It was an exciting new chapter for the rowing club on Saturday past as Enniskillen Royal Boat Club travelled to Limerick for the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships held in the University of Limerick’s Sports Arena. It was a massively successful day as the club returned home with a total medal haul of ten Gold, four Silver and two Bronze along with a number of personal bests.
Luke Paton started the day’s medal rush in the first race of the day as he claimed Silver in the Boy’s Junior 13 category. Abby Corry went one better in the second race of the day to claim Gold in the Girl’s Junior 14, achieving a total distance of 1043 meters in four minutes, seven meters more than second place. Rory Gamble had to wait a little longer for confirmation of his Gold as a technical glitch delayed the final heat of the Boy’s Junior 15 event. Nonetheless, Rory held on for a fourteen meter victory over second place.
Zoe McCutcheon once again produced the standout performance of the day to win the Girl’s Junior 16 category. Zoe’s time of seven minutes and eighteen seconds over 2,000 meters was eight seconds quicker than her closest competitor and would have placed her fourth in the Girl’s Junior 18 event. Ross Corrigan set the standard in the Boy’s Junior 18 event with over four seconds to spare.
The afternoon session proved even more successful as Abby Corry, Zoe McCutcheon, and Ross Corrigan added a second Gold to their medal tally as they won over the shorter 500 meter sprint in their respective age categories while Mia-Jayne Elliot also claimed victory in the Girl’s Junior 18 category by two tenths of a second. Rory Gamble also won Bronze.
Following a lengthy delay due to a fire evacuation, the team relay events, raced over 2,000 meters in teams of four, rounded off the intense day of racing. The Girl’s Year Three team (Zoe McCutcheon, Victoria Wilson, Caoimhe Leonard and Trudie McComb) and Year Four Team (Caitlynn Fee, Jessica Long, Maria O’Doherty and Rebecca Conway) claimed two further Gold. There was also three more Silver medals for Boy’s Year Three Team and Girl’s Year One and Two Teams, while the Boy’s Year Five Team added a final Bronze to club’s overall medal Tally.
There was also a notable performance by Maeve Donnelly in the Girls Junior 15 event raced over five minutes. Having only started rowing in September, Maeve missed out on a bronze medal by one meter after a count back found a machine rounding error. Nonetheless this was an outstanding performance for an athlete with a bright future.
The success in Limerick was the result of a successful winter period by all in the gym. Next up for Enniskillen Royal Boat Club is Lagan Scullers Head of the River were the club hopes to exhibited its dominance back on the water on Saturday 11th February.
