LEAP has been home to plenty of celebrations in recent times as Kilmacabea’s footballers won Carbery and Cork football titles, but the West Cork village was also the venue for a new world record last weekend!

When the winter weather sets in, most rowers pack away the boats and concentrate on off-season training in the gym. The competitive spirit never relents though, and inevitably athletes strive to outdo each other and set new records for all combinations of distance, gender and age.

A team of women from Kilmacabea Rowing Club in Glandore have been training hard to break the record for a 10-person team in the women’s 50-59 year age category.

The challenge was to row 100 kilometres using a Concept 2 rowing machine. The existing record, set in 2020, was for six hours and nine minutes but this team of athletes smashed that time at Leap Community Hall by completing the distance in just five hours 46 minutes and 24 seconds, a record that will surely stand for many a year.

The team of Lucy O’Brien, Anita Pearce, Helen Burchill, Ann O’Driscoll, Santa Lavinia, Ruthann Sheahan, Tania Guy Powell, Tina O’Sullivan, Kathy Galvin and Keryn Roberts-Jones was mostly made up of members of the Kilmacabea Rowing Club with friends from further afield who travelled to Leap specially for the event.

What makes this achievement even more extraordinary is that the team is largely composed of the same women who set the record a decade ago for the 40-49 age group, a record which still stands today.

Kilmacabea Rowing Club competes in coastal rowing events in the South West region throughout the summer, leading in the All Ireland rowing championships in August this year held in Antrim. This small club based in Glandore won medals and trophies at every event over the summer including gold medals in the women’s veterans (over-35), women’s masters (over-50) and women’s legends (over-60) categories as well as gold in the marquee men’s senior race. A small club punching well above its weight.

Rowing will get underway on the water in early spring 2026 and the club would encourage anyone to come along and give it a go, either for seriously competitive rowing or just for a social row and a good workout on the beautiful waters of Glandore Harbour.

Kilmacabea Rowing Club can be contacted via their Facebook page where you can also support the club by buying a raffle ticket to win your own Concept2 rowing machine.