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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
