Colsh on rowing champs.
SLIGO Rowing Club’s Brian Colsh received the hugely disappointing news last week that the World Rowing Championships, which were due to be held in Slovenia in August this year, have now been cancelled.
Like the Olympics and the European Football Championships, the World Rowing Championships are just the latest major sporting victim of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Colsh had committed himself to the gruelling training schedule since last September and has battled his way onto the national team through various selection processes, including racing on the water and testing on rowing machines.
“I’m fairly gutted,’ Colsh admits, ‘but in the bigger scheme of things and with all that’s going on around the world, it’s only rowing.”
Colsh, who turns 18 in July, remains focused on the European Rowing Championships which are scheduled for September and have not yet been cancelled. “I’ll stay focused on t,hat for the moment and, who knows, the Paris Olympics are only four years away,” replied the Ballymote man with a cheerful smile.
Meanwhile, like all other sports and recreation clubs around the country and world, Sligo Rowing have had to cease all club activities to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The club’s founder, Rory Clarke, says that this is unusual times for us all. “This is usually the busiest time of the year for our club.
“The sprint season should have started by now and instead of the usual daily training sessions on the river and in the gym, our doors remain closed.”
Clarke is adamant that, like a lot of other closed doors at the moment, Sligo Rowing Club’s doors will re-open soon, and he is confident that his club will hit the ground running.
To ensure that the club’s athletes remain in shape during the ‘lock down’ period, the club’s coaches have devised training programmes that can be done from the comfort (discomfort) of their own homes.
Some of the club’s members have rowing machines in their homes so the gruelling sessions can be monitored by coaches Tommy Colsh & Molua Donohue.
The ones without rowing machines continue with the circuit sessions so that all will emerge in good shape once water training resumes.
Kevin Connolly, one of the social rowing coaches, has embraced technology and has begun online training sessions with the social rowers twice weekly.
“The national rowing championships, which usually take place in July, have now been re-scheduled for September so this remains the focus of the club”, remarks Clarke.
“We’re also still in the process of drafting plans for our new club and this is still very much ongoing by our committee who are continuously working very hard in the background.”
Rory is looking forward to re-opening the doors of the club in the near future and hearing the ‘laughs and banter from the kids’ as they take to the water again.
Sligo Rowing Club would like to extend their best wishes to all their supports and to the people of Sligo and for all to keep safe and well during this very difficult period.