Highlights from the rowing year
THE 2020 season although not yet over will be one which will be remembered for some time to come. Outside of the unprecedented existing Covid-19 restrictions which are currently being experienced by the entire nation, there are many reasons why the 2020 season will be remembered.
1. Sligo Rowing Club utilizing their newly equipped gym with rowing machines and weights to its full potential over the winter months with Tom Colsh implementing a structured but yet fun training programme for the competitive element of the club while Kevin Connolly and Ray Murtagh provided fitness sessions for the Leisure rowing fraternity. As a result, the club’s athletes undoubtedly “wintered” well and came out of the winter in their best condition yet much to the credit of Tom which will despite the current circumstances stand to them when the club returns to the water.
2. Little did anyone know that when the club raced at the Carrick-on-Shannon Head in early December that it would be the last competitive event on the water before the frequent occurrence of storms resulted in several Head of the River events being cancelled. These included the Head of the Erne, Head of the Corrib, Lagan Scullers Head with Storm Dennis arriving immediately after Storm Ciara causing the cancellation of Sligo’s Head of the River which was initially scheduled for February 15th and which was rescheduled for the 28th of March but again being cancelled with the Covid-19 crisis.
3. The excellent team of competitive single scullers coached by Molua Donohoe and Tom Colsh who were rowing at the top of their categories before all boats were confined to their racks in the boat house. Glenn Patterson, who farms for a living and the club’s elder competitive statesman at Intermediate category level and who continues to set the standard to which the upcoming junior scullers aspire to. Juniors Brian Colsh at Junior 18, Alannah Donohoe at Junior 16 and David Murray at Junior 15 for their relentless pursuit of improving the performance of their single scull boat while still keeping their fun side.
4. The strong commitment and stamina of the existing boys and girl’s junior quads and doubles and the strong group of beginners who have now transitioned to racing shells coupled with their fun approach to the sport.
5. The further increase in Leisure Rowing participation as a result of the concerted efforts of Ray Murtagh & Kevin Connolly who give of their time freely and the transition of Leisure rowers to committee level thereby further bolstering the future of the club.
6. The hundreds of kilometres that young Brian Colsh clocked up in the single and on the ergometer in his pursuit to represent his country at the World Championships in Slovenia which are now unfortunately cancelled and the manner in how he accepted his faith being a sign of the man that this young man indeed is. His training saw him on the water with a light on his boat as the shades of evening descended on the Garavogue River over the winter months with relentless trips to Cork to attend time trials at the National Rowing Centre.
7. The dedication and unity shown by the Women’s Club Four which came together at the beginning of the season. The crew of Tara Dunbar, sisters Cora and Ailish Hackett and Katie McEnroe have adhered rigidly to the training programme put before them by coach Tom Colsh, himself a four time Irish National Championship and Henley Medal Winner with the crew now completing remotely daily ergometer sessions of up to 14km per day and submitting their times.
8. How the importance of timing technology, use of smart phones, WhatsApp and Facebook have kept people connected and helped maintained the completion of training programmes while keeping it fun during the current Covid-19 restrictions. This year our Head of the River was to be timed with a Smart Phone App for the first time and the emergence of Older Fleet Rowing Club from Larne hosting an International On Shore Virtual Regatta where athletes record and submit their rowing machine ergometer times online from all over the world so people can race from their living rooms!
9. The arrival of new boats to Sligo which to date are unable to go on the water and delay in the arrival of a new racing single from Portugal owing to current restrictions.
10. The launching of the Clubs new website www.SligoRowingClub.ie which was expertly constructed by Donal Hackett and is now the new benchmark on how a rowing website should be constructed with the use of some amazing drone images and video footage.