The Dolan brothers head to the Olympics

How did you get into paddling?
The Dolan brothers began paddling for Lanikai Canoe Club when Patrick was 12 and Ryan was 10. We were introduced to the sport through our family, but most importantly by our grandfather, Will Rich. Our grandfather lived with us as we grew up and was extremely important to us, and because he loved to paddle, and encouraged us to paddle, we naturally joined as soon as we felt we could. He encouraged us to paddle, to excel and to believe in the big goals – something we keep with us now.
At the time we began paddling, the regatta season was quite different than it is now. The only races we were eligible for was the boys 12 and under – there were no special events then. That meant that we had to compete with boys much older than us, up to 13 years old, to race. We had an amazing coach, Mauli Aspelund who taught us that we had to earn our spots in the canoe. Mauli taught us discipline (there was no play time at practice), the necessity of a positive attitude and patience (we often waited days for our turn in the boats). Mauli understood that these were key for us to become not only great paddlers, but great people. She also taught us about the boats, the spirit of the canoe, and years later, was part of the process of naming a canoe after our grandfather, Will Rich. If she had not given us such a well-rounded introduction to paddling, we may not have stuck with it through our teenage years.
Patrick began one-man paddling at 14 and also began showing up to the Lanikai men's practices. He showed up and worked hard, enduring the difficult practices in our grandfather's 50 lb. Cuda – not an easy task. He was initially far behind the men in many aspects, but he persevered. It was this perseverance that caught the eye of Kai Bartlett, an amazing paddler in the Lanikai community. Kai could see that Patrick was dedicated and took him under his wing, mentoring him and eventually sponsoring him with a Kai Wa’a canoe. It was this support that allowed Patrick and Kai to win the men's Molokai relay when Patrick was only 16 years old. Between the support of Kai, the Lanikai community and our family, Patrick believed he could succeed in paddling.
Ryan did not take paddling too seriously until his sophomore year at Maryknoll. While he enjoyed it, and often escorted races so he could fish, he was hesitant to follow in Patrick’s shadow. At this time, the Lanikai youth began a one-man program and Ryan joined. This proved to be a pivotal moment for Ryan because being mentored by the Lanikai men, who were at that time the current Molokai World champions twice over, was not to be taken lightly. It was then that Ryan met Dr. Pete Roney and his son Jack who encouraged him to pursue paddling more seriously. There to mentor the youth were the Foti brothers as well, well known in the Lanikai community and beyond. Ryan had always looked up to the Foti's, and their mentorship meant a lot in the way of encouragement.
Both Dolan brothers were introduced to kayaking through the ILH program at Maryknoll. Patrick found it to be an easy and natural transition from paddling and enjoyed some immediate success. Ryan, however, was hesitant again to follow in Patrick’s footsteps, and it was not until Stuart Gassner persisted with Ryan to give it a shot. Once he started though, Ryan soon enjoyed kayaking like Patrick and found success in kayaking.
Through the Hawaii Canoe and Kayak Team and the president of HCKT, Chris Ball encouraged Patrick initially and then Ryan to dream big and try to make it to the Olympics. After each graduated from Maryknoll, Patrick and then Ryan moved to San Diego and began training with the US Olympic team for kayaking.

What other sport activities do you like to do?
As one could guess, we both love any sports involving the water. As kids we played all sorts of organized sports, but once we began paddling seriously, we willingly gave them up. Currently, Patrick enjoys surfing and golfing when not paddling. Ryan will also go to the beach for some body surfing action from time to time. Our main sport is of course paddling, so we do tend to focus primarily on that.

Do you have a person who inspired you to paddle?
We have been inspired by so many that it’s hard to list. First and foremost our grandfather, Will Rich who introduced us to the sport and dreamed of seeing us succeed. Unfortunately, he died of cancer before he could see us train with the Olympic team. We cannot help but be driven by him and knowing how proud he is of us. There are many people at Lanikai Canoe Club that inspired us, including the Foti Brothers and Kai Bartlett. Both took us under their wings; the Foti's sponsored Ryan and Kai sponsored Patrick – how could we not be inspired when legends like them believed in us enough to sponsor us? We were also inspired by Stuart Gassner who encouraged us to kayak.
We cannot forget our mother who also drove us to practices early in the mornings, took us to our races, encouraged us to strive for greatness all while fundraising for us and making sure we could afford to compete. Having people behind you that believe in you makes all the difference between being mediocre and being great.

How many hours a week do you train?
Our training schedule varies based on the time of year and the season. A usual day consists of a paddling session in the morning and then paddling, weight lifting, or both in the afternoon. When you add up everything, it is usually 3-5 hours a day spent training. Until this fall, we were also fortunate enough to live part-time at the Olympic training center in Chula Vista, California. Living there is the ultimate in training experiences. We now train primarily out of Hawaii which is great because we can outrigger paddle and kayak and have some great cross-training benefits.

What type of training is involved?
Again, this depends on the time of year and where you are in the season. The key to our training is balance, as is essential in life. We do combinations of workouts that compliment all of the bodies systems. It is key that we never do too much of one thing. We do K1 or K2 kayaking 6 mornings a week and about 2-3 surfski paddles with 3 weight training sessions a week. We also add in some K1 sessions after weight lifting depending on the week. The Olympic kayaks are notoriously tippy, and one needs much training to succeed in them. Because the surfski can be so different, we use it as cross-training only, as it could harm our technique we train so diligently on for the Olympic kayaks.

What are some of your favorite paddling races?
Being Hawaii boys, we cannot help but love the Molokai races. There is something so cool about starting on one island and ending up on another. There can also be amazing waves to ride in the channel and such a feeling of accomplishment when you’ve completed the race. Patrick’s favorite distance is the 1000 meter and Ryan prefers the 500 meter. We have also been lucky enough to race in Europe, and those races are also amazing. In Europe, the kayakers are extremely fast, and the fans come out by the thousands to cheer on the racers. This past summer in Szeged, Hungary there were over 2,000 fans cheering, and believe us when we say, it makes a huge difference in the finishing stretch to hear those fans cheering.

Do you train together?
We train together every day. We didn’t always train together, as our speeds used to be quite different, but nowadays, we are at similar speeds and can train efficiently together. We each have our own individual strengths and weaknesses which allows us to push each other and recognize how important we are to each other's success. Likewise, this applies to our weight training; we are constantly pushing each other to perform better and go to the limits. Because we always train together and live together, there are times we’d appreciate a break from each other, but at the end of the day, no one else gets what we are aiming for better than each other. Overall, it works out very well for us to train together.

Do you have a personal trainer?
We have an amazing coach named Guy Wilding who used to coach in Australia for the Olympics, and as of this year became our new head coach for the Olympic hopefuls. A cool part of having Guy as our coach is that he paddles every year in the Molokai Hoe for Moloolaba Masters and understands the unique benefits of training in Hawaii. We will be training with Guy for the entire summer and racing season. He determines all of our workouts and training schedules. When you are aiming for the Olympics, it is essential to be trained by someone who is personal and insightful on what we need to succeed. We are lucky to have that in Guy. His passion for paddling is immense, and he is always eager to learn new techniques and ideas in training.

Do you have a sponsor or sponsors?
We have been lucky enough to earn a handful of great sponsors which help us in numerous ways. Olympic kayaking is not a well known or publicized sport, so the backing of sponsors has been amazing. Our goal, as far as sponsorship, is to have an equal partnership where we can benefit from their products, and in turn, we can put their name out there and show the benefits of their products. Our sponsors include HCKT , Umeke Market, Maui Jim, Xcel wetsuits, Twin Islands Clothing, and Patrick is sponsored by Makana Alii paddles and Kai Wa’a canoes while Ryan is sponsored by Kialoa paddles and the Foti Brothers Hurricane Canoes.

What does it take financially to get to the Olympics?
Paddling can be an expensive sport, but kayaking is even more so. Because the US kayaking team did not do well in the last 4 year Olympic cycle, the funding for our team is practically non-existent. World Cups races and training in Europe last summer, which is essential to be competitive and reach the next level, was about 7,000 dollars each. We also took the initiative to obtain better coaching, with better coaching environments (Australia, etc.), to make sure that we reach our Olympic goals. This is a lot of money for us to come up with, and we were fortunate enough to have that funding from a lot of people fundraising for and believing in us. Our hope is that we can put US kayaking back on the map and regain funding so essential to our success. It will also enable young kayakers to dream like we did. Bringing medals back to Hawaii would be an unbelievable dream fulfilled! We appreciate all the support as our costs are always ongoing. We can always use and accept Tax deductible donations to HCKT c/o: Anne Dolan, 115 Kuuala St. Kailua, HI 96734, please put Patrick and Ryan Dolan in the memo section. We hope that with continued support we can reach our ultimate goal of racing in the 2012 Olympics.
Patrick Dolan