The challenge is the completion of the boat-handling element of the potential leadership training for the young cadets, who, in this case, completed the 300km-plus (186 miles) journey shortly before 5pm, at a time of five hours and 51 minutes.
Three months of training, which not only involves the navigation of the river but the planning, preparation and execution of all aspects, including refuelling and co-ordinating lock times, preceded the attempt.
The cadets are also using the exercise to raise money for charity. At the time of the ascent, they’d raised €1,000 for Friends of Ward 2D Cork University Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children Crumlin. They hope to reach their target of €3,000 in the coming weeks.
A Navy spokesman hoped the setting of a record would entice other boat clubs to take up the challenge and try to break the record.
The seven senior trainees, six men and one woman mainly in their 20s, are from all four provinces, a Naval Service spokesman said. They are due to be commissioned in September but, because of the recruitment embargo, this is pending Department of Finance approval.
Naval Service cadets completed the first official ascent of the Shannon river in under six hours recently. Records have previously been set for descents which go with the flow of the river.
However, this was the first time the more difficult challenge of navigating against the flow of the longest river in Ireland has been recorded.
Seven members of the 47th Naval Service cadet class started the journey at Sarsfield Lock in Limerick city in two motorised eight-metre rigid-hulled inflatable boats and finished at Battlebridge, Co Leitrim.
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