#Rowing: A bumper weekend of racing is in store in Cork as the 2017 Irish Rowing Championships take place at the National Rowing Centre from Friday, July 14th to Sunday, July 16th. The event will showcase some of the best rowing Ireland has to offer with 1049 crews competing in 264 races.
The National Rowing Centre will welcome 60 clubs, including Waterville and Flesk Valley, who will compete at the Championships for the first time, as well as a re-formed Newry Rowing Club.
High Performance athletes including Gary and Paul O’Donovan, Sanita Puspure and Claire Lambe will be among those competing for the much coveted “Pots”, as well as European Champions Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan, and European Silver medallist Denise Walsh.
Three superb days of racing were enjoyed at last year’s Championships, which came to a spectacular end with the men’s senior eights being fought right to the line. Commercial Rowing Club came away with the “Big Pot” in the end after a thrilling race, which saw them finishing less than a second ahead of rivals UCD.
Skibbereen, in combination with UCC, won the women’s senior eight. That win took Skibbereen’s overall tally for the Championships to 13 – they now have 163 titles in total, 11 clear of nearest rivals, Neptune (152).