Skibbereen Regatta
On April 27th, we raced at the first grand league regatta of the season, Skibbereen Regatta. DAY ONE
The first crews launched the day with the women’s inter and the women’s junior 18 single sculls. All crews came back with exceptional times with Áine O’Mahony making the A final and Ellie Mahon and Karen Carey, both making the B final. Áine finished 3rd in the A final and won the intermediate title,and Ellie had the second fastest WJ18 single scull time.
The next crews to launch were the women’s junior 16 coxed quad and women’s junior 18 coxed quad. Both crews made it to the B final and placed first and second respectively. Next up were the men’s intermediate single scull, Micheal Coughlan, with the men’s junior 16 and junior 18 doubles following afterwards.
Next crews to hit the water were the women’s junior 16 and junior 18 doubles, with the junior 16 making the A final and the junior 18 crew making the B final.
The final crew of the day were the women’s intermediate four who won not just the Intermediate category, but they had the fastest time of the whole division on their debut regatta as a crew (Áine O’Mahony, Julie Moran, Karen Carey, Brigid Mahon, Niamh O'Connell (cox).
DAY TWO
We started off the second day of Skibb with two men’s junior 18 single sculls and a men’s club 2 1x launching at 9am. The next crew to launch was the women’s intermediate double, who placed 1st overall for their category and division (Áine O’Mahony, Julie Moran).
The women’s junior fifteen single sculls launched and were followed by the women’s masters coxed quad who all finished with amazing times. The women’s junior 15 coxed quad raced with a good time but were unfortunate not to place in their final.
The women’s junior 16 single sculls were next to launch, as well as a women’s club 2 single scull, with both Grace Tobin and Gaby Nagle making the C final with impressive times achieved.
Next up was Ellie Mahon in the women’s junior 18B single scull, who had the fastest heat time in her division, qualifying herself for the A final and then won overall in her age category!
The next crews out were the women’s junior 15 doubles who both had great races, fighting each other to the line for 2nd and 3rd in their final. The final Fermoy crew of the weekend was the men's J18B coxed quad who rowed well in the heat, getting themselves into the C Final in which they rowed even better to get a 3rd place.
It was a long, tough weekend of racing in some testing conditions, but nonetheless our athletes were glad to get out and have an amazing two days of racing! Well done to all the rowers and a huge thanks to the tireless coaches who make it all happen.
INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
While local interest was focused on Skibbereen Regatta in the National Rowing Centre, many miles away in Hungary Fermoy’s Alison Bergin and her doubles partner Zoe Hyde rowed in the A final of the European Championships, placing 5th.
FERMOY REGATTA
We are now just 60 days away from Fermoy Regatta, this will be the 100th Regatta run by Fermoy Rowing Club on the Blackwater, in this, the club’s 140th year. Coupled to the centenary celebrations, we have a great chance of Olympic representation for the club with Alison Bergin looking good to keep her seat in the women's double scull.
As ever we will be looking for support from the local businesses of Fermoy who have been very good in supporting us over the years. We will be offering multiple levels of sponsorship again this year and if you are interested in having your company associated with the regatta, please get in touch at fermoyrowingclub@gmail.com.