NEW ROSS BOAT CLUB

A group of 24 rowers from New Ross Boat Club travelled to Belgium to compete at the annual Ghent International Regatta which is held over two days and sees crews from all over Europe compete, including a number of clubs from Ireland.

Saturday saw great success on the water with our first medals going to our very young athletes Heather Ferguson and Mabel Schwartz who claimed silver in the JW12 2X final.

It wasn’t long until our Junior women’s coxless four crew of Laura Brown, Shona Tierney, Aoife Coughlan and Lily O’Keeffe took to the water, claiming bronze medals.

The JW double of Aoife Coughlan and Lily O’Keeffe entered a strong filed of 37 crews and took sixth place, finishing as the fastest Irish crew in this category.

The last medals came from the Junior women’s 4X crew of Laura Brown, Shona Tierney, Jess Doyle and Faye Prendergast who took silver just 0.36 seconds behind the winners, Henley R.C.

Sunday saw some more great races from all New Ross crews, with the Junior women’s 4X of Laura Brown, Jess Doyle, Aoife Coughlan and Lily O’Keeffe coming third, just 1.29 seconds behind winners Henley.

All 24 athletes represented their club at a high level, with great experience gained by our Junior members. A huge thanks to all coaches and parents who travelled and helped out in any way.

A special thanks to Derek O’Keeffe and Seán Sutton who travelled long hours to deliver our boats safely to this event.

Training is now stepped up for the next eight weeks in preparation of the Irish national championships taking place on July 14-16 at the National Rowing Centre in Cork.