Women rowers from Tipperary are queens of the relay again
Success for Clonmel club at Irish Indoor Championships
Competitors from the four corners of Ireland and a few overseas raiders from the UK gathered at the UL Sports Arena in Limerick to go head-to-head on the 60 rowing ergometers for the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships.
With a record number of 2,000 athletes taking part, it was a good gauge of the healthy state of rowing in Ireland.
The administators of the sport can take a bow, as they have worked hard to broaden the appeal of the sport through the adoption of para-rowing, coastal rowing and other initiatives.
It’s wonderful to see all the different age categories being catered for, ranging from 12 to 80.
Spectators and coaches were caught up in the maelstrom of excitement, with a number of records being broken on the day.
The fastest time of the day went to Adam Murphy of UCC, who dipped under the magic six minutes for 2k.
The Clonmel women’s relay team proved once again that they are the queens of the relay with a comprehensive win over their opposition in a cracking time of 6 minutes and 12 seconds.
Kenny McDonald, the fitness instructor at the Garda Training College in Templemore, practices what he preaches when he swept home in first place in the lightweight men 50-59 category.
Kate Fogarty, Clonmel Rowing Club and occasional footballer for Comeragh Rangers, has an excellent track record at the UL sports arena. In the W J15 time trial she came home at the head of a 23-strong field.
She very nearly completed a double in the 500 metres when she came second in another big field.
Clonmel’s sole masters rower on the day was Paul Nugent and he usually makes the podium. On the day he didn’t disappoint, finishing third in the men’s 60-64 1,000 metres.
Donnacha Keeley, winner in the 2x at last year’s Under 23 World Championships, had a bit of a panic attack when he stepped on the scales for the Under 23 lightweight weigh-in. At 2.5 kg over the maximum permitted weight, he had to don layers of training gear and go and sweat off that 2.5kg on the rowing machine.
Not only did he lose the weight but he went on to win the men’s lightweight Under 23 title.
The rest of the Clonmel juniors put in decent performances, with lessons to be learned along the way.
Well done Donnagh Ryan, Edward Wall, Josh Kiely, Sean Fogarty, Chris Kane, Dominykas Valuzis, Rory Keeley, Cian Mellerick, Oisin Walsh, Brian Hurley, Darragh Noonan, Darren Kane, Nicholas Connolly, James Hurley, Sam Fleming, Gerald Nugent, Lola Cummins, Kate Meehan, Anna Kiely, Siofra O’Loughlin and Eimear Sweeney.