As she prepares for her third European Coastal Championships, Castletownshend rower Ella Cialis chats to KIERAN McCARTHY about how she embraces the experience

KIERAN McCARTHY (KMC): Ella, take me back to the start – when did you first get involved in rowing, and what was it that attracted you to the sport?

ELLA: I do coastal rowing with Castletownshend Rowing Club now, but I started on the river with Skibbereen Rowing Club when I was nine or ten years old. My mam was the caretaker at the time, and I was thrown into a boat one day to fill an empty seat. Twenty-two years on, I’m still rowing! I spent many years with Skibb, raced a bit with UCC in college, and then switched to coastal rowing in 2019.

KMC: It’s been an adventure so far, first with Skibbereen and now with Castletownshend, so what’s kept you on the water and coming back for more?

ELLA: Being part of a crew. You have a lot of fun, but also there’s always something to work on. It might be technique or fitness, how the boat is set up, figuring out how to do the turns faster, or finding the best position for everyone in the boat. With so many things to focus on, it means every session is different. When you’re working on improving something, especially as a crew, and it starts to ‘click,’ it's a great feeling.

KMC: You have the European Coastal Championships in Spain next week, so fill us in on some of the biggest milestones or achievements in your rowing career so far.

ELLA: In 2012, my last year as a junior in Skibb, we won gold in the intermediate double and junior quad. Then a week later, I won the J1x for Ireland at the Home International Regatta. Back in 2019, the first World Coastal Championships I rowed in Hong Kong will always be a big one. I raced the 2x with Eimear Walsh – we didn't make the A final but we made sure we won the B final after!

Also, in 2022, winning a bronze medal at the World championships was very special  – in the women's 4x with Eileen Whooley, Karen Hickey, Orla Hayes and our cox Jack Calnan. It’s definitely my favourite race ever. We worked hard for that medal!

This will be my third European championship. In 2022, Gillian Hosford and I came tenth in San Sebastian. I raced with Mary Ann Kent in Turkey last year, where we ranked seventh.

Mary Ann Kent and Ella Cialis have forged a successful parntership on the water.

KMC: You’re in the women’s double with Mary Ann Kent of Arklow Rowing Club again for these Europeans – how did that partnership come about?

ELLA: We raced against each other for years, in Ireland and abroad, so we knew each other from regattas. Mary Ann joined us for a few training sessions in Castletownshend, we tried the double together and we’ve been training and racing in that since.

She has a European silver medal in the women’s quad already, and she’s incredibly dedicated – she spends half the week in Dublin for work, training in the gym, and then stays in Cork the other days so we can get on the water together. We’re working off the same programme, so when we’re apart we’re still doing the same training.

We’ve raced a lot this year – we’ve done all the Irish endurance regattas, Ocean to City, and we travelled to Wales twice. We won gold in the women’s double, women’s quad and mixed quad at the Welsh championships in June, and Mary Ann took silver in the single. We won silver in the Irish championships in August. Our last day out before Spain was the Kenmare Regatta last weekend – we won the women’s double, and Florence Fitzgerald and I also won silver in the Mixed 2x.

KMC: For people who might not know much about coastal endurance rowing, what exactly does the race involve? And how different is it from the traditional rowing people might be more familiar with, particularly given the success of Skibbereen rowers?

ELLA: Coastal endurance races are held over 4km or 6km, out on the open sea – that’s two to three times the length of the racing you’d see in the Olympics. Unlike traditional rowing, there are no lanes, and it’s not a straight course. There are between six and ten marker buoys that you must navigate around, and you could have up to 20 boats on the start-line all aiming for one turning buoy – it’s very intense racing!

You have to navigate, read the water and be able to react to what other crews are doing. In a double, the bow-person plots the course and makes the calls for navigation. In a quad it’s the cox who does the steering.

We have sliding seats and use two oars the same as in traditional flat water sculling, so the rowing is just as technical, but coastal boats are designed to surf on the waves, and they can take a few metres of swell. We can race in some very tough conditions! In Spain there will be a four-kilometre heat and then either a four-kilometre or six-kilometre final, depending on whether you make the A or B final. There will also be a beach finish where one person from each boat has to jump out and sprint up the sand and across the finish line – whoever is running will be wearing an electronic timing chip.

KMC: It looks like there will be a number of West Cork rowers flying the local flag at these European championships in Spain.

ELLA: The standard of rowing is so high in Ireland, and we’re lucky to have a concentration of very successful coastal clubs in West Cork. Ring Rowing Club, Dunmanway, Galley Flash and Rosscarbery will be well represented, with rowers who have raced, and medalled, at numerous World and European championships before. There’s a very strong women’s quad from Castletownbere/Kilmacsimon racing, who won silver at the Euros last year. From Castletownshend RC, it’s myself in the women’s double with Mary Ann, and also Florence Fitzgerald in the men’s single. Florence has raced at the worlds in the men’s 4x before, but this is his first Europeans.

Ella Cialis and Florence Fitzgerald won silver in the mixed double at Kenmare Regatta last weekend.

KMC: So, this is your third Europeans and you’re no stranger to competing at this level – what would represent a successful championship for you?

ELLA: It's about the whole experience really. We’d be happy to race well and hopefully rank a little higher than in Turkey. The competition is very tough – there are a lot of strong crews with Olympic and world racing under their belt. Rowing is just a hobby for us, and we don’t even have a coach, so a big part of going to these events is just getting to race against world-class athletes. We get to travel to amazing places and meet great people. I’m always excited to watch the other Irish crews race. It’s more than just the result that matters for us.

KMC: Let's finish with a nice easy one – how would you describe yourself as a rower? Does that shape your approach to rowing? Would you be happy finishing fourth if you knew you had rowed well, or is that competitor in you always wanting more?

ELLA: I would say I’m competitive and determined, but I’m not much of a perfectionist. Coastal rowing is so competitive but also so unpredictable, I think you have to adapt your attitude to the circumstances. The aim is always a podium finish, but in some races you’re just not in the running for a medal, so then it’s about gaining experience. The goal then might be to beat a specific crew, or handle tough conditions better than you did before – you take that experience back into training then, and into the next race. I’m very happy once we’ve trained hard, rowed well and raced the best race for us on the day!