Rowing is enjoying ever-growing popularity in Fermanagh. However one man who has been a slave to the thrill of cutting through the water for many a long year is Gerry Murphy.

Racing at masters level, this year has been one of Murphy’s most successful competitive seasons to date.

It started back in May when Murphy claimed silvers in the K1 1,000m and 200m events at the British Masters Sprint Canoeing Championships at the National Water Sport Centre in Nottingham.

Then in June Murphy was back in Nottingham competing at the British Masters Rowing Championships and claimed his third silver of the year in the Masters E single sculls.

The pinnacle came in July when Murphy cruised to the Irish Rowing Championship single sculls masters title winning by three lengths.

Competing in Nottingham was a bit of a shot in the dark for Murphy.

“The British Masters is a really big event with over 2,000 competitors taking part in different classes and categories of boats,” said Murphy. “The course is over a specially built water centre at Nottingham with six lanes and 2,000m course, but we only race over 1,000m.

“When you’re not competing with them you don’t know the quality of the opponents, how fast they are and how well they are going.”

Murphy put in serious hours ahead of the British Masters, training on the local lakes and travelling to Lough Rynn outside Mohill in Leitrim to use the specially built rowing course there. That arduous preparation saw the Enniskillen man come within a whisker of gold at the British Masters Rowing Championships.

“Over the first 500 metres I was in second, about a length down,” said Murphy. “Then with 250m to go I had pulled it back to three quarters of a length. Then I made a big push coming in to the finish trying to catch up, but unfortunately I didn’t make it. I was beaten by a fourth of a second.”

All those preparations came to fruition in July when Murphy competed in the masters single sculls in Cork at the Irish Rowing Championships. He delivered a dominant performance to cruise to an eighth successive victory in the event.

“It’s a big big thing,” said Murphy. “It’s what I gear my year around, winning the Irish Masters. It went very well this year, the extra training for Nottingham had me that wee bit sharper.”

2016 will once again see Murphy targeting success at the British and Irish Masters championships. To that end the training continues apace.

“I do six to seven sessions a week, a lot of water work with maybe two to three gym sessions a week,” said Murphy. “The focus is on weights in the gym, working on the on the legs, core and upper body with a bit of rowing if the weather is bad. The legs are the biggest thing. Your quads are practically the biggest muscle group in the body.

“You place your blades in the water and then you push with your legs. You have to have a strong core and upper body to be able to hold the blade so you can transfer the power from your legs into forward motion. If you push your legs and you have a weak core you do something called bum shoving, where you’re pushing your bum back, but you’re not pushing the blades.”

Murphy fits his rowing in around his job with the fire service at Belfast International Airport and duties as retained fire fighter in Enniskillen. It can be an expensive sport too and it’s possible to spend up to £10,000 on a single scull, although Murphy says he hasn’t splashed out quite that much.

However, aside from the rewards of competition, Murphy says the compensations of the sport come on a much more elemental level than simply picking up medals.

“Getting in contact with nature one of the most rewarding factors,” said Murphy. “To get out on a nice morning, especially when there’s nobody else on the water and it’s quiet and calm and listening to the birds singing, just you and nature. It’s a real stress-buster.”