#Rowing: The All-Ireland Schools rowing Blitz in Trinity College, Dublin today was the culmination of weeks or hard work in the Get Going...Get Rowing schools programme. Trinity College saw hordes of bus loads coming from Limerick, Cork, Galway, Carlow and Dublin, where the programme started just over two and a half years ago. The initiative, which was run with a number of sporting partners, brings rowing machines into schools and gives students the opportunity to row on a four-to-six-week programme. The ethos of Get Going...Get Rowing is to "commit to giving students a sport and a pathway for life". Each student gets an on-the-water experience as well as ergometer (rowing machine) training and technique together with a fun active environment in schools.

Over 600 students from well over 30 schools came to Trinity Sports Hall. The ages ranged from 13-year-old first years to transition year students, who had completed the TrY Rowing leadership course. In a busy and exciting day medals went to schools in Carlow, Galway and Dublin. Killarney, the only team from Kerry which travelled, also took home medals.

There will be more events throughout this year, with Carlow hosting one on December 9th. Indoor rowers are moving to the water - 100 students in Leinster alone have joined clubs.

RESULTS

Girls U/14

Dominican College Galway

Presentation, Terenure

Sutton Park, Dublin

Girls u/16

Dominican College, Galway

Kings Hospital, Dublin

Salerno, Galway

Club/open girls

Laurel Hill, Limerick

Carlow Schools

Salerno, Galway

Club/open boys

Kings Hospital, Dublin

Presentation, Killarney

Carlow Schools

U/16 boys

CBC Monkstown

Borris Vocational School

CBC Monkstown

Over 140 secondary school students and 18 volunteers from Galway City attended the first Connacht #Blitzit2016 Challenge which took place at NUI Galway. The challenge, a curriculum within the Get Going, Get Rowing programme, saw students competing in a series of physical challenges, culminating in an indoor rowing challenge covering a total of 90,000m to symbolise the distance from Galway to Rio. 

The Get Going, Get Rowing programme in Connacht gives secondary school pupils the opportunity to actively engage with a new sport on NUI Galway’s campus or within the students’ own schools. The programme is run by Rowing Ireland who received funding from The Irish Sports Council (ISC) Women in Sport initiative in 2014. In November 2014, Rowing Ireland joined forces with NUI Galway to to jointly fund the Get Going, Get Rowing programme in Connacht.

Mike Heskin, recently appointed Director of Sport and Physical Activity at NUI Galway, said: “NUI Galway, as one of the major rowing universities in Ireland, is delighted to be involved with Rowing Ireland in this very exciting project. As 2016 will be a very exciting year for rowing, with Ireland being represented by two crews in Rio, I hope events such as this will inspire those taking part to have aspirations to be the best they can be and possibly compete in an Olympic Games in the future. ”

The NUI Galway Schools’ Challenge commenced with a flurry of activity where groups of 25 students in five separate groups rotated from one activity to the next at high speed. They finished the challenge by completing 40 minutes of racing on indoor rowing machines. This was then followed by a series of talks on nutrition, mindful movements and the positive effects of physical activity on academic results. 

The Get Going, Get Rowing programme also offers schools a training course, TrY rowing, to Transition Year students and provides coaching sessions in these schools upon completion of the course. To date, over 50 TrY students have become coaches and the programme provided indoor rowing machines (ergometers) to schools who have completed the TrY rowing and who have fully engaged with the programme.

#Rowing: The School Indoor Rowing Blitz in Trinity College drew hundreds of competitors. Borris Vocational School from Carlow won the Girls under-15 section ahead of Gaelcholáiste Ceatharlach, and Limerick school Laurel Hill won the girls under-14 category. The top under-14 boys’ team were CBC from Monkstown.  

For Full Results, See Attachment Below

School Indoor Rowing Blitz, Trinity College (Selected Results)

Boys

Under 14: 1 CBC Monkstown 7 min. 0.7 secs,  2 Presentation, Cork - Panthers 7:24:9. Under 13: 1 CBC Monsktown 7:51:0, 2 St Joseph’s, Galway One 7:53.9, 3 St Joseph’s, Galway Three 8:13.7.

Girls

Under 15; 1 Borris Vocational School – Barrow Barrowers 7:45.4, 2 Gaelcholáiste, Ceatharlach 7:53.1, 3 Cois Life, Lucan 8:32.7.

Under 14: 1 Laurel Hill, Limerick 7:43:3, 2 Coláiste Iognáid 7:44:5, 3  Borris Vocational School  - Barrow Blitzers 7:44:8. Under-13: 1 Laurel Hill, Limerick 7:48:0. 2 Col Iognaid 8:20:2, 3 Gael Scoil, Carlow 8:20:5

#Rowing: The inaugural rowing blitz for those who are new to the sport of rowing will take place this Friday, November 13^th  at Trinity College, Dublin. More than 400 competitors from around Ireland are set to take part. The event will not only give students the opportunity to test themselves as indoor rowers in a competitive environment for the first time, it will also give these youngsters a feel for what university life has to offer.

RTÉ news2day will attend the event.

The day will feature talks from former Olympian and World Championship medalist Neville Maxwell, physiotherapist and Trinity lecturer Dr Fiona Wilson – who will deal with rowing posture – and Sally O'Brien, won the women's senior eights championships in with Trinity (Dublin University Ladies' Boat Club) in 2015.

The winner of each category will receive a trophy and medals sponsored by Leinster branch of Rowing Ireland. Each category of winners will also receive free entry into the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships, which will be held at the University of Limerick sports arena in January.

The event will be facilitated by students rowing at Trinity college, together with over 70 students who have trained up over the last months to be Rowing Ireland transition year coaches.

Racing will start at 10am and the programme will finish at 2pm.