Strong showing from West Cork clubs at the Irish Coastal Rowing Championships

THE impressive National Rowing Centre in Inniscarra was the venue for the Irish Coastal Rowing Championships recently. Hosted by the Rosscarbery club, it was held over two days and attracted the best coastal rowers from around the country.

Reviewing the performance of local clubs, some West Cork clubs will remember these national championships for different, but very good reasons. For the Rosscarbery club, it undertook the task of hosting this major event and organised a fantastic regatta. In addition to that, the club had huge success on the water, probably its best-ever, winning medals in ten categories – four gold, four silver, and two bronze.

Kilmacsimon’s U18 crew of Cathal McShane, Tuan Reynolds, Frey Dunne (cox), Aidan Crowley, Adam Lynch, won gold.

For Kilmacsimon, these were memorable championships, being the top West Cork club for medals, with a phenomenal six gold, three silver, and ten bronze medal finishes. It just lost out to Whitegate for the club of the day title, with the East Cork club achieving most wins, having secured eight titles.

For Courtmacsherry, there were big celebrations on Sunday night with the club’s senior men’s crew back on top nationally, winning gold. This bridged a five-year gap since the club’s last win in this marquee category, back in 2017. The club’s U12 girls also won gold, and in total, the club had six medal winning finishes making it a memorable regatta.

It was gold for Galley Flash timber yawl ladies crew of Aisling Feen, Mary Ann McCarthy, Julie Harrington (Cox), Ciara Rahilly, and Donna Burke at Farran Woods last weekend.

For the Galley Flash club, its strong focus on youth is paying dividends, its U12 and U14 boys won gold, its U12 girls took silver, and its U14 girls won bronze. The club's third gold finish came in the women’s timber yawl category, while in total the club finished with medals in 11 categories.

The Castletownbere club will be delighted with its two wins, its women’s classic crew and its women’s sprint crews both won gold, both races were in traditional gigs. The highlight for the Ring club was bronze for its intermediate men’s crew.

Rosscarbery’s Intermediate crew of Anna Verling, Grace Hurley, Therese Lawlor, Maeve Crowley, and Alyssa Mannix, won gold.

The West Cork clubs did not have it all their own way. East Cork clubs, Passage West, East Ferry, Rushbrooke, Blackrock and Whitegate, feature prominently, the latter winning the club of the day award. There was strong Kerry representation from Callinafercy, Portmagee and Muckross, the former winning medals in a notable 11 categories, gold in three of these.

From Wexford, there was representation from the Kilurin, St Kearns, and Edermine Ferry clubs, the latter winning local bragging rights with medals in eight races. From the east coast, we also had Skerries, Arklow and the impressive Wicklow club that won three gold and had eight medal finishes in total.