Ireland’s canoeing squad have arrived home safely after being stranded in the Middle East while on a training camp.
As the Irish Independent reports, the eight canoeists and two coaches — including double Olympian Liam Jegou — had been warm-weather training in the United Arab Emirates when commercial flights were cancelled last week with the outbreak of war in the region.
But when the team discovered that Etihad had resumed limited flights to Europe, they jumped at the chance and managed to book seats on a flight from Abu Dhabi to Paris in the early hours of Saturday morning (7 March).
“We just got lucky,” said Jegou, who added that helpful locals also assisted them in securing passage for their canoes, which the airline initially refused to carry.
“They were saying they were too long,” he said. “We were all like: ‘What can we do with them?’ We could either abandon them or saw up the boats.”
The Irish Independent has more on the story HERE.
