KAYAKING: The man sweeping the road beside the Salmon Leap Inn in Leixlip doesn't even wait to hear the motorists' requests for directions, he knows where they want to go. "Kayaking," he answers, as they're still rolling down their windows, the question not yet asked. They nod. He points them towards the Salmon Leap Canoe Club. He must have had a busy morning, judging by the number of cars parked in Hewlett Packard's grounds across the road from the club.
It's a heavenly setting, on another perfect day. There's barely a ripple on the Liffey, until Ruairí O'Toole, of An Spidéal, Co Galway, makes his entrance. If ducks could talk they'd have been howling from the river bank "Slow down Ruairí, slow down - we have children sleeping here."
It looked effortless, but it wasn't of course. Power, grace, fluency, head down, shoulders pumping, the wash from his work stirring Leixlip's ducklings from their afternoon nap. "Look at that lad from Galway, look at him, look at him, look at him gooooo," yells Gerard Geraghty, as O'Toole beats Poland's Mariusz Marusinski and Germany's Bruno Otto to the line in the day's preliminary rounds.
The river bank feels like a trampoline, so many spectators bouncing and dancing on the grass, cheering O'Toole home. He buries his paddle in the water, swivels and salutes the crowd with the broadest of grins.
"I don't think in my lifetime I'll ever see the like of this again, Ireland never will, even if we got the World Cup, it'll never be the same," says Geraghty, whose daughter Sharon, from Tallaght, is a member of Ireland's kayaking team. "The atmosphere down here today is just unbelievable. The crowds, the coaches, the athletes - and the volunteer help has been incredible, all these people giving up their time, see how they're helping people, so friendly, amazing."
"Words can't describe how proud we all are of Sharon," he says, "myself, her mother, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, the whole lot of us. We're all in the clouds. When it started off we thought 'great, she's doing kayaking', then Eircom put her on the cover of the phone book - to have your daughter on every phone book in Leinster! She was a superstar, then she won a gold medal in the nationals, then she was picked for the Special Olympics.
"To be picked to represent Ireland, her country, to pull on those colours, we're still up there," he continues, pointing at the sky. "The best time of my life, ever. We can't express the feelings we have for our daughter, for her representing her country. It's an honour to put on the green, white and orange. I'm starting a scrapbook, when I'm not on this planet she can show her nieces and nephews what she did, and they'll be so proud of her.
"To be able to tell your friends your daughter represented Ireland, and trust me, I haven't stopped telling everyone. Any one I've bumped in to I've told, that's what it means. The man on the street, the lady in the store, I've told them all.
"Bootmakers, dry cleaners, every store keeper in Tallaght knows her name. That's my daughter. That's how proud I am, that's how proud her family is.
"Last year Robbie Keane, who only lives five minutes from me, was on the cover of the phone book but it was only a small picture, so I said 'eat your heart out Robbie Keane'. The Keanes have all been so supportive, though, and they've had their sadness with Robbie's father passing away recently, Lord have mercy on him - but they've been fantastic, Robbie's aunts put out a banner for Sharon, they've been brilliant, everyone in Tallaght is behind her.
"It's the joy on the faces of these athletes, win, lose or draw, that's what makes it amazing. Sharon was third today but you'd think she was after winning the World Cup, the look on her face. We've a lot to learn from these athletes and their attitude to life, we really do. They'd kind of humble you.
"I saw a helper arriving this morning with her arm in a sling. I said 'what happened you' and she said she fell and hurt her arm last night. I said 'did you get it X-rayed' and she said 'no, I will later, after the kayaking's over'. I said 'are you serious?' She said 'yeah'. That's dedication.
"These people are dedicated people and they should be recognised and supported, whatever the Government. They feel privileged to do it. Privileged! They're giving up all their free time, doing it for nothing, and still they feel privileged. Amazing people.
"John Daly has trained my daughter since last year, for nothing. Every weekend for nothing, that's incredible. He's an amazing man. He started this kayaking and he hopes to keep it going if he can get the funding, all the families will support him, but a lot of it is out of our hands. We can slag off who we like but hopefully the Government has seen what this has done for Ireland, let's keep it going and keep this spirit.
"They must realise these people are as important as anyone else. For years and years these people were ignored, children, adults, all forgotten about. It's about time Ireland as a whole stood up and said 'hang on a minute, these people are as good as anyone, let's help them'. Let's hope Bertie and Charlie McCreevy realise that, they have to after this week, they couldn't miss it. Look at Croke Park, 80,000 people supporting these athletes from all over the world. The joy on their faces. So, Bertie: wake up. We can't lose this, we can't."
Bertie Collins from Templeogue says: "I hate water. I don't mind washing myself, but I leave it at that - this fella's just a water baby, I don't know where he got it from," he laughs, as his son Billy walks by. Twenty-two today, and he celebrated by winning his time trial.
"All credit to the people out there from the Irish Canoe Union, they've done everything to bring Billy to where he is today - he was always in to the water, loved the swimming, but this is a new venture for him and the encouragement he's got has been fantastic. You can see the rapport between him and the coaches. The hugs, they know what to say to him, at the right time, they bring the very best out of him. The time that they give up every week, voluntarily, ah, it's just a credit to them." He shakes his head. They've changed his son's life. And he's changed theirs.