#Rowing: Cambridge won the 2016 men’s Boat Race on the Thames today. Oxford started well, but in extremely difficult conditions, Cambridge established an early lead and kept a good rhythm down the long course, even as Oxford never gave up. 

 The women’s race was extraordinary. Oxford won, but in what Oxford women’s boat club president Maddy Badcott called “insane conditions”, Cambridge took in so much water that they almost sank. They somehow kept going and finished.

#ROWING: The challenges on the Cork Sculling Ladder gained some traction on Saturday after a week with postponements and withdrawals. Henrik Merz of Shandon had a busy week: he won on Thursday but was beaten on Saturday.

Results.

Tuesday 22.03.2016.

(4) Dan Begley  -  Shandon Boat Club  v  (3) Jack Casey  -  UCC Rowing Club. Race postponed due to Casey not well. Begley informed. Race now on Thursday 24.03.2016 at 06.20pm..

Wednesday. 23.03.2016.

(5) Stephen O’Sullivan  -  Shandon Boat Club  v  (3) Jack Casey  -  UCC Rowing Club.  Non race.

Casey (UCC Rowing Club) led well at  the half way stage from O’Sullivan (Shandon BC), but had to stop due to illness. Both scullers to re row at a later date.

Re row on Friday 25.03.2016 at 06.20pm or on Saturday 26.03.2016 at 08.20am.

Starter / Umpire : Finbarr Desmond / Kieran O’Sullivan.  

(FC)(72) Anne O’Farrell  -  Cork Boat Club  v  (69) Jennifer Crowley  -  Shandon Boat Club.  Postponed to Thursday 24.03.2016 at 06.10pm.

Thursday 24.03.2916.

 (19) Henrik Merz  -  Shandon Boat Club bt  (FC)(35) Brian O’Keeffe  -  Shandon Boat Club.  5 L.

(FC)(72) Anne O’Farrell  -  Cork Boat Club  bt (69) Jennifer Crowley  -  Shandon Boat Club.  5 L.

(4) Dan Begley  -  Shandon Boat Club  v  (3) Jack Casey  -  UCC Rowing Club.   No race.  Casey ill.

 (29) Shane Crean  -  Lee Rowing Club bt  (40) Cian O’Sullivan  -  Cork Boat Club.  5 L.

Umpires :  Finbarr Desmond and Kieran Hughes.

                   (10) Liam O’Connell  -  Cork Boat Club  v  (7) Darragh Larkin  -  Lee Rowing Club.   ---------   O’Connell withdrew challenge  ----  cancelled.

                    (21) Cormac Corkery  -  Cork Boat Club  v  (18) Hugh Sutton  -  Lee Rowing Club.  ---------   Corkery withdrew challenge  ----  cancelled.

                    (13) Barry Connolly  -  Cork Boat Club  v  (8) Barry O’Flynn  -  Cork Boat Club.  ---------   Connolly withdrew challenge   -----   cancelled.    

Friday. 25.03.2016.

                   (FC)(107) Hannah Cummins  -  Lee Rowing Club  v  (82) Sophie Grey  -  Lee Rowing Club.  --- postponed until Saturday.

                   (59) Kieran White  -  Cork Boat Club  v  (57) Noel Carey  -  Shandon Boat Club.  Cancelled, White withdrew challenge.

                   (8) Barry O’Flynn  -  Cork Boat Club  v  (6) Sean Lonergan  -  Shandon Boat Club. Cancelled,  O’Flynn withdrew challenge. .

                   (4) Dan Begley  -  Shandon Boat Club  v  (3) Jack Casey  -  UCC Rowing Club.  Cancelled.

Saturday 26.03.2016.

 (22) Evan Curtin  -  Cork Boat Club.  bt (16) David Higgins  -  Presentation College Rowing Club.   4L.

 (50) Conor Twohig  -  Cork Boat Club bt  (45) Patrick Kenneally  -  Presentation College Rowing Club.   1 1/4L.

 (25) Donal Smith  -  Shandon Boat Club bt   (20) Henrik Merz  -  Shandon Boat Club.  1 3/4L.                   

 (47) Tim Buckley  -  Lee Rowing Club bt  (48) David Cosgrave  -  Shandon Boat Club.  5L.

 (82) Sophie Grey  -  Lee Rowing Club bt  (FC) (107) Hannah Cummins  -  Lee Rowing Club.  5L.

 (10) Liam O’Connell  -  Cork Boat Club.  bt (11) Cathal Merz  -  Shandon Boat Club.  5L.

Starter / Umpires : Finbarr Desmond, Kieran O’Sullivan and Pat Hickey.

  

Challenges :

Sunday.

09.00am.  (FC)(91) Marie Kidney  -  Lee Rowing Club  v  (82) Sophie Grey  -  Lee Rowing Club.

09.10am.  (4) Dan Begley  -  Shandon Boat Club  v  (1) Ronan Byrne  -  Shandon Boat Club.

Monday. 28.03.2016.

06.00pm.   (FC)(86) Claragh O’Sullivan  -  Cork Boat Club  v  winner of 09.00am race on Sun. 27.03.2016. {(FC)(91) Marie Kidney  - Lee RC  v (82) Sophie Grey  -  Lee RC.

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 final schedule for the Ireland trials this weekend at the National Rowing Centre has been released. The adult events are now sited primarily on the Sunday, with just the men’s under-23 heavyweight double sculls being added to the big junior programme on the Saturday, March 19^th. The first time trials, for junior men’s pairs, start earlier than originally scheduled, at 8.30 am because of concerns about the weather. Finals for juniors are scheduled for the Saturday afternoon.

#Rowing: UCD carried off the Gannon and Corcoran Cups for senior men and women in the Colours races on the Liffey today. In both races, strong starts in the difficult conditions were the key. In the Corcoran Cup, the bigger and more powerful UCD women’s crew had one quarter length by the Ha’penny Bridge, and coming through Capel Street Bridge they extended it to over a length. They went on to win comfortably. The UCD men’s crew also got off the start much more smoothly than Trinity. Trinity mounted a number of attacks down the course, but UCD held them off and won by over a length.

 The novice men’s race for the Dan Quinn Shield provided Trinity with a chance to impress, with the crew in white taking command early and having the race won by the Four Courts. The novice women’s race was similarly one-sided, with UCD having only to paddle home after Trinity’s stroke woman caught a crab after only a few seconds of the race.

Colours Races 2016, O’Connell Bridge to St James’s Gate, Saturday:

 Men – Senior (Gannon Cup): UCD (E Gleeson, D Somers, T Hughes, A Griffin, E O’Connor, M Murphy, S Mulvaney, D O’Malley; cox: O Reid) bt Trinity 1 1/3 l . Novice (Dan Quinn Shield): Trinity bt UCD, easily.

 Women – Senior (Corcoran Cup): UCD (D Callanan, J Coleman, A O’Riordan, E Lambe, O Finnegan, R Gilligan, S Bennett, K O’Connor; cox: J Gilligan) bt Trinity a distance. Novice (Sally Moorhead Trophy): UCD bt Trinity easily.

 

#Rowing: The St Michael’s Head of the River, set for this Saturday, March 12^th, has been cancelled because of increased water levels at O’Brien’s Bridge. This event was rescheduled, after an earlier cancellation.

 The Dublin Head of the River, scheduled for March 26^th, has also been cancelled. The organisers say that conditions on the weir at Islandbridge would not be safe. Offaly head, on this date, will accept entries for all standard grades except eights.

#Rowing: Trinity’s senior A eight were clear winners of the Erne Head of the River today. The Dublin University crew had 19 seconds to spare over the Commercial senior eight. Portora’s junior 18 eight placed sixth, while the fastest women’s crew were the Trinity senior eight, which finished 16^th.

 

Position Crew Number Club Class Time
1
1
DUBC A
MS 8+
19:23
2
4
Commercial RC
MS 8+
19:42
3
2
NUIG A
MS 8+
19:53
4
5
DUBC B
MS 8+
19:56
5
3
UCDBC
MS 8+
20:00
6
8
Portora BC
MJ18 8+
20:15
7
6
NUIG B
MS 8+
20:21
8
7
QUBBC
MI 8+
20:23
9
13
Portora BC
MS 4x-
20:58
10
11
Commercial
MJ18 8+
21:19
11
42
DUBC A
MN 8+
21:23
12
43
QUBBC A
MN 8+
21:38
13
10
Methodist College
MJ18 8+
21:40
14
9
Neptune RC
MJ18 8+
21:45
15
14
Belfast / Lagan Scullers
MS 4x-
22:00
16
23
DULBC
WS 8+
22:22
17
16
RBAI
MU23 4x-
22:26
18
29
Galway RC (Vet D)
MM 8+
22:48
19
44
UCDBC A
MN 8+
23:00
20
67
Commercial RC A
MJ16 4x+
23:06
21
58
Portora BC
MJ16 8+
23:11
22
12
RBAI
MJ18 8+
23:15
23
39
Commercial RC A
WI 8+
23:18
24
24
Portora BC
WJ18 8+
23:25
25
30
Belfast RC A (Vet D)
MM 8+
23:26
26
20
Neptune
MI 4+
23:27
27
17
DUBC
MS 4+
23:29
28
45
Neptune RC
MN 8+
23:31
29
34
Belfast BC (Vet F)
MM 8+
23:36
30
27
Methodist College
WJ18 8+
23:41
31
32
OCBC / Athlone (Vet E)
MM 8+
23:47
32
49
DUBC C
MN 8+
23:52
33
46
DUBC B
MN 8+
23:53
34
48
UCDBC B
MN 8+
23:58
35
51
Belfast BC / Bann/ QUBLBC
WS 4x-
24:15
35
=
28
Neptune RC (Vet D)
MM 8+
24:15
37
37
DULBC A
WI 8+
24:18
38
26
Galway RC
WJ18 8+
24:19
38
=
38
NUIG
WI 8+
24:19
40
59
Methodist College
MJ16 8+
24:21
40
=
56
QUBLBC
WS 4-
24:21
42
41
Commercial RC B
WI 8+
24:31
43
33
Walton Rowing Club (Vet E)
MM 8+
24:34
44
36
LVBC (Vet G)
MM 8+
24:46
45
69
Commercial RC B
MJ16 4x+
24:51
46
54
Commercial RC
WJ18 4x-
25:04
47
64
Belfast BC A (Vet D)
WM 8+
25:06
48
31
Belfast RC B (Vet E)
MM 8+
25:38
49
35
Moseley Boat Club (Vet G)
MM 8+
25:46
50
47
QUBBC B
MN 8+
25:51
51
25
Commercial RC
WJ18 8+
25:53
52
53
Belfast RC
WJ18 4x-
26:04
53
40
DULBC B
WI 8+
26:07
54
22
Methodist College
MJ18 4+
26:31
55
68
Portadown
MJ16 4x+
26:33
56
72
Portora BC B
WJ16 8+
27:21
57
63
Belfast RC (Vet C)
WM 8+
27:38
58
66
Portadown (Vet D)
M Mixed 8+
28:21
59
55
Portadown
WJ18 4x-
28:37
60
62
Belfast BC B (Vet C)
WM 8+
29:11
61
61
Portora BC A
WJ16 8+
29:17
62
65
QUBLBC
WN 8+
29:39
63
=
15
Lagan Scullers
MS 4x-
Did Not Row
63
=
18
UCDBC
MI 4+
Did Not Row
63
=
19
QUBBC
MI 4+
Did Not Row
63
=
21
RBAI
MJ18 4x-
Did Not Row
63
=
50
DULBC
WS 4x-
Did Not Row
63
=
52
Portadown
WS 4x-
Did Not Row
63
=
57
QUBLBC
WI 4+
Did Not Row
63
=
60
Blackrock College
MJ16 8+
Did Not Row
63
=
70
Blackrock College
MJ16 4x+
Did Not Row
63
=
71
Galway RC
WJ164x+
Did Not Row

#Rowing: Trinity’s men’s novice eight were the fastest crew in Race One of the Lagan Head of the River in Belfast today. They had more than three-quarters of a minute to spare over the Queen's University novice eight. Single sculler Christ Beck of Queen’s placed 11^th overall.

 

Lagan Head of the River 2016 - Race 1 2700m at 10:30hrs
RESULTS by Time - Masters handicap not applied
POSITION CREW
NUMBER Club Class Cox/Steerer Time % of winning
time
Comm
ents
1 129 DUBC C Mens Novice 8+ A McCormack 09:45.4 100.00
2 132 QUBBC A Mens Novice 8+ J Stitt 10:32.9 108.11
3 101 RBAI Mens J18A 4X- N Reid 10:40.0 109.32
4 103 DUBC Mens Intermediate 4+ H Mulvany 10:47.0 110.53
5 105 St Josephs A Mens Intermediate 4+ C R Wanjau 10:49.4 110.94
6 113 Portora Mens J18A 4- C Ross 10:50.2 111.07
7 203 Portora Mens Club 1 2X B Rix 10:59.0 112.57
8 130 DUBC A Mens Novice 8+ C Keogh 11:03.9 113.40
9 102 St Josephs Mens J18A 4X- F Vickers 11:08.4 114.18
10 136 Portora Mens J15 8+ R Farragher 11:08.9 114.26
11 120 QUBBC Mens Senior 1X C Beck 11:15.1 115.32
12 138 Commercial (d ) Mens Masters 4+ J Briscoe 11:25.4 117.08
13 150 St Josephs Mens J16 4+ E Finnegan 11:26.3 117.23
14 116 Commercial Mens J18A 4X+ B McGuinness 11:26.3 117.24
15 202 QUBBC B Mens Club 1 2X M Taylor 11:27.4 117.43
16 133 QUBBC B Mens Novice 8+ A Sloan 11:33.1 118.40
17 131 DUBC B Mens Novice 8+ J Davis 11:33.5 118.46
18 112 Bann Mens J18A 4- A Cochrane 11:33.8 118.52
19 118 Methodist Mens Club 1 4+ A Mawhinney 11:34.1 118.57
20 106 QUBBC Mens Senior 2- D Roy 11:36.6 119.00
21 139 Belfast BC / Commercial / OCBC (e ) Mens Masters 4+ J Malloy 11:38.3 119.28
22 109 Commercial B Mens Senior 2- J Healy 11:44.1 120.28
23 107 Commercial D Mens Senior 2- J A Cash 11:46.0 120.61
24 156 Commercial Womens Intermediate 4+ K Curran 11:47.3 120.82
25 117 Commercial Mens Club 1 4+ S Eustace 11:48.7 121.05
26 176 Broxbourne RC (c) Mens Masters 1X R Shirley 11:52.2 121.67
27 124 Portora Mens Intermediate 1X M Monteith 11:54.5 122.05
28 171 Neptune Mens Novice 4X+ E Power 11:57.5 122.56
29 184 Commercial Womens J18A 4X- G MacNamara 11:57.5 122.57
30 149 Portora Mens J16 2X N Timoney 11:58.9 122.80
31 173 DULBC B Womens Senior 2X A Leahy 12:03.4 123.58
32 143 Commercial Mens J18A 1X E Meehan 12:06.6 124.13
33 126 Bann Mens J18A 2X B McNeill 12:07.0 124.19
34 205 DUBC A Mens Club 1 2X A Merle 12:08.8 124.49
35 110 Commercial A Mens Senior 2- J Forbes 12:09.6 124.63
36 162 Portora Mens Club 1 1X R Ballantine 12:10.0 124.70
37 144 Commercial Mens J18A 1X M Lynch 12:12.0 125.04
38 134 Commercial Mens J18A 2- R Brown 12:12.5 125.12
39 151 Portora Womens J18A 4- L Mulligan 12:15.0 125.55
40 121 QUBBC Mens Intermediate 1X P Martin 12:15.2 125.58
41 155 QUBLBC A Womens Intermediate 4+ G Canham 12:16.0 125.73
42 172 DULBC A Womens Senior 2X G Crowe 12:18.6 126.17
43 227 Portora Womens J15 8+ S Dolan 12:26.2 127.47
44 158 Bann Mens J15 4X+ D Clyde 12:26.6 127.54
45 153 DULBC Womens Intermediate 4+ A Reid 12:27.9 127.76
46 152 Methodist Womens J18A 4- L McIntyre 12:29.7 128.07
47 115 RBAI Mens J18A 4X+ M Honan 12:30.1 128.13
48 125 Portora Mens J18A 2X S O'Hare Smith 12:30.8 128.25
49 204 RBAI Mens Club 1 2X M Gaston 12:43.6 130.45
50 141 Commercial Mens J18A 1X O O'Toole 12:44.7 130.62
51 186 Belfast RC Womens J18A 4X- E Hobson 12:45.9 130.83
52 170 RBAI Mens Club 1 4X+ C Harley 12:51.0 131.71
53 167 Yarm School B Womens Club 1 4+ J Dodds 12:51.4 131.77
54 128 Belfast RC Mens J18A 2X J Moran 12:51.8 131.85
55 108 Commercial C Mens Senior 2- C Kinsella 12:52.2 131.91
56 127 Portadown Mens J18A 2X N Hull 12:56.3 132.61
57 183 Portora (e) Mens Masters 1X G Murphy 12:56.3 132.61
58 200 DUBC B Mens Club 1 2X D Hough 12:56.6 132.67
59 189 Commercial Womens J18A 4X+ S Carpenter 12:56.9 132.71
60 206 QUBBC A Mens Club 1 2X D Beirne 13:01.1 133.43
61 218 Methodist Womens Club 1 4X+ A Lane 13:01.8 133.55
62 178 QUBLBC A Womens Senior 2- R Davidson 13:04.7 134.05
63 212 Portora Womens J16 4X+ J Lunny 13:05.7 134.22
64 146 St Josephs B Mens J16 2X A Daly 13:06.5 134.36
65 164 Portadown Mens Club 1 1X A Laivins 13:07.2 134.48
66 193 Bann Womens J18A 1X H Scott 13:09.4 134.84
67 180 C of Derry (e) Mens Masters 1X G D'Urso 13:10.4 135.01
68 222 QUBLBC B Womens Club 1 2X A Buck 13:10.7 135.07
69 195 Bann Womens J18A 1X F Chestnutt 13:12.3 135.34
70 224 QUBLBC A Womens Novice 8+ A Ellis-Saunders 13:13.4 135.54
71 160 DUBC Mens Club 1 1X S Canning 13:16.9 136.13
72 201 Sligo Mens Club 1 2X M Donohoe 13:21.6 136.93
73 181 Lagan (e) Mens Masters 1X J Phelan 13:21.9 136.99
74 157 Lagan / Belfast BC (c ) Womens Masters 4X- L Venkatraman 13:23.2 137.20
75 226 DULBC B Womens Novice 8+ S Osters 13:24.2 137.38
76 208 LVBC (e ) Mens Masters 2X D O'Hara 13:29.3 138.25
77 225 DULBC A Womens Novice 8+ B Murphy 13:31.9 138.70
78 192 DULBC Womens Intermediate 1X G Foley 13:34.0 139.04
79 191 Yarm School Womens Intermediate 1X E Grant 13:35.6 139.33
80 223 QUBLBC B Womens Novice 8+ A Murdoch 13:38.6 139.83
81 196 Belfast RC Womens J18A 1X L Taylor 13:40.7 140.20
82 190 Bann Womens Intermediate 1X K Shirlow 13:42.1 140.43
83 174 Commercial (c) Mens Masters 1X L Gleeson 13:45.4 141.00
84 232 Bann Womens Club 1 1X A Odonovan 13:45.4 141.00
85 228 Commercial Womens J15 8+ E Walsh 13:45.7 141.05
86 114 Neptune Mens J18A 4X+ J Stapleton 13:48.4 141.51
87 217 Bann A Womens J15 4X+ C Yarnold 13:53.4 142.36
88 161 RBAI Mens Club 1 1X T Lyons 13:54.7 142.59
89 175 Belfast RC (c) Mens Masters 1X J Boomer 13:55.5 142.72
90 123 QUBBC Mens Intermediate 1X R Taylor 13:57.3 143.02
91 211 Commercial Womens J16 4X+ S Pierce 13:57.3 143.03
92 169 Yarm School A Womens Club 1 4+ A Arad 14:02.1 143.85
93 199 Belfast BC (f) Mens Masters 1X S Lockwood 14:06.9 144.67
94 182 Lagan (e) Mens Masters 1X G Reid 14:07.5 144.77
95 147 C of Derry Mens J16 2X A Simpson 14:07.8 144.83
96 215 Bann B Womens J15 4X+ D Whoriskey 14:15.2 146.08
97 188 Portora Womens J18A 2X A McCreesh 14:15.2 146.09
98 194 Belfast RC Womens J18A 1X C Coulter 14:18.0 146.57
99 148 St Josephs A Mens J16 2X Y Xie 14:26.6 148.04
100 221 Portadown Womens Club 1 2X A Martin 14:27.3 148.16
101 185 Portadown Womens J18A 4X- K McCann 14:44.7 151.12
102 159 Methodist Mens J15 4X+ H Adams 14:44.7 151.13
103 166 Belfast RC Womens Club 1 4+ M Cheung 14:46.8 151.48
104 165 Yarm School Mens Club 1 1X A McAllister 14:52.4 152.45
105 142 C of Derry Mens J18A 1X C Baldwin 14:54.8 152.86
106 216 Portadown Womens J15 4X+ R Pinkerton 14:57.3 153.27
107 213 Methodist Womens J16 4X+ M Cawley 15:01.4 153.99
108 210 C of Derry (g ) Mens Masters 2X D Doherty 15:01.7 154.03
109 179 Yarm School Mens J14 4X+ S Graham 15:16.9 156.62
110 214 Belfast RC Womens J16 4X+ S Smith 15:22.1 157.52
111 154 QUBLBC B Womens Intermediate 4+ V Wallace 15:31.3 159.09
112 140 Portadown Mens J18A 1X D Murtagh 15:38.4 160.30
113 231 Portora A Womens J14 4X+ D Duffy 15:46.3 161.65
114 198 C of Derry (d ) Womens Masters 2X N-W Loughlin 15:49.1 162.14
115 219 QUBLBC A Womens Club 1 2X A Foster 16:05.0 164.85
116 230 Portora B Womens J14 4X+ L Bothwell 16:27.9 168.75
117 207 Belfast BC (c ) Mens Masters 2X M Wreathall 16:55.0 173.39
118 234 C of Derry Mens Senior 1X K Doherty 17:18.9 177.46
104 St Josephs B Mens Intermediate 4+ C Finnegan
111 Neptune Mens Senior 2X K Coughlan
119 Belfast RC Mens J16 4X+ B McCaughtry
122 Commercial Mens Intermediate 1X S Connolly
135 DUBC Mens Novice 4+ L Arnold
137 St Josephs Mens J15 8+ B Holland
145 Galway (d ) Mens Masters 4X+ C Moloney
163 DUBC Mens Club 1 1X N Rawlinson
168 DULBC Womens Club 1 4+ C O'Donnell
177 QUBLBC B Womens Senior 2- E Holmes
187 Neptune Womens J18A 2X A Clark
197 Portadown (c) Womens Masters 1X S Laivina
209 Belfast BC (h) Mens Masters 1X H Coppinger
220 Yarm School Womens Club 1 2X E Atherton
229 Yarm School Womens J14 4X+ F Wilmot
233 Portora Womens Club 1 1X A Beacom
Lagan Head of the River 2016 by Belfast Rowing Club

#Rowing - Four intrepid British women were rescued from the Mid Atlantic in the early hours of this morning (Sunday 14 February) after capsizing during a rowing record attempt for charity.

As the Guardian reports, Gemma Chalk, Clare Lanyon, Jane McIntosh and Olivia Wilson were aiming to break the women's rowing speed record from the Canary Islands to Barbados when they lost their oars and GPS system after a series of capsizes some 400 nautical miles off Cape Verde.

But the women were able to get in contact with the UK Coastguard by satellite phone and activate an emergency beacon to direct passing vessels to their location – and they were finally picked up by a Canada-bound bulk carrier that diverted course to go to their aid.

“This shows you how important it is to be prepared for your voyage and have several means of contacting the coastguard or raising an alarm, even if you are not in UK waters," said UK Coastguard duty controller Ian Guy.

The Guardian has more on the story HERE.

#Rowing: The junior trials, set for Saturday at Lough Rynn and the National Rowing Centre, have been called off. The wind would have made Lough Rynn unsuitable, and it was not thought fair to have a trial at just one of the two venues. There was also the consideration that many rowers have not had sufficient time on the water because of flooding. The testing process will continue at the Ireland trial on March 19^th and 20^th at the NRC.  

 The St Michael’s Head of the River, scheduled for February 20^th, has been rescheduled for March 12^th.