This weekend two events were underway; Limerick Regatta at O’Brien’s Bridge and Rosscarbery Head at Drinagh Lake. While the sun shone down on the racing in West Cork, Limerick were not so lucky on Saturday having to battle with heavy downpours of rain!

Limerick Regatta

For the first time, Limerick Regatta extended their event from the usual one day to a two day event, allowing for more Master’s races on Sunday. The weather for the weekend didn’t start out on their side but thankfully cleared up nicely for Sundays racing.

With 384 entries and 134 races, it was a busy weekend for the event organisers. Enniskillen nearly walked away with all wins in the J16 and J18 Eights for both Men and Women, but Castleconnell took home the silverware for the J16 Women’s Eight by clear water over St Michael’s RC in second place. The Castleconnell Men’s J16 Eight was the fastest boat of the day, completing the course in 3:49.7.

Sunday was a full program of Masters events excluding the Men’s and Women’s J15 Doubles. Galway Rowing Club won the new event of the Mixed Master’s Eight, beating the two local crews, Shannon RC and Castleconnell RC to the line. The winners of the Master’s Scull were Emmet Cronin (Athlone BC), Jim Breen (Tralee RC) and John Conneely (Galway RC) for the men and Aoife Willis (Athlone BC), Paula Moloney (Tralee RC) and Jacqueline Irons who travelled over from Clydesdale ARC in Scotland.

Results from Limerick Regatta can be found HERE

Well done to all those who raced and to the Limerick clubs that supported the organisation of the event!

Rosscarbery Head of the River

The picturesque Drinagh Lake was buzzing with activity on Sunday with the coastal head taking place in the morning and the coastal fixed seat head taking place later on in the afternoon.

The host club, Rosscarbery Rowing Club, had the most wins of the day, taking home medals for five coastal events and two fixed seat events. The 2km course that included four turns was dominated by the Mannix brothers of Rosscarbery RC, finishing the course in 8 minutes and 17 seconds in the Men’s Open Double. The Women’s Open Double was won by Niamh Doogan and Dineka Maguire of Kincasslagh Rowing Club, who travelled the whole way to West Cork from Donegal.

The U12’s and U14’s in the coastal fixed seat head had a 700m sprint instead of the full senior course, and it was the U14 Mixed Coxed Four from Galley Flash that put down the fastest time, finishing the short course in 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

Results from Rosscarbery Head can be found HERE

Photos from the day can be found on the Rowing Ireland Facebook page!