ERBC won two Irish Championships last weekend at the National Rowing Centre in Cork, including the much – coveted Junior Men’s Eight title. The crew of Marcus Davis Kunze, Nathan Kelly, George Kernaghan, Oran Harty, Calum Timoney, Kyle Abraham, Oliver Khew, Austin Cassidy and cox Katelyn Fee had the most exciting race, which like last year went right to the finish line, bow ball to bow ball with the boys from St Joseph’s Boat Club. All the supporters who had made the journey to Cork erupted with pure joy when the ERBC boys crossed the finish line ahead of The Bish. This is the 6th time in 9 years that ERBC have taken the title which is a fantastic achievement and with 4 of the boys eligible to row in this age group next year, hopefully there will be more titles to come.
The adverse weather made the scheduling of events very challenging with a limited number of races taking place on Friday and Saturday and a very long day with personnel clashes on the Sunday, leaving Head of Rowing Mr Holland, with decisions to make on which races to prioritise. The Boys J16 Eight, Evan Donaghy, Hugo McChesney, Luke Bailey, Owen Kelly, Joe Murphy, Ryan Topping, Harry Coalter, Eoghan Campbell and Katelyn Fee were crowned Irish Champions on Saturday after a very exciting race, overcoming the challenge from St Joseph’s Rowing Club and there were great performances from all 42 crews including fantastic silver medals for the Junior Women’s Eight and the Junior 16 girls.
The Women’s J18 Eight, Kate Huddlestone, Laura Turner, Acorn Cassidy, Rhea Cartin McCloskey, Chloe Thompson, Rachel Cullinan, Eva Johnston, Clodagh O’Donnell and cox Jessica Thompson were hoping to make it 3 titles in a row, but the girls from St Michaels unfortunately bettered their 2nd place finish from 2022 to take the crown from ERBC.
The J16 8+ Zara Welsh, Isabella Wright, Erin Trimble, Annabelle Kingston, Naomi Robinson, Ruby Hamill, Hannah Armstrong, Errie Powell and cox Jessica Kingston were unlucky to be beaten by the girls from Castleconnell BC.
Mr Holland spoke to the Impartial Reporter at the end of a busy weekend. “Overall, we are happy with our performances, we thought we might have picked up one or two more top end championships but to come away with the Boys’ Junior Eight after a difficult post Covid and the disappointment of last year, makes it very nice to regain that championship”.
“I think it’s our sixth championship in nine years which is unheard of in our history.”
The Boys’ J16 8 also struck gold with a narrow win over St. Joseph’s Galway, but the Girls’ J18 8 and J16 8 both had to settle for silver despite two excellent rows.
Derek added: “I think the girls will be disappointed with their performance in the eight even though they were a close second – again this is a very young crew and we would hope to build on that crew for next year, but right now there is a bit of a disappointment with regards to the final result, but fair play to St. Michael’s, Limerick who learned from the defeat last year and upped their game.”
Derek does see the standard and the competitiveness rising year on year.
“The standard has definitely improved, we raise our game and then the others raise their game so we will have to raise again. Like any sport it goes up every year and we will have to go again. We will have a break, put the boats in the shed for a couple of months and then take a look at next season.”
Many thanks to everyone who has supported the rowers this season, it is much appreciated.
(Report by G. Conway)
