NEWROSS BOAT CLUB
New Ross Boat Club travelled to the National Rowing Centre in Cork to compete at the annual Cork regatta which is one of the most established in Ireland.
This year saw a record entry in excess of 850 crews from J14 to Senior competing for what is the biggest event outside the Irish rowing championships which will be held in three weeks’ time.
Irish rowers such as the O’Donovan brothers, Denise Walsh and Mark O’Donovan were competing over this two-day regatta. Apart from this being the last regatta before the national championships, it was also the final part of the trialing process for three New Ross scullers, Laura Brown, Shona Tierney and Luke Sutton, who have been competing all year to secure selection to represent Ireland at upcoming Junior international regattas.
And boy they did not disappoint. First up was the Junior women’s single scull, and Laura Brown was the fastest Junior sculler in a time of 8:30:59 which saw her winning the event. This should almost guarantee her a call-up to the Irish squad.
Shona Tierney was not too far behind her, finishing in the top ten Junior scullers.
Next to take to the water was lightweight sculler Luke Sutton. Luke was in a really strong, competitive division, but he did not let this distract him, finishing in a fantastic time of 7:44:55 in the top three lightweight men.
Our J14 rowers then took to the water. All scullers put in great performances, with Ella O’Hanlon winning her final.
The J14 boys didn’t disappoint, with commanding wins for both Sam Furlong and Ronan Gibbon in their respective finals.
The last medals of the day were won by doubles partners Faye Prendergast and Lily O’Keeffe in the club 2 2x event, beating their nearest rivals from Cappoquin.
Day two produced more silverware for the club and great performances by all New Ross crews who took to the water.
Luke Sutton dominated the Junior 18b single sculls with a confident win over his fellow competitors.
Lily O’Keeffe followed soon after, taking first in the club 2 single sculls for her first big win in this event.
Ronan Gibbon was narrowly beaten in the J15 1x but took second place, a great achievement for the young sculler.
There were also ‘B’ final wins for Faye Prendergast (J18 1x) and the club 2 4+ crew of Jennifer Whitney, Alannah Byrne, Sarah Sutton and Aoife Brennan.
There was to be more excitement from the doubles partners of Laura Brown and Shona Tierney who competed in the J18 2x event.
Confident from their win at the Metro regatta two weeks earlier, and with strong racing on Saturday, they produced the performance of their lives, coming to within one second of their rival doubles crew from Workman’s Rowing Club who will compete at the Junior world championships in August.
This should give the girls great confidence coming into the irish championships in less than three weeks’ time. Well done to all the club who took part and the coaches and parents who travelled to Cork for the two-day regatta.