Portmagee Rowing Club was one of the first coastal rowing clubs in Ireland back on the water on Monday morning. The restrictions were lifted to allow single sculling to begin while using set precautions and observing distancing. Portmagee owns a coastal single scull and the junior members were delighted to be back in action. Portmagee owns several sets of new oars which were purchased under the sports grants last year thus allowing each member to use one specific set preventing cross-contamination and the scull is wiped down with sanitiser after each session. Water, soap and sanitizers are also available at the slip where training takes place.
Portmagee crews usually train on the rowing machines and do gym work during the winter and then move into the crew boats as the weather improves in the spring. Speaking to the athletes at training today, Aoife Murphy (who is also the club PRO) said that it’s been nine weeks since they were last on the water. She found it difficult to keep training at home on the erg and doing circuits as its hard to train on your own, but now is delighted to have all that work done for the coming season. She found a routine at home that allowed her to train daily and is looking forward to the highlight of the season, the Irish Coastal Rowing Championships, later on in the year. She feels that training will be more intense due to the shorter season and is really looking forward to it.
Jane O’Connor found no difficulty getting back into the boat after a nine-week layoff. She also found it hard to remain motivated training on your own as opposed to group training. She finds crew rowing better as you push yourself more during training with others and is also looking forward to the National Championships.
Also during a conversation with our neighbours, Cahersiveen Rowing Club this morning, they revealed that they are preparing to get back on the water with their junior crews in the coming weeks. Cahersiveen has always been recognised as a proud, traditional club that is very passionate about preserving the traditions of our sport for future generations. They have done a massive refurbishment job this winter on their seine boat, the Liberator. The Liberator was built in 1969 by the legendary boat builder, Johnny Mahony of Ardcost, and has been winning races ever since. With a crew ready to go and a boat nearly ready, here’s another club only delighted to be finally able to get back on the water.
