Weather holds good as Regatta Baile na nGall proves a success
REGATTA Baile na nGall hasn’t always been blessed with the weather it deserves but, thankfully, there were no such problems on Sunday as a large crowd attended for a fine day’s racing.
“The weather was very good,” organiser Caitlín Mhicgearailt told The Kerryman this week, no doubt relieved that an event that has been plagued by weather problems over the years had escaped Mother Nature’s wrath this time around.
“There was no sun until later in the day, but it was dry, and the sea was lovely and calm.
“We got a good crowd back for the day, and I was very happy with how the day went as a whole.”
Once it became clear the conditions would be no trouble on this occasion, the many attendees could sit back, relax, and look forward to a quality eight-race card.
The billing accounted for youngsters and more senior racers; men and women; boys and girls; and racing for mixed teams. At the end of the day, the big winners may have been Ellen Dunlevy and Alan Lynch, who were named top female and top male rower respectively.
It capped a fine day for the two of them, who took seven wins between them.
On the under-age scene, the quartet of Summer McCarthy, Ellie Fitzgerald, Isla Gardner, and Kila Massett took the under-12 race, with Malachi Kirwan, Dylan O’Connor, Rachel Nic an Rí, and Naomi Gardner triumphing in the under-14 equivalent.
Niall Flannery, William Goodwin, Jamie Granville, and Davin Lynch took top spot in ‘ Rás Mór na bhFear’, with Monsa Heidtke, Gillian Ní Bhriain, Ellen Dunlevy, and Elaine Waters winning the female equivalent.
In the ‘Rás Paróistí’, the day’s two star rowers combined with Shelia Ann Lynch and Niall Flannery for victory.
With Declan Griffin winning the ‘Rás Aonair’, it was William Goodwin, Siobhan Goodwin, Davin Lynch, and Ellie Power who pooled their talents to win the ‘Rás Meascaithe’. All that was left to decide was the ‘ Rás Aloysious’, and it was Davin and Shelia Ann Lynch who won out in a race named in honour of a Regatta Baile na nGall stalwart, the late Aloysious Ó Cíobháin.