We’ll go to Seville for the craic, sure why not is where the conversation began. 12 months later and after some intensive training both on and off the water, we did go to Seville, some mighty craic was had but more importantly memories were made, medals won, and new friendships formed as well as existing ones solidified.
Most of us were relatively new to rowing when the idea came about to travel to Seville to take part in the Seville Regatta 2024. Naively, at least on my part, we decided to go and enter as many races as we possibly could without realizing the vastly experienced crews we would be coming up against. Nevertheless, we formed our crews, thanks to Brendan Condon, and undertook to train as best we could ahead of travelling.
Training for Seville started in earnest in June with both on and off water training. Ger Morey and Cathy Ranspot provided the torture on land in the erg room and Luke Sutton and Mick Bailey with some tailored and arduous sessions on the Barrow. In the erg room we finessed our sliding and timing together and, on the water, we threw it all out the window and paddled on. All jokes aside thanks very much to Ger and Cathy for those sessions on the ergs, even though tough, were badly needed.
As we came closer to the date with destiny Luke and Mick, with the massive help of Carmel McCarthy, managed to their credit to get us out on the river for some one to one coaching, which was greatly appreciated. Big thanks here to our safety drivers Sean Sutton and Fintan Phelan for giving up their time and putting up with us. During these sessions we practiced race starts, argued about which one to use and then practiced some more. We did a lot of mileage in the weeks leading up to it and tiring as it was, it was all worth it. So, with training completed and all the bravado we could muster we headed to Seville.
We arrived at the course on Friday for our practice session with huge excitement, some hangovers but huge enthusiasm. We all managed to get one practice row on Friday to find our feet and arrived back for competition on Saturday morning.
During the regatta, the following New Ross Masters crews took to the water:
In addition to the above, there was also some composite crews formed from our members and rowers from other clubs which was also a great part of the cultural experience.
I think I can speak for everyone when I say we gave it our best, acquitted ourselves well as a club and even tasted victory where the brilliant crew of Talitha Doran, Ursula Quirke, Carmel McCarthy and Anna O’Dwyer brought home gold medals in their quad to rapturous applause. Some of our composite crews also took home gold, namely Aaron and Mary Maher and Cox Paula Whelan in their Mixed 8+ final.
All said, over the 2 days we gave it our best and enjoyed every minute of it, cursed a few times, laughed loads of times and our course photographers Sean Sutton and Maurice Quirke captured most of it. We ended of course with a club gathering in down town Seville to celebrate and mark the occasion, which was a brilliant night for those who can remember it. We met loads of people along the way and this all added to a truly memorable experience.
Would we do it again, looking back, I think absolutely and hopefully the next New Ross Boat Club Masters adventure is as successful and enjoyable as this one to Seville.
