Sloan DuRoss certainly knows his mother.

When his boat finished second in a qualifying regatta in Switzerland, guaranteeing his spot in the Olympic Games in Greece, the South Portland native told a friend that his mother was probably crying.

He was right.

Tucked away in the offices of Maine Public Broadcasting in Lewiston, Mary DuRoss had kept track of the race on the internet.

“It was incredible,” she said. “I was so nervous. I knew this was it. This was his shot. They had one chance to get it right.

“It was just a wonderful feeling when he qualified. I was in tears.”

DuRoss, who lives in Old Orchard Beach, has followed her son’s rowing career from the start. She raised him on her own since he was 3-years-old and has been a constant presence at as many meets as possible. She’s even traveled abroad, being there in 2002 when he first competed in the World Championships in Seville.

“When I saw him come down the river in the United States boat, I told him I didn’t think it could get any better,” she recalls.

Now it has. DuRoss and her companion, Denis Cole, will travel to Athens to watch Sloan compete in the Men’s Quadruple Sculls.

Mary DuRoss, an education manager at Maine Public Broadcasting, took a few minutes from work in June to follow the qualifying regatta. The race would be updated every 500 meters. So it was as close as she was going to get to being there.

Of course, DuRoss was already counting on her son making the Olympics. Weeks before Sloan qualified, Mary had already booked a flight to Greece.

“We made our plane reservations a week or two before that,” she admits. “I said to myself Any day of the week, I would bet on Sloan.’ So I said Go ahead and take the risk.’ Sloan has been an achiever since he was born.”

The gamble paid off. The U.S. Rowing team put her in touch with a travel agent in Connecticut to help find accommodations.

“We almost went into shock when we saw the price of housing,” she said.

Rooms were going for more than $500 a night, but DuRoss found accommodations slightly under that. As it turns out, she’s staying in the same building as families of two other rowers on Sloan’s boat. They have tickets for the rowing events but won’t take in many other events. Instead, they’ll try and take in the sights of ancient Greece.

“It’s incredibly (expensive),” she said. “When your child is in the Olympics, how can you miss that? So we said we have to take a deep breath and do it.”

Sloan’s father, David, lives in Ohio and will also be making the trip.

Mary is excited but also very anxious as her departure date in early August approaches.

“The butterflies are in my stomach,” she said. “The stress level is right up there. My excitement is equal to my anxiety level. The enormity is kind of amazing. This has been his dream for so long.”

His rowing experiences have been a wonderful journey for both Sloan and Mary to share. She’s been his biggest supporter and even helped organize a fund raising luncheon in July in South Portland to help defray some of Sloan’s expenses.

“I’m incredibly proud of him,” she said. “I’m so pleased for him. He’s been an achiever all his life. This he’s wanted so much. The work he’s done. He’s earned it.”

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