The Irish Offshore Rowing Championships take place in the village of Portmagee on the weekend of the 26th/27th of September. This is the second time that the Portmagee Rowing Club has been awarded the honour of hosting the National Championships. The event is being run under the auspices of Rowing Ireland, the National Governing Body for all types of rowing in Ireland.
Running any event in these challenging times is difficult, but the club is delighted with the support they have received from the local community, the volunteers from other clubs and the club members who have freely given their time over the last few months. The restrictions imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic will mean a lot of extra work in contact tracing, sanitising and crowd control, but these are necessary to run a safe event under the government guidelines. With hardly any regattas this year, the athletes are really looking forward to competing and training has been stepped up in all clubs around the country during the last few months.
The event will start at 8 am on Saturday morning with the crew captains meeting and the racing will start at 9 am. First up are the heats for the men's double. The heats will run all day Saturday and only the top five in each heat will qualify for the finals. There will be two finals run on Saturday, the women's quad at 10 am and the women's double at 12.30.
The favourites for the women's quad have to be Killorglin who are aiming to make it 3 in a row. They have two-time world champion Monika Dukarska and World Junior finalist, Rhiannon O'Donoghue in their ranks. However Castletownshend also have a very strong crew and with the local Portmagee crew medalling in Bantry three weeks ago as well, it has the makings of a very competitive race. The second Saturday final is also dominated by Killorglin who have three crews and Castletownshend, but the course on the Portmagee channel is tight and tricky and requires excellent navigational skills as well as rowing ability so a surprise result is quite possible here.
Sunday racing begins at 9.30 with the men's double final. In the Bantry regatta Callinafercy, Killorglin and Myross gave a great account of themselves before being led to the line by the winners, a composite crew of Dave Duggan from Kilmacsimon and Tom Stafford of Killurin. With more crews entered this time around it's anyone's race. This will be followed by the men's single final. James Lupton from Myross had a fine win in Bantry and would be the favourite in this race, but there is real quality in the opposition he faces. Andrew Hurley from Bantry was a close second last year and if he gets out in front it will be very hard to reel him in. Former three-time gold medalist Cormac Kelly from Arklow lines out alongside powerful Galley Flash oarsman, John Harrington, as well. Dark horses for this event could be the former Czech international Marko Tot and Rosscarbery's Kealin Mannix while Bryan Foran will represent the home club.
Next up is the men's quad. Myross have a lot of work put in this year and put on a superb display to win in Bantry. However last year's champions, Wicklow will be returning to the water and Muckross have 2 crews, one containing Irish Olympian, Paul Griffin and they have a very strong chance. St Michaels from Limerick will also compete along with Callinafercy who were also placed in Bantry.
The women's single has two very strong boats from Killorglin, Zoe Hyde and the aforementioned Monica Dukarska. They will line up against 2018 champion, Sionna Healy from Arklow and Xena Jordan who medalled in 2018 as well.
The mixed double is the last race and has a large entry of 16 crews. It's the hardest one to call. In Bantry three weeks ago, there was nothing much between the first 8 boats at the first mark, but Cormac Kelly and Sionna Healy from Arklow did just enough to clear their boat and steer clear of the packed field. Again good navigation will decide the winners of this race. The Portmagee club would like to extend a warm welcome to all clubs for the weekend and wish you all the best of luck on the water.
