---

Irish PM Wishes Avril ‘Good Luck’ for PQ

Rob / 17.06.2003

Avril Copeland and her team (Eireann) recently won a coveted place in the Subaru Primal Quest when they were selected by ballot from hundreds of teams wanting to enter the world’s richest adventure race. News of this piece of good luck spread back to her homeland in Ireland, and she was amazed to receive a letter yesterday from the Irish Prime Minister wishing her good luck! It read:

Dear Avril,

I have been told that you have won a lottery place for the prestigious Primal Quest adventure race which takes place in Nevada later this year.

I am delighted that you have succeeded in achieving an important and exciting personal ambition and I would like to wish you every success in the event.

Best wishes.

Yours sincerely,

Bertie Ahern
Taoiseach

Avril told us; “I just received the letter this morning. My dad faxed it over from Dublin!! Very exciting! Recently I was featured in two Irish newspaper articles and I think he may have seen it in one of these. My dad is also a tailor in Dublin and makes suits for Bertie Ahern, so I guess he thought it would be a nice idea to wish me Good Luck for the race!”

She also told us how she only recently became involved in adventure racing. “ I moved here 3 years ago to pursue my music career in Nashville and left behind my sporting career as an Irish Field hockey player. So, you can imagine after a year of being a \'couch potato\", I began searching for a new sport to get involved in.”

“New Year’s day 2002 while home in Dublin for the holidays, I flicked channels and found Eco Challenge Borneo playing on one of our local channels. I was so inspired and as soon as I returned to America, wrote to the winning team, \"Team Eco Internet\" for advice. I didn\'t know anything about the sport, and had never even heard of it. I believed that the teams in the Eco Challenge were the only people on earth who were actually racing!”

“Robyn Benincasa wrote back to me and gave me some great advice and information on how to get started in racing. So in May I bought a bike and began running, biking and paddling! I haven\'t looked back since except for a broken ankle in one race!! I completed the Odyssey Adventure Racing Academy last September which gave me great confidence and has actually helped me form part of my team for Primal Quest. I have competed in many races since but Primal Quest will be my biggest race to date. I am really excited about competing and at the moment just trying to train as hard as I can, get sponsors and get my team together. Its one thing racing and a whole new kettle of fish being captain!”

Avril will be racing the 400+ mile race in the Lake Tahoe area between September 5th-14th along with two other Irish teams, and many back home will be watching her progress and wishing her well, the Prime Minister among them!

You can read Avril’s Profile page here and there is information on her team on the Primal Quest site.