.Tralee Rowing Club’s Sean Morris at the World Rowing Championships last week.
TRALEE Rowing Club has congratulated one its members and indeed the Irish team competing at the World Rowing Championships held in St.Catharines, Ontario, Canada last week.
Sean Morris of Tralee Rowing Club, along with Jack Rafferty (St. Michael’s RC), Rian Claffey (Athlone RC) and Michael McGrath (Cappoquin RC) placed 4th in the World in the final of the under 19 Men’s Quad.
“Tralee Rowing Club are incredibly proud of Sean who has represented Ireland, along with Paul O’Donovan who won Gold at the championships, Siobhan McCrohan who won Bronze and the entire Irish team who came away with two Gold, two Bronze and outstanding results on the international stage,” said a spokesperson for the Club.
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Sean completed his leaving certificate this year and attended The Green CBS, Tralee. He remained focused and dedicated to his training plan both in Tralee on the Ship Canal and with Rowing Ireland in The National Rowing Centre in Cork.
“He has inspired and bolstered the excellence of rowing as a sport for young aspiring Irish athletes. We are thrilled for Sean, his coaches and family and would like to thank all of those who have supported Sean over the last few years to achieve this wonderful result,” continued the spokesperson.
Sean expressed his gratitude to the club for their support along the way.
“It was incredible to experience first hand what it’s like to compete at the highest level in the world, surrounded by world and Olympic champions,” he said.
“The coaching and facilities at Tralee Rowing Club helped me train consistently all year round. I’ve learned that consistency and perseverance are the key to success. The dark winter mornings before school and the evening sessions in the gym paid off.
“I’ve had great support from the Club along the way. After final international trials at the end of June, our crew trained in the National Rowing Centre in Cork on an intense programme to prepare for the World Championships. It was a privilege for us to represent our country on the world stage.”
David Lynch of Tralee Rowing Club describes his visit to the Olympics in Paris last week to watch the Irish contingent…
An historic day for Irish rowing- the 2nd of August 2024 will always be remembered thus. For those of us who have travelled far and wide across the country to scenic venues for regattas, the fresh air, azure skies and crystalline water at the Parisian rowing venue were familiar sights.
Familiar, too, was the lengthy treck from the main road to the secluded racing venue, recalling, at least to my mind, nervous mornings trudging from Farran Wood car park towards an electric National Rowing Centre on Champs mornings.
As such, I think any rower’s experience would have been enriched on this day of days, as any of us who have trembled with anticipation at a stake-boat could clearly imagine the nerves coursing through the veins of our star athletes that morning.
First came Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, the debut Men’s Pair boat, and their sparkling potential as a duo showed in their impressive opening 500m. I hope that they relished the experience of having a sea of Irish supporters roar them home and are proud of their fearless efforts as they dipped their toes in the Olympic pool.
Following the pair race’s conclusion, those in green jerseys, surely hundreds strong (I questioned if there was anyone left in Ireland!!) were afforded a few moment’s reprieve before Paul and Fintan’s attempt to make Irish sporting history.
I can imagine some hands trembling and knees wobbling at the concession queues as the scenarios ran through the supporter’s minds. Could the unthinkable happen?
Could an early crab, a lacklustre start or a limp finish crush this Olympic dream? As we rowers know, the sport comes with few certainties- anything, and I mean anything, can befall even the greatest of champions once the announcer bellows “ROW” over the tannoy. Yet those worries soon dissipated as the race began.
The Irish in my surroundings cleared their throats, preparing to urge the crew home as the race got underway.
Their competitive start in lane 3 let us know that the lads were going to fight for every inch in this contest. Though Greece, from my vantage point, drew into an early lead, the boys could easily have heard the chorus of cheers and exclamations from their fans carry across the water as they approached the 1250 mark.
The push came on then. His oars gobbling up the water greedily, Paul raised the rate and Fintan responded with a surge of power which the daring Swiss, baying at their heels, could not answer.
They built their lead to a boat length as they sailed past the main bank of Irish supporters, who were in a frenzied, exultant state at that stage. Germans, Kiwis and Spaniards in my quarter even took up the charge of bellowing “come on Ireland” as the golden finish drew ever nearer.
Though the conclusion was tighter than that 1750 mark lead would have let on, their first place position was never in doubt from 500 metres on. As such, the united Irish cheer at then finish was deafening.
Every person in the crowd knew that they had witnessed the greatest race in Irish rowing, and were grateful to the two men for putting on such an indelible display.
Similar moments are surely in store, perhaps in a different format due to the end of the lightweight women’s double event at the Olympic Games, for Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey, who moved well in the following race and whose fifth place finish does not pay fitting tribute to the grit they showed to be in the running against Imogen Grant and Emily Craig despite their tough position in lane 6.
A fitting conclusion to the Irish efforts at the Paris rowing centre, to the dynamic performances of the women’s four, Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch, the bronze medal winning double crew, Killorglin’s Zoe Hyde, Kerry’s only Olympian at these games and a member of Tralee Rowing Club, and Alison Bergin, who are on the path to great things, and the aforementioned final’s day crews was Amhrán Na bhFiann ringing out across the lake as Paul and Fintan, eternal champions and masters of the rowing spirit, received their glittering gold medals.
These moments come once in a lifetime (well, twice, in this double’s case) and I have no doubt that the boys and girls in green leaving regatta HQ that afternoon knew that the collective will to win, to kick with might against the footplate and to pull like a dog that Irish rowing has championed for decades can lift a nation.
This past weekend saw Tralee Rowing Club transition from Head of the River time trial season into the side by side straight course racing of regatta season.
There were 45 rowers — women and men, from Junior 14 to Masters — who entered Skibbereen regatta. This event takes place over 2 days at the National Rowing Centre and is the first of 4 grand league regattas in the season.
It usually marks the change from wooly hats to sunscreen in early May. The earlier date was blessed with great rowing conditions which despite the lack of sunshine suited the Tralee rowers.
Many rowers were experiencing their first regatta, first final or first win and the club committee would like to congratulate them all.
Tralee RC is predominantly a sculling club (rowers row with 2 oars) but following on from racing an 8+ for the first time earlier this year two further sweep crews (rowers row with one oar) entered this event, a junior 18 womens pair and a mens club 1 four. This development offers club members more options, more challenges and more learning.
Rosie Giles and Sadhbh Cadogan
The Club is really delighted to have brought home some medals, Daragh Morris 1st in the Mens Junior 15 1x, Sean Morris 1st in the Mens Junior 18B 1x, Paula Moloney, Edel O’Sullivan, Fiona Morris, Heidi Giles and cox Clodagh Morris won the women’s masters 4x+.
Beyond the medals there were many results to celebrate, Luke Passway came 2nd in the Men’s J14 1x, Sean Morris qualified for the A final of the Mens division 1 1x.
Daragh Morris won the C final in the Men’s Div 2 1x, Sadhbh Cadogan and Rosie Giles came third in the C Final of of the Womens Division 1 2-, their first outing in a pair and Grace O’Sullivan and Catherine Steward came 3rd in the B final of the womens div 2 2x, their first outing in a double.
We are excited for the remainder of the season and hope all our crews learn from and build on the experience of this weekend.
.Castleconnel HOD ; David Lynch, Oisin Lawlor, Sam Callinan, Niall McCarthy
Gold Medal for Tralee pair at Castleconnell Head of the River
Gold medals were awarded to Aoife O’Connell & Alex Moritz who finished first in their race, WJ162x a fiercely competitive category.
This reflects the hard work and training that our junior crews are putting into their strength and skills development.
Tralee Rowing Club travelled to Castleconnell Boat Club for their Head of the River last weekend with a entry of 30 TRC crews racing, both junior and adults.
19 clubs and over 380 crews competed in different junior and adult categories on the day.
In what were tough, changeable & challenging conditions our rowers put in strong performances with good humour & TRC team spirit.
Castleconnell HOD; Niamh Ní Ghráinne and Paula Moloney
Congratulations to all, particularly our first time racing rowers ( in the wind & rain ! )
Thanks as always to our rowers, coaches, parents, volunteers for putting in the teamwork required to make this happen.
According to our Club Captain Heidi Giles; “The run in to Castleconnell HOR was a bit of a rollercoaster as the forecast was so changeable. Thankfully the event went ahead and our junior novices have been exposed to their first Head of the River, our experienced juniors performed well, and they are pushing our expectations of them higher with every event we attend, the masters women in the club participated in this event in bigger numbers than ever before.
Gold medal winners Aoife OConnell & Alex Moritz
The club rowers worked together, regardless of age, experience and gender to get boats on and off the water and supported each other really well, the parents in attendance were a fantastic asset and our coaching team showed up in force for a long but satisfying day. As ever no one would be going anywhere without our trailer tower, thanks!”
Mary Boner and Cub Captain Heidi Giles .
Farewell to Mary Boner as Club Chairperson at AGM
We recently held our club AGM at The Ashe Hotel, it was a night of celebration and a sad farewell.
Mary Boner was one of our founding member in 2005.
Her hard work and tenacity was well summed up in the words of our Club Captain Heidi Giles on the night as Mary was awarded honorary life membership.
“It is said rowing was invented to prevent extraordinary people taking over the world, to move to a town, see a patch of water and think: there should be a rowing club there, is one thing to persist until it happens is quite another.
To persist while boats need to be driven from storage in Blennerville for every session, to persist when several boats need to be removed from a container in order to get at any boats, to coach back to back sessions when the nearest toilet is at at Brandon Hotel, to persist when the ropes from the old pontoon have been stolen again and it is floating in the middle of the basin, to persist when the high tide has beached the pontoon, and a digger will be needed to push it back before rowing will be possible.
To persist when planning permission for a boathouse seemed impossible to get, when a legal issue threatened the application for boathouse funding, these are a fraction of the challenges, the big ticket visual ones.
There was also the issue of being the only experienced coach in the club at times, and the core of a much smaller less experienced team than we have now.
This courage, tenacity and little bit of madness proves Mary is extraordinary. I am so glad, proud and grateful that instead of taking over the world she built a rowing club.
With this in mind the rest of the club committee have unanimously agreed and I know every single member past and present will agree with our decision to present honorary life membership to Mary Boner”
We would also like to warmly welcome James Morris as our new Club Chairperson and wish him much luck in his new role.
This amazing group of people were also awarded trophies on the night
Junior Men Rower of the Year 2022
Sean Morris
Consistent Commitment Award 2022
Niall McCarthy
Consistent Commitment Award 2022
Sam Callinan
Junior Women Rower of the Year 2022
Rosie Giles
Junior Women Most Improved Rower 2022
Catherine Steward
Junior Women Most Improved Rower 2022
Sadhbh Cadogan
Junior Club Spirit Award 2022
Aoife O’Connell
Rowing Role Model of the Year 2022
Paula Moloney
Tralee Rowing Club
Outstanding Contribution 2022
John Patton
Tralee Rowing Club
Honorary Membership
Martin Walsh
First Grand League Regatta of the Year for Tralee Rowing Club
Skibbereen Regatta went ahead in glorious sunshine at the National Rowing Centre over 2 days (May 4th and 5th), with rowers from Tralee Rowing Club finally racing their first regatta of the year, after a number of them were cancelled due to weather conditions.
Tralee Rowing Club launched boats in almost 20 races including heats and finals. Many Tralee juniors were rowing in their first regatta. Heidi Giles, the club captain says that the club works hard to give the young people positive experiences in competition, “a win for me is a young person telling me they want to get back on the water and have another go at the next event”.
Skibbereen Regatta is run under Rowing Ireland Grand League regatta rules, so after heats 18 crews get a second opportunity to race in an A, B or C final (6 in each) ranked according to their time.
Sarah Fitzgerald and Alayna Gannon reached the Women Division 2 2x A final and came second in the J18B 2x. This was an improvement on their qualification for a B final in a Grand League regatta last year, they have both worked exceptionally hard this winter. Sarah Fitzgerald also reached a B final of the Women’s division 2 1x.
The format of the event saw two Tralee crews compete against each other in a final on Sunday afternoon. The Junior 16 boys (Ruairi Healy, Nicolas Larkin, Daniel Fitzgerald, Ted Hanly, Cox: Rosie Giles) took away the bragging rights from that one.
Two adult crews participated, Catriona Donovan and Paula Maloney entered the women’s senior 2x, pitting themselves against junior and senior Irish international crew members. This was a first regatta outing for that crew.
The Men’s masters 4x+ was a composite crew combining three Tralee rowers: James Morris, John Tuite and Martin Moriarty with Jim Breen from Galway Rowing Club. This crew is newly formed and have plans to compete again soon. “We are really only in the second season of having actively competitive adult crews in the club so it will be exciting to see them gain experience and momentum as they spend more time on the water together”, highlighted Heidi Giles.
Masters and Junior 14 rowers row 1000m , Junior 15 crews row 1500m and all
other categories race the standard Olympic distance of 2km in Grand League events, and the races in the Inniscarra reservoir start at the actual stake boats used at the London Olympics in 2012.
Tralee Nun Challenge
Tralee Rowing Club and Pieta House invite everyone to support the Tralee Nun Challenge, a World Record attempt to see how many nuns they can gather together in Tralee Town Park, Saturday June 15th at 6.30pm, as part of a fundraising initiative during Féile na mBláth, The Park Family Festival Tralee 2019.
Simply bring your own black shoes and costume will be provided for free with your €20 registration fee, with entertainment provided and the Food & Craft Village remaining open. Register on Eventbrite.com or contact 087 7819051 / 087 9195075 or e-mail trcnunchallenge@gmail.com
