Olympic gold the pinnacle for rowing manager
He wasn’t always in the boat, but James Sheehan’s dedication to rowing went much further than racing along the water. He excelled in managing and growing the sport. Friends say the pinnacle of his managing career was taking the national rowing team to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where the Evers-Swindell twins won their first gold medal.
‘‘We had five crews at the regatta and they all made finals – I think that was the start of the modern era of New Zealand rowing,’’ Rowing New Zealand chairman Gerry Dwyer said at Sheehan’s funeral.
Georgina Evers-Swindell, now Georgina Earl, told Stuff she remembered Sheehan as a great manager. ‘‘He helped create a relaxed and happy team environment.’’
Sheehan died unexpectedly from a heart attack on December 16, aged 63.
He was born in Christchurch in 1956, the youngest of Jim and Mary Sheehan’s three children. He lived in Dallington and often sat on the banks of the Avon River, watching the rowing teams go by.
When he was 10, he was asked if he wanted to be a coxswain. He didn’t need a second invite.
‘‘He was off in the boat disappearing for more than an hour with his mother frantically looking for him,’’ celebrant Graham Jones said at his funeral. ‘‘This was the start of a lifetime devoted to rowing at all levels.’’
Dwyer said Sheehan was a ‘‘sports nut’’. ‘‘He just wasn’t involved in rowing – the Coast to Coast, he loved motorsport, particularly power boating, kayaking, dragon boating, he was a qualified soccer coach as well.
‘‘He did all these things voluntarily, and he did it because he loved the sport, he loved the people involved with the sport . . . and the sport loved James.’’
Sheehan’s day-to-day career was in the sports clothing industry. He worked for Canterbury of New Zealand, Alliance Textiles and Global Culture, before going out on his own in 2012.
In 1977 he married Carol and had two boys, Paul and Shane. The couple separated in 2012.
James Sheehan began a relationship with Louise Manson in 2017, which Jones described as a ‘‘wonderful, loving relationship which made both of them extremely happy’’.
At Sheehan’s funeral, Manson said her two years with him were the ‘‘happiest years of my life’’. ‘‘Life was fun and exciting and you never knew what James was going to come up with next. We did practically everything together and he was always by my side, supporting and caring for me in a way I’d never experienced before.’’
One of Sheehan’s biggest challenges was leading a campaign to build a multimillion-dollar watersports park near Christchurch Airport.
The park was supported by Canterbury philanthropist Diana, Lady Isaac, with a gift of $4 million for the land. Sheehan was chairman of the Lake Isaac Watersports Park Trust.
He said it would attract millions of dollars to the region and be a venue for national and international competitions with 24 watersports. Christchurch City Council allocated about $12m towards that project – one of the biggest grants it made to a private body.
But the ‘‘deep pockets’’ of the airport made Sheehan’s dream impossible, he told The Press in 2008.
The airport feared the gulls would fly from the Waimakariri River, right next to the proposed park, across the flight path and increase the bird-strike risk.
Alternative sites were considered but nothing suitable could be found.
‘‘The only one James wanted was the Lady Isaac one,’’ Sheehan’s sister, Maureen Nolan, said. ‘‘He’d drawn up the plans, he’d seen one overseas, they fitted the bill, he wanted one exactly the same here in Christchurch. He didn’t falter from that.’’
Beyond work and the rowing world, Sheehan couldn’t go past a pint of Guinness at The Bog, nearly reaching 1800 pints as a customer.
Friend Grant Mirfin said on Fridays at 3pm, Sheehan and his mates would meet up at the Irish bar on Victoria St.
‘‘He had his Guinness card out and anyone who had a Guinness with James on a Friday, the card wasn’t far away.
‘‘He was pretty excited because he was on his last line and he was counting down, I think he thought he could finish that Guinness card, it was going to be his 1800th pint at The Bog.’’
Sheehan’s son Paul agreed: ‘‘His motto was always work hard, but party harder.’’
He is survived by partner Louise, his brother and sister, two sons, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
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