Tipperary rowers win Irish Indoor Championships at packed UL Sports Arena

At a packed UL sports arena in Limerick on Saturday last, Clonmel Rowing Club’s J18 men’s relay team of Brian Hurley, Cian Mellerick, Rory Keeley and Benjamin Wall delivered a commanding performance to hold off the challenges of Fermoy and Castleconnell. With Cian Mellerick back in the team following a lengthy injury, they had too much in hand over their opponents.
Earlier in the day, two of the boys scored PBs when they competed individually in the J18 ergo challenge over 2,000 metres.
UL is proving to be a happy hunting ground for Kate Fogarty. She came fourth in the WJ14 500m, won bronze in the WJ14 four-minute race and then helped the TY4 relay team of Kate Meehan, Anna Kiely and her sister Fiona to clinch the silver medal.
Other juniors who produced noteworthy performances were Edward Wall, who finished fifth, and his brother Benjamin, who finished seventh in their respective categories. Fiona Fogarty also had a top five finish and Eimear Sweeney got inside the top 10 with a big push at the finish.
We had just one of our masters rowers competing when Paul Nugent took fourth place in a hotly- contested men’s 60-64 age category.
One of the more notable participants in UL was Richard Horgan from Cork. At 93 years young he was the oldest participant on the day. He was recently the subject of a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology where they found that he has the heart, muscles and lungs of a 40-year-old. Proving that it’s never too late to start exercising, Richard Horgan began training on the rowing machine in his 70s after having lived a mainly sedentary lifestyle. Consistency is the key to Richard’s fitness. Training for 40 minutes every day, he limits the high intensity sessions to just 10% of the time. With increasing interest in the secrets of longevity, his story has gained traction right around the globe.
The moral of the story is keep exercising as we age and the ergometer rowing machine is a fabulous tool for doing this because it has a low impact on your load-bearing joints.

LOTTO WON
The club lotto was won by John Cremmins. John won the Novice Scull championship in the early 1980s and is always a great supporter of the club. We congratulate John on his win.

SHANDON HEAD OF RIVER
This weekend the club heads for Shandon Head of River (HOR), which takes place on the Marina in Cork.