Athlone rowers impress in Amsterdam and Munich
Rian Claffey of Athlone Boat Club was among those who competed at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Amsterdam last weekend.
Athlone’s Claffey was part of the Junior 18 crew of Dominic Casey (Skibbereen), Fionn McDonnell (St Michael’s, Limerick) and Sean Morris (Tralee). Athlone Boat Club coach Fergus Hannon was selected by Rowing Ireland to take these young men to the Coupe to represent their country.
After training hard both at their home clubs and in Athlone with Fergus, they set off to experience an international competition for Ireland for the first time. But it definitely looks like it won’t be their last based on the performances on display from the lads.
On Saturday the Irish crew was drawn in the first heat against Great Britain, Czech Republic, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal with three to qualify to the final. Unfortunately, they failed to qualify from their heat with the Czech Republic winning their heat in a very fast time of 05:58.00. They went on to win the final, producing an even faster time of 05:55.56.
On Day 2 of this international championship event, the Irish crew was lined up in the first heat against Great Brittain, Italy, Netherlands, France and Spain. Determined to put in a stronger performance than the previous day, Ireland got off to a great start settling into a fast rhythm which kept them with the pack up to the 1000-metre mark.
At that stage they were still in contention to qualify for a place in the ‘A’ final but their opponents, Great Britain, Italy and France, in what was a very exciting race, crossed the line before them not before knocking them out of the ‘A final.
The Irish crew, once again with the support from the bank of the Irish supporters, put in an impressive and competitive performance in the B final, managing to come home in third position.
Their coach, Fergus Hannon, stated that he was “very proud” of this young crew’s performance at their first international event.
“All four are eligible to row at junior level again next year and the experience gained from this year’s event will benefit them immensely when putting themselves forward for international selection next year,” said Fergus.
These are certainly young rowers are ones to keep an eye on over the coming season.
Meanwhile, after a very early morning flight to Munich last Wednesday, the Athlone Masters 8 had a practice row on the famous Olympic regatta course and then it was off to bed to prepare for a few hectic day’s rowing. In their first race on Thursday morning, they lined up against crews from Germany, France, Great Britain and another crew from Ireland, Old Collegians from Dublin.
The German crew was a composite from all the top clubs around Munich and raced into an early lead off the start. Athlone got away to a good start and were well in contention for the first half of the race. The English crew then moved into second place leaving Athlone and the French crew battling it out for third place. The crews overlapped as they crossed the finish and the French got the verdict by just two seconds.
The same crew then raced in the Masters F grade on Friday morning where they had to concede an average of 10 years per man to the other crews from Czech Republic, Britain, and two German crews. Despite rowing very well the Athlone crew had to concede victory to their younger opposition. On Saturday it was the same story but this time they were conceding an average gap of 10 to 15 years a man. They had another excellent row and actually beat one of the English crews which was quite an achievement.
This set them up nicely for their own grade in the Masters H grade scheduled for that evening where they fancied their chances of a medal but unfortunately the regatta was cancelled due to bad weather, so they were very disappointed to be denied the opportunity to race at this level.
Paul Gallen won his first ever single scull international gold medal in a very close final getting over the line with less than 1 second to spare. For Athlone scullers like Niall Coghill, Emmet Cronin, Shane O’Gorman and Damien Larkin, this was their first international masters regatta and all had a number of races in single, double and quad boats. They all competed very well for their first international regatta and best placed were Niall Coghill and Emmet Cronin, who both achieved 4th place in their single scull races in very strong competition.
Athlone was represented for the first time in the women’s international masters by Aisling Flanagan and Edel Larkin who competed in a quad and a double achieving a 4th place in their double race.
After many months of training, all rowers are very excited to have rowed at these European championships and discussions have already started to plan and train to compete at this high level at the World Championships in 2024.
Athlone Boat Club PRO Padraig Hegarty stated that everyone in the club was very proud of the master rowers. “They represented the town well and after many years of service to Athlone Boat Club, many since childhood, they continue to set the pace for the generations to come,” he said.
The club also thanks Ray Lyons who provided safety support on the water during their time while training in Athlone in the recent months leading up to their trip to Munich.