We are delighted to see so many of our junior rowers back on the water training this week.

With the positive news announced by Taoiseach, Micheál Martin on Thursday, we can now look ahead to getting back in our clubs and being on the water with our friends and clubmates again.

The reopening now allows us to look forward to competing again. We are carefully planning for regattas to come back on line. Firstly with ladders, then with home based regattas and building up as restrictions ease to regattas and an Irish Rowing Championship later this year. We still don’t know what format this will take; however, Rowing Ireland is committed to providing the resources needed to organise this year’s Championships in a safe and competitive environment while staying aligned with; Government guidelines. Once we have clarity, we will set a date (or dates if necessary) as soon as possible.

When this has been set clubs will be invited to organise regattas in the lead up to this date/dates. We will support clubs in this effort with safety and COVID-19 advice and our range of additional club support services that we have in place. We are looking forward to seeing all of the Rowing Family back on the water shortly.

We also have a number of new initiatives coming over the next few months to support our clubs, members, coaches, volunteers, and supporters as we gradually reopen our clubs again.

Coach Education

With the reopening of outdoors sports, clubs should be planning for their coaching requirements. We can help by training up rowers and parents to help clubs as assistant coaches through our Introduction to Coaching course.

We are also launching our Level 1 course which is to provide coaches with the knowledge and skills to develop junior and adult novice and club rowers in a safe, enjoyable and progressive way.

Keep an eye on our website for more information.

Women in Sport

We will be putting out resources and a webinar on ‘Female Health and Training’ this month. This will be available to athletes and coaches providing information about women’s health and effects of training. 

After the Olympics we will be running the following:

Return to Rowing which will be back this summer with the opportunity to recruit past rowers to come back and train for a challenge event! 

Women on the Water – an initiative to introduce rowing to a wider audience and sharing the benefits of our great sport! 

.. and lots more so watch this space.

Nutrition Workshops

Following the feedback from the Introduction to Nutrition to session we are developing as follow-up session on sleep and recovery which will be offered to clubs in the near future.

Further sessions and resources will be developed on different topics and will be available to clubs and members.

For information on this contact Leanne our club nutritionist.

Club Support

Supporting our clubs is key during this unprecedented time. Most of you attended our webinars on governance, safety and insurance. We will continue to keep all clubs updated with COVID updates and protocols for our clubs in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

We will continue to work with Sport Ireland and Sport NI to ensure that Regattas and competitions take place this year and are in line with Government, HSE, and NHS guidelines. These recommendations will continue to be fed back to you in a timely manner.


We have relaunched our Volunteer of the Month Award and will be highlighting our Clubs and their initiatives through our Club Spotlight.

To help support upcoming events, competitions and regattas, we will have a new Events Executive that will start with Rowing Ireland soon.

Rowing for all a sport for life

We have a number of Get Going…Get Rowing Initiatives

  • Our Dublin summer camps are being announced shortly
  • Limerick schools team building days starting on 4th May
  • Limerick schools PE classes (On the water) starting 5th May
  • Cork Summer Camps will be coming up over the next few months

Rowkyo heading towards the 11 million metres mark with the Big Strong Girls now logging their kms with us.

Don’t forget to register your km on our way to Tokyo; https://www.getgoinggetrowing.com/rowkyo/

We have sent out a list of events for Rowkyo to all club secretaries and will provide additional support for your clubs around Tokyo. This will support the increased engagement and participation in our sport that occur post-Olympics from out athletes that will be proud ambassadors of our Irish Rowing in Tokyo.

Support post Tokyo will include;

  • Advice on holding Learn to Row Sessions
  • Skills in running Camps
  • Support from our Get Rowing…Get Going Community Coaches in your area (where possible)
  • Focus on area’s of strategic growth in your membership

It’s going to be a really exciting time for our sport and one that we will all be proud to be part of this Summer. In order to make sure everyone knows about our sport, we will continue with our vast coverage of our athletes at home and abroad on our communications channels and on the web. Particularly around the Olympic qualification regatta and World Cup events. We will be up all night supporting our team also in Tokyo and have a plan for other event coverage that we hope will go ahead later in the years.

Finally, enjoy getting back on the water, make sure to adhere by the return to rowing advice previously issued, and ensure that all your members are registered. We can’t wait to see you all again in person when we can do so safely. In the meantime, we are here as a team to support you, and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need assistance from us.

Yours in rowing

Michelle and the crew at Rowing Ireland.