Daragh Horgan is a TY Student and a competitive swimmer. This week, Aimee Tobin interviewed him
Daragh Horgan is a two time national 5km champion following his return from the European Swimming Championships in Corfu. This was Daragh’s first time representing Ireland in a competition so the nerves were high. Daragh was the youngest competitor at the event and was up against more experienced swimmers. He informed us that he enjoys travelling to events like this and that he enjoys seeing different parts of the world while doing something he loves.
Daragh informed us that he usually prioritises eating lots of carbohydrates before competitions to keep him going. Daragh also stopped on 4 out of the 5 laps of his race, like his competitors, to take on fuel. They do this by filling a water bottle with liquid energy, the bottle is passed to the swimmer while they remain in the water, this gives them enough energy to complete the race.
Daragh trains 18-20 hours a week, clocking up around 40-50km in the pool. This training consists mostly of pool training plus 2-3 hours in the gym doing strength and conditioning. He is always mindful of what he eats and that weight is hugely important in terms of his overall performance. He informed us that he often eats a very large breakfast after his early morning training session.
Athletes like Daragh often miss out on events because of their intense training schedule, Daragh mentioned that he can’t go out much at night with his friends because he would have training the next morning. Daragh said that he doesn’t mind though because he has friends that do swimming with him and that he enjoys it.
He also mentioned that the pressure to perform well increases with age, “you perform in more competitions and are expected to place higher.” He explained that open water races are much more physical because there are no lanes so swimmers often make contact with one another.
We are all so proud of Daragh and we wish him the very best for future competitions.