BARBARA Nugent admits she wasn’t a sporty person, but that all changed when she found rowing.
It was love at first sight, or first row.
Now, over a decade on, and in the year when she will celebrate her 60th birthday, Barbara is making waves on and off the water – the Dublin woman who calls Clonakilty her home and rows with Skibbereen Rowing Club has been crowned Rowing Ireland's Master Female Rower of the Year.
‘I got into rowing because of my son Sam,’ Barbara explains.
‘He started in Ring Rowing Club, and I used to be sitting on the pier, talking to all the mammies, when someone said I should give it a go – so I thought I would.
‘When he started secondary school he met lads who were rowing in Courtmacsherry, so I would drive him down a few times a week, and there were some masters’ women and men who would go for a row on a Sunday morning so I joined in, and I loved it.’
Ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games, Sam joined Skibbereen Rowing Club and dipped his oars in river rowing. So did his mom, who became part of the crew affectionately known in Skibb as The Mothership. After club secretary TJ Ryan saw mothers waiting in their cars as their kids trained, he convinced them to hop in a boat. And Barbara was hooked.
‘It was Debbie Heaphy and TJ that hatched a plan to get these women on the water. I've been rowing with Skibbereen for around seven years now,’ she explains.
‘Rowing is a big time investment and over the years people fell away for various reasons, but I just kept going. Now we have a smaller group, there are four of us in the core group that turn up day-in, day-out, and we have two ladies who rowed with us before who now coach.’
Rowing has opened up a new world for Barbara to explore. She has rowed at the Seville Masters, the Head of the Charles in Boston, Venice, London, and more. She has the rowing bug.
‘When you’re on the water, it’s like time stops,’ Barbara says.
‘If you are in a single, it’s just you, the boat and the water. The serenity of it. You can’t explain it, it’s that peace of mine.
‘We have a seal who follows us; we don’t know if it’s the same seal or not but we call him Coach. He keeps an eye on us when TJ is not around. It’s just incredible.’
The combined Skibbereen and Bantry crew that competed at the London Head of the River in 2024. Included are Majella O’Keeffe, Marion O’Donovan, Barbara Galvin, Una Ní Charra, Barbara Nugent, Elaine O’Flynn, Sharon Murphy, Mags Fitzgerald and cox Aisling Fitzgerald.
There is a group of ten local women who join forces for various regattas. Joining Barbara to fly the Skibbereen Rowing Club flag are Mags Fitzgerald, Elaine O’Flynn, Barbara Galvin, Sharon Murphy and Janet Murran. Majella O’Keeffe and Marion O’Donovan join from Bantry Rowing Club, along with Una Ní Charra and Mairead O’Shea from Castletownbere Rowing Club. Last year they competed in an eight at the London Head of the River, and they are planning on going back for more next month. The 2025 World Rowing Masters Regatta in Banyoles later this year could be on the cards, too, and Barbara would love to compete at the 2026 World Masters on Lake Bled in Slovenia next year; that is on her personal bucket list.
‘We range from 38 years of age to 63, so you have a woman’s entire life in that boat. We have women with small kids and with grandkids, and everything in between. It makes for a really inclusive and collaborative environment,’ Barbara explains.
‘We have people who have senior management jobs, who are nurses and midwives, teachers, artists, we have women running their own businesses, and so much more, and we try to get them out on the water to train, so that’s challenging because we are mindful that these are life things.
‘There are masters’ rowers who go out there to win and while we like to win it’s not necessarily the number one thing. For us, the number one thing is that idea of collaboration. There was a recent report about the impact of masters rowing on longevity, well-being and health, and we do it for that. Lots of women do other things but this is what we do.
‘Being out on the river (Ilen) is just incredible, we are just so lucky to have that stretch of water where we can row 15k on a nice day. It’s all part of being well, physically, emotionally and mentally.
‘I often think when we get in the boat, all the worries and what people are dealing with in their lives are left on land because you can’t think about anything else when you’re rowing – you’re working in rhythm in a team, and it’s a chance to be there in that moment, to give yourself that space. There is nothing more mindful than rowing because if you’re not present you’ll miss a stroke or the boat will wobble. With all the hats we wear in life, rowing creates that space for us in nature and to just be there, and leave all that other stuff on the shore for an hour.’
Barbara has loved every moment rowing has created for her, and the plan is to keep pulling for as long as she can.
‘I’m living in West Cork over 20 years and without me even knowing it, rowing has become a big part of my life,’ she says, and her contribution to the sport was recognised with Rowing Ireland's Master Female Rower of the Year award.
A fitting accolade for one of The Mothership originals who are masters of their own rowing destinies.
