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Displaying items by tag: Coleraine GS

#Rowing: Bann won the women's junior 18 eights with some style at Athlone Regatta today. In a battle of Northern Ireland clubs, the women in red and white were two lengths ahead of Enniskillen, with Coleraine GS third.

The women's junior 18 fours came late in the day and was a terrific battle. Commercial produced a cracking finish to win by a length from Enniskillen, with Bann third.

Coleraine's Molly Curry was a convincing winner of the women's junior 18 single, while Brian Colsh of Sligo was the men's junior sculling winner.

Galway's St Joseph's won the men's junior 18 eight, while Bann's good day included a win in the men's junior 18 four.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Enniskillen’s Sam Balcombe and Peter Murphy took a fine third place in the men’s Championship Pair at the National Schools Regatta at Dorney Lake today.

 On Saturday, Enniskillen had won gold in the Junior 16 Girls coxed four by a big margin.

 Ryan Spelman of St Michael’s took his place in the A Final of the Championship Single Sculls, and finished well to challenge the leaders. He took fifth.

 Coleraine Grammar School also took fifth in the final of the Junior 16 Girls Double.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Afloat Rower of the Month for February is Molly Curry. In a set of weeks in which action on the water was severely limited because of windy weather, the Ireland trials at the National Rowing Centre were welcome – and of high quality. World Rowing Champions Paul O’Donovan and Sanita Puspure won in fine style, while the standard of junior rowing was notable. Curry, from Coleraine Grammar School, showed good form. She was the top woman junior in the time trial and went on to compete in the same 2,000 metre race as Puspure.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2019 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan produced the best performance of the first Saturday session of the Ireland trials. The lightweight double beat their Skibbereen under-23 rivals Jake and Fintan McCarthy by 8.4 seconds and a heavyweight double of Ronan Byrne (UCC) and Philip Doyle (Queen’s) by 3.9 seconds.

The heavyweight pair of Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan also put their challengers firmly behind them. They raced at a high rate in the good conditions and beat Patrick Boomer and Andy Harrington by 6.6 seconds.

Three senior women’s crews performed well. Single sculler Sanita Puspure and the heavyweight and lightweight doubles of Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley and Denise Walsh and Margaret Cremen all looked on form as the selectors decide on which crews to send to the World Cup Regatta in Belgrade.

In the junior trials, Annie O’Donoghue and Ciara Moynihan of Workmen’s won a fine doubles race. Aoibhinn Keating of Skibbereen and Ciara Browne of Workmen’s were their closest rivals, but Mollie Curry of Coleraine GS and Eimear Crowley of Kenmare contended at the finish and were just 1.4 seconds off the winners.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Portadown Regatta enjoyed almost perfect conditions today. A packed programme was run in bright, warm sunshine and on flat water. RBAI beat the host club in one of the top events of the day, the men’s junior 18 eights final, reversing the decision of last year.

Shauna Murtagh of Carrick-on-Shannon beat Kate Crawford of Portadown in the women’s junior 18 single sculls – a first win in a regatta for the 16-year-old daughter of Ireland great Frances Cryan.

The men’s junior 18 single was won by Hugh Moore of Coleraine Grammar School.

Published in Rowing

National Watersports Campus, Dun Laoghaire

Dun Laoghaire Harbour Stakeholders combined forces in 2019 to promote a project to improve the Harbour’s infrastructure resulting in improved access, job creation and greater tourism potential. 

A grant application to government made by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCoCo) assisted by stakeholders was successful with the announcement of a €400k feasibility study grant from the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) in January 2020.

It meant plans for the €8m National Watersports Campus at Dun Laoghaire Harbour got the green light from Government and came a step closer to reality.

The project recognises deficits in the current set up in the harbour, proposing the construction of an all-tide publicly-accessible slipway (none currently in the Greater Dublin Area) as well as a marine services facility, providing a much-needed home for the supporting industry. 

The campus also seeks to provide a marketing framework to make boating more accessible to the general public.

The benefits of such an increase might be obvious for the Dun Laoghaire waterfront but there are other spin-offs for the harbour town in the creation of the sort of jobs that cannot be shipped abroad.

Centre for Community Watersports activity and public slipway

  • High-Performance coaching centre
  • Flexible Event Space for hosting national and international events
  • Multipurpose Building
  • Campus Marketing and Promotional Centre
  • Accommodation for Irish Sailing and Irish Underwater Council
  • Shared NGB Facility
  • Education Centre for schools, community groups and clubs
  • Proposed site – Carlisle Pier

Watersports Campus FAQs

Similar to the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, the watersports campus will provide quality, public, recreational and high-performance facilities for the many watersports participants. The Campus will considerably enhance the services currently provided by more than 30 clubs and activity centres to over 50,000 annual users of the harbour.

The passing of control of the harbour to DLRCC, the public appetite for a community benefitting project and the capital funding for sports infrastructure in the Project 2040 National Plan have aligned to create an opportunity to deliver this proposal.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) and the Irish Sailing Association (Irish Sailing) are the project leads, endorsed by the National Governing Bodies of other Irish watersports and clubs and activity providers.

The National Sports Policy, published in 2018, established the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) to provide Exchequer support for sports facility projects. In some cases, these may be projects where the primary objective will be to increase active participation in sport. In other cases, these may be venues where the focus is more related to high-performance sport.

Government has allocated at least €100m over the term to 2027 to successful applicant projects.

The Watersports Campus was one of seven successful applicants for Stream 1 funding allowing planning to commence on the project design and feasibility. €442,000 has been granted in this phase.

NThe project will provide for a municipally-owned public access facility to include a small craft slipway that is accessible at all stages of the tide (currently none in public ownership in the greater Dublin area), storage and lock-up resources, watersports event management space, a high-performance centre and NGB accommodation.

The project aims to enhance the profile of Dun Laoghaire as a major international venue for maritime events, shows and conferences. Establish Dun Laoghaire as the 'go-to place' for anything marine – generating revenues Create employment in the county - attract businesses, visitors and events. Grow the market for watersports Promote the services of activity providers to the public. Complement the plan to develop Dun Laoghaire as a 'destination.'

As of January 1 2021, The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has approved the applicant project and DLRCC are expected to appoint a team to further advance the project.

©Afloat 2020