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Displaying items by tag: Liffey Swim

The annual Liffey Swim was held in Dublin city centre on Saturday (24 September) with nearly 500 people taking part, as RTÉ News reports.

Dublin Swimming Club’s Ken Dent took the men’s honours, leading from the outset and setting a time of 38 minutes from the Guinness Brewery to Custom House Quay — the swim’s traditional route.

Meanwhile, Melissa Corbally from Dublin’s NAC Masters Swimming Club was first among the women with a time of 47 min 51 sec, and described her win as “a very big surprise”. RTÉ News has more HERE.

This was the 102nd edition of the Liffey Swim, an annual event since 1920 save for a break in 2020 in the first months of the COVID pandemic.

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The 100th edition of the Liffey Swim saw one of its youngest ever winners, as 15-year-old Mark Hanley from Meath clinched the men’s title yesterday afternoon (Saturday 3 August).

“Never in a million years did we think he’d win it,” his father Barry told Independent.ie of the schoolboy who has to juggle training with studies for his recently completed Junior Cert.

Fellow Meath swimmer Sinead Delaney was victorious in the women’s division of the race from St James’ Gate to Custom House Quay.

This year’s centenary event went ahead amid concerns over the river’s water quality following heavy rains earlier in the week that once again overwhelmed the city’s wastewater treatment infrastructure.

Dublin City Council warned that the most recent test results were “exceptionally poor”.

But race winner Mark commented: “It was grand, I actually think it was cleaner this year than last year. Less gunk on the top.”

Independent.ie has more on the story HERE.

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#LiffeySwim - RTÉ journalist Paul O’Flynn fulfilled his “lifelong dream” of winning the Liffey Swim men’s race in the event’s 99th running yesterday afternoon (Saturday 1 September).

The Half Moon Swimming Club member finished with a time of around 43 minutes with an eight-minute handicap, as RTÉ News reports.

Trina Muldoon of Clontarf Swimming Club won the women’s race on the course that ran from St James’ Gate to the Custom House.

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#LiffeySwim - Some 500 swimmers are expected to take a dip in Dublin city centre this afternoon (Saturday 1 September) in the 99th running of the Liffey Swim.

Now sponsored by Jones Engineering and organised by Leinster Open Sea, the Liffey Swim was first run in 1920 and was soon after immortalised by Jack B Yeats’ Olympic medal-winning painting.

However, the tradition is very much alive and well, and the Liffey Swim today is the oldest continually run annual swimming race in Europe.

Spectators for this year’s event should plan to take their spots before the men’s race from 3pm and the women’s race from 4pm, both from the Rory O’Moore Bridge at St James’ Gate to the Custom House.

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#LiffeySwim - The 98th Liffey Swim on Saturday (9 September) was a double for Dublin Swimming Club, according to BreakingNews.ie.

Colin Monaghan and Anne Marie Bourke won the men’s and women’s races respectively over the 2.2km course from the Rory O’Moore Bridge at Croppies Acre to the Loop Line Bridge.

Nearly 500 swimmers took part in the near-century-old institution, now run annually by Leinster Open Sea Swimming and the only swimming race through a European capital, says TheJournal.ie.

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#LiffeySwim - "Perfect" conditions greeted the 430 swimmers who took a dip in the capital's river for the 97th Liffey Swim last weekend, as TheJournal.ie reports.

Brian Murray and Jennifer Gilbert were the respective men's and women's winners in the 2.2km race from the Rory O'Moore Bridge near Croppies Acre to the Loop Line Bridge at the Custom House on Saturday 6 August.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the annual Liffey Swim run by Leinster Open Sea Swimming is one of the most renowned and unique races of its kind in the world.

And photographer Donal Moloney was on hand to capture some stunning images of the day, which he's made available as a Facebook gallery HERE.

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#LiffeySwim - The 97th Dublin City Liffey Swim will take place on Saturday 6 August.

The men's race will kick off from 1.30pm at Croppies Acre heading downstream beneath 12 of the city's bridges as far as the Loop Line Bridge, with the women's race from 2.30pm.

Run annually by Leinster Open Sea Swimming, the 2.2km Liffey Swim is one of the most renowned open sea races throughout the world – its excitement captured in Jack B Yeats' famed painting from 1923.

It is also unique in that Dublin is the only capital in Europe to have a swimming race through the middle of the city.

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#LiffeySwim - Dublin celebrated its 95th Liffey Swim yesterday as more than 360 people took to the river's waters yesterday (13 September) for the annual race through the heart of the capital.

As The Irish Times reports, 257 men and 111 women set off from the quays at the Guinness brewery on the more than 2km downstream course towards the Loopline Bridge, swimming beneath the majority of the city's landmark spans.

And almost all of the swimmers completed the race, with Ger Wilkes of the North Dublin Winter Swimming Club coming first among the men, while paramedic Rachel Lee was the first woman to reach the Custom House

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

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#liffeyswim – The Lord Mayor Oisín Quinn will officially start the 94th Liffey Swim, supported by Dublin City Council, this Saturday 24th August as hundreds of brave swimmers take the plunge. This year's race will start at the Loop Line Bridge beside Butt Bridge and finish at the pontoon on the North side of the river beside the East Link Toll Bridge in front of the O2.

The 94th Dublin City Liffey Swim, supported by Dublin City Councilwill start at the Loop Line Bridge beside Butt Bridge and finish at the pontoon on the North side of the river beside the East Link Toll Bridge in front of the O2.

The 1,600-metre race, organised by Leinster Open Sea Swimming Club and supported by Dublin City Council will commence at 12.30pm with over 300 entrants taking to the water for the historic swim.

The inaugural Liffey LivingFestival will take the infectious atmosphere of the swim on in to the Grand Canal Dock post race for free, family friendly activities such as giant sized street games, a live band, ambient DJ and a specially erected floating open-air cinema, showing water themed movies! Dublin City Council's Liffey Living Festival will run from 3pm -10.00pm

WHEN:
SATURDAY 24th AUGUST 2013
MENS LIFFEY SWIM COMMENCES AT 12.30PM
WOMENS LIFFEY SWIM COMMENCES AT 1.30PM

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This Saturday, 11th September, the Dublin City Council sponsored Liffey Swim celebrates its 90th anniversary as 237 men and 114 women take the plunge, having completed 4 qualifying races on the 2010 Leinster Open Sea Swim Calendar. Dublin's Lord Mayor, Gerry Breen will fire the starting gun for the men's race at 13.30hrs and the women's race at 14.15hrs. The 2.2 kilometre swim begins at Rory O'More Bridge, Watling Street and finishes at the Custom House.

The Swim is open to competitors of all ages, abilities and nationalities, with teenagers pitting their strengths against 70 year olds and club swimmers from all over the country competing against their international counterparts. Don Barry is the oldest competitor at age 70 while Charlie McCarthy is the youngest at age 12.

According to the Lord Mayor, "the City Council is proud to sponsor the Liffey Swim which is a one of our landmark events in Dublin this year, to mark our designation as European Capital of Sport. I applaud the efforts of Swim Ireland, Leinster Region Open Sea Committee, who do an excellent job working closely with the City Council in successfully delivering this uniquely Dublin event, year after year. Attracting as it does a growing number of competitors from home and abroad, the Swim is highly regarded. I would also like to like to wish my colleague on the Joint Policing Commission, Assistant Gárda Commissioner, Mick Feehan the very best of luck in the race – I think he'll need all the luck he can get up against such stiff competition".

"There is something for people of all ages to enjoy at the event, with face-painters, performing clowns and live music from the Artane Boys Band on offer at Custom House Quay during the race. I encourage everybody in Dublin on Saturday afternoon to follow the race along the quays and cheer on the swimmers, from the many great vantage points along the Liffey walls, bridges and boardwalks", said the Lord Mayor. "It's a physically demanding race but a great day out for both competitors and spectators".

The race will feature 3 generations of 1 family swimming: John, Sharon and Hayley Pickering. The winner of last year's men's race, Pat O'Driscoll, will be again joined in the race by his son Daire who recorded the fastest time in last year's men's race. John McCarthy will be battling it out with his 12 year old son Charlie, who will be the youngest competitor in the race.

This year's race also includes a number of Irish swimmers who have completed the gruelling English Channel swim: Julie-Ann Galloway, Lisa Howley, Ann McAdam and Eoin Gaffney.

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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

 

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.

©Afloat 2020