whom is known as "Q" within the C2 UK forum (real name James Bailey) - he put together a training plan and strategy for my race - at the English I came in second with 6:16.7 in the 2k (30-39H) and managed joint first in the 500m (30-39H) with 1:19.1 - I also was lucky enough to be in the mixed relay Gold winning team.

From January 2011 "Q" geared all of my training towards the Irish Gold in November 2011 - there where a few hiccups along the way - but we seemed to be on track - it was during this time I moved my training from the back bedroom to a shed I built in the back garden specifically for my rowing named "the Temple of Q" - as an extra incentive along the way I set myself the target of breaking as many of the Irish 30-39H records as possible and also the overall's if I could - I have to say "Q" is an outstanding coach and has guided me to some huge PB's including a 17k 60min row - at the time of the Irish I held all my age group records apart from the 2k - the 2k records can only be broken at a C2 event - so the pressure was on - at the Irish in November 2011 I was able once again to get a Personal Best time of 6:11.8 and take the Gold medal in the 30-39H group - but not the record - more work to be done.

I was entered into the CRASH-B's in Boston (USA) in Feb 2012 - this is the World Indoor Rowing Championship - a long way to travel for just over 6 minutes of pain - I mean race - but I had the opportunity to go and grasped it with both hands - in part to race - in part to recon for future appearances there (I was pretty sure I was outside medal contention when entering) - and in part to meet more of the Indoor Rowing community which is truly a worldwide friendly supportive group - an absolute pleasure to be part of. Again I trained hard for Boston with 6 sessions on the rower a week - totalling 100,000m or more per week - travelling out to Boston as part of the Team GB and Ireland was fantastic and would love to go again - a bonus for me was to take the Bronze with the fastest time for Team GB & IRL of 6:12.2 - but not as fast as I hoped - or believed I was capable of.

So then it was only a month to the British and European Indoor Rowing Championship in Nottingham - a slight change of training as between Q and myself we had decided to look at the long term goal - so into some power endurance work - which led me to feel very confident and feel a strength come through in my legs (which to be honest were pretty strong already) I was lined up to race alongside Graham Benton who I knew was looking to take the Championship record - he's out of my league - for now ;o) - so the pressure was truly off as I was seeded 4th - so no pressure to win - no pressure to medal - just about what I wanted - I had my own goals which I set out as follows - break my PB (6:11.8) was a personal bronze - break 6:10.0 was a silver - break the Irish record (6:07.1) was a Gold - I had a race plan and strategy in mind - my own race - I got the 500m start I wanted and was able to hold the pace I needed through the middle 1k - then it came to the final 500m - I was sat on an average pace (per 500m) of 1:32.7 - I needed to finish with 1:31.8 - time for Beowulf to make an appearance - and he did - my final 500m came in at 1:28.1 and smashed my own PB by 5.5 seconds and took the Irish record by 0.8 seconds! I also managed to claim the Bronze - to say I was delighted would be an understatement.

So what next - well there are three overall Irish records I am lining up the 30min, 10k and 60min - I will also consider the 100k which would take 6hour and 30min minimum - there is also the C2 challenge series which I am in contention to take the Gold in the 30-39 group - and further down the field I am hoping to break the magical 6 min 2k barrier - and the overall (current) Irish 2k record. I am currently down to 18stone (114kg) and this is all thanks to concept2 and a gym challenge almost 2 years ago.

My current records to date are -

• 100m - 0:14.6
• 300m - 0:44.8
• 500m - 1:18.0
• 1,000m - 2:54.3
• Mile - 4:58.9
• 2,000m - 6:06.2
• 2,500m - 7:54.2
• 5,000m - 16:47.5
• 10,000m - 34:49.5
• HM - 1:16:13
• FM - 2:39:39
• 30min - 8,686m
• 60min - 17,004m
• 100,000m - 6:46:07 (updated 18th April 2012)