#coastalrowing – Last Sunday saw the 8th and penultimate leg of the 2013 East Coast Rowing series. It was a fantastic day in Dun Laoghaire, and the heavy downpours, which at one stage saw 8mm of rain fall within 30 minutes, was not going to dampen the spirits of the spectators and the travelling clubs from up and down the East Coast.
There were 80 teams from 9 participating clubs, competing across the 12 categories on the day. This we believe is a possible record for our sport. What can be claimed as a record is the number of St. Michael's crews that were entered; 14 in all with crews from U16s to Senior Mens & Ladies.
There were plenty of activities going on within Dun Laoghaire on Sunday, including the Rainbow Run and a swimming event from Seapoint, which added to the excitement on the day. Excellent organisation by all parties ensured a smooth running of all events.
St. Michael's had an excellent day with the 2 main success stories being the Senior Ladies crew of Eloise O'Riordan, Suzy O'Keefe, Orla Stavely, Dee Friel, (Coxed by James Byrne) coming home with yet another Gold, making them the East Coast champions with 1 race to spare.
The second success story of the day was the performance of the Inter Men's crew of Colm Crilly, Ger Ryan, Dave Cullen, Alan Quigley (Coxed by Rob Moloney), who brought home the first home Gold for a St. Michael's men's team for decades.
St. Pats Win Senior Trophy with Sponsor Arthur McKenna & Councillor Jane Dillon-Byrne
There were other super performances from the Junior Ladies crew taking silver behind a very strong Stella crew, a hard fought bronze for one of our Novice crews and strong performances from our 3 junior crews; U16 mixed, U18 Girls, U18 Boys.
The results from last weekend have pushed us up into 4th on the overall team standings, which is way above our expectations.
The final regatta will take place this bank holiday Monday in Wicklow. The season finale starts with a parade through the town with racing due to start from 2pm.
