The National Rowing Centre is the place to be

THE National Rowing Centre in Inniscarra will be a place of constant activity this summer as the Home International Regatta and Coupe de la Jeunesse will both take place there.

Rowing Ireland’s inaugural international ‘Festival of Rowing’ was announced on Tuesday as members of the high-performance teams for the first World Cup Regatta in Belgrade next month met the media.

The festival is expected to bring thousands of visitors and up to 30,000 bed nights to Cork.

The Irish Rowing Championships from July 13th-15th will attract up to 3,000 rowers, their coaches, officials and sports fans from across Ireland to the National Rowing Centre for the biggest rowing event of the year. The regatta, the highlight of the club calendar, has grown in size and stature in recent years and is expected to have its biggest entry ever in 2018.

Then, on July 21st, the Home International Regatta will see almost 400 rowers, their

families and spectators travel to Cork from all over Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales to compete in this annual one-day event which is hosted by Ireland once every four years. Hosting the Home International Regatta in conjunction with the Coupe de la Jeunesse (July 27th-29th) offers an opportunity for visiting athletes and supporters to extend their stay in the Cork region and sample the tourism experiences on offer.

The Coupe is a prestigious junior international regatta which takes place from July 27th-29th. This is the first time Ireland has hosted the Coupe since 2008 and this year’s regatta will see more than 500 athletes from 14 European countries race over a 2,000m course.  The regatta, which encourages young rowers, has become a platform in Ireland for starting the international careers of some of our most successful and decorated Irish rowers such as Gary O’Donovan, Shane O’Driscoll and Denise Walsh.

Ireland performed exceptionally well at the Coupe last year, bringing home a total of five gold medals from Belgium across the women’s pair and men’s quadruple categories.

The Coupe 2018 is supported by Cork County Council and Fáilte Ireland.

Rowing Ireland’s recently appointed CEO, Michelle McElligott Carpenter said:

“We have an exciting few months ahead in Rowing Ireland, with clubs ramping up for the Irish Championships in just over 50 days’ time.

“The World Rowing season will kick off on June 1 and we are delighted to today announce the team travelling to Belgrade. World Cup III will see the addition of new faces to the team with our focus on heavy weight crews taking shape where we will see the addition of both a men coxless four and a women’s double to our squad.”

Representing Ireland in Belgrade will be Gary and Paul O’Donovan in the lightweight men’s double scull, with Denise Walsh and Margaret Cremen in the lightweight women’s double scull. Sanita Puspure takes part in the women’s single scull with Emily Hegarty and Aifric Keogh in the women’s pair while Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley compete in the women’s double scull. Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll will race in the men’s pair.

In addition to the senior team competing at World Cup I, a training squad of athletes will be based at the National Rowing Centre in Cork ahead of World Cup III: Andy Harrington (Shandon BC), Patrick Boomer (Belfast RC), Philip Doyle (Queen’s University), Ronan Byrne (UCC) in the heavyweight men and Tara Hanlon (UCC) and Natalie Long (Skibbereen RC) in the heavyweight women.