Erin’s dreaming of the olympics in LA

Newcastle Yacht club's Erin McIlwaine told the Mourne Observer about her new sailing partner, how she is handling the brutal training, and revealed what she thinks it will take to make the Olympics.

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Erin McIlwaine in action at the European Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal.

NEWCASTLE Yacht Club member Erin McIlwaine has spoken to the Mourne Observer about her dream of qualifying for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles ahead of her appearance at next week’s 49erFX Junior World Championships.

The 20-year-old recently competed at ‘Kieler Woche’ or Kiel Week, one of the biggest sailing events in the world, alongside new racing partner Ellen Barbour, finishing in 11th place overall in the 49erFX class.

The former Kilkeel High School student was pleased with her performance in Germany, given the lack of preparation she had with her new sail mate, Ellen Barbour, ahead of the tournament.

Erin is currently studying physiotherapy at Trinity College Dublin, so has faced a juggling act with exams and training over the past number of months.

“I haven’t sailed with Ellen much at all because of exams and stuff before the event, so we ended up coming joint tenth but then we lost out on countback, so we finished in 11th, which was slightly annoying.

“I thought we did ok for what we were working with and with the amount of training we’ve done together before the event,” Erin explained.

Having only recently teamed up with County Antrim Yacht Club sailor Ellen in March, Erin says she’s pleased with how the relationship is building. 

“We’ve known each other since I was 11 when we were both on the Northern Ireland squads in the Topper class. 

“Whenever I moved into the 29er class she moved into a different type of boat, so we didn’t really see each other so much after that.

“I found myself looking for a long-term partner and we just kind of came together again. It’s going great at the moment and I can see it being a very long-term thing.”

In the full article Erin explains the challenging training that she will have to go through if she wants to compete at the Olympics.

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