22nd February saw the club take to the road for the Cork City Head of the River on the marina in Cork City. The day got off to a rocky start with Ger & Paula left stranded by the roadside when the smell of burning rubber invaded the cab of the club jeep and they got out into a cloud of smoke. Lizzie was quick on the scene and they managed to move the jeep and trailer into a lay-by near Waterford City. Fintan Phelan arrived shortly after to save the day and deliver the trailer to Cork despite having to go on and do a days work afterwards. Thank you very much Fintan!!
With the trailer on it’s way and arrangements made to recover the jeep, everyone could now make their way to Cork. However, as the women’s masters quad of Paula Whelan (Bow), Lizzie Gibbons (2), Ger Morey (3) and Sonya Nolan (Stroke) were in the first race up and the trailer delayed, we needed to borrow a ready rigged quad from Lee Rowing Club so our Masters ladies crew could make their way to the start on time to compete in their event. A big thank you to Lee Rowing Club for their kindness and generosity.
The rest of the day ran smoothly with great performances by everyone in stunning weather conditions. The 2nd head saw 2 of our J18 boys racing in the single sculls. Both boys saw great improvements in their times and both finished in the top 15. A great achievement by both! The masters men were the next to go in head 4 with Richard Hayes (bow), Dave Roche (2), Padraig Ryan (3), Dave McCarthy (Stroke) coxed by Sonya Nolan having a good clean row for their first outing of the 2024/2025 season.
There was another good strong row in the 4th head from the boys J18 quad of Donnchadh Slater (Bow), Sean Power (2), Darragh Dreelan (3), Ben Cashman (Stroke) which resulting in a top ten finish for them!
There was a slight delay to proceedings as the research vessel Tom Crean returned to her berth but this did nothing to dampen the spirits of everyone enjoying the early spring sunshine. The J18 pair of Liam Crotty (Bow), Kevin Phelan (Stroke) was up next in head 5 and came in 3rd place with only 4 seconds separating the top 3 teams, a fantastic result for what was their first race outing together.
The day finished up with the men’s doubles and saw Padraig Ryan (Bow), Stephen Ryan from the masters squad racing along with Darragh Dreelan (Bow), Ben Cashman (Stroke) in the J18 category and last of all to go were Sean Power (Bow), Jack Mythen (Stroke) who had a brilliant race to come in fourth!
Once again our athletes young & not so young made a great account of themselves and did the club proud. A better start to the racing season could not have been hoped for with the sun shining all day and such a good atmosphere of friendship and support from all.
