IT’S the weekend that all coastal rowers train for and look forward to for the whole year – and it delivered in spades this year.
The Irish Coastal Rowing Championships, hosted by Kilmacsimon Swimming and Rowing Club, took place in the National Rowing Centre in Farran, as clubs from all along the coast of Ireland decamped to Cork to join the clubs from the East and West Cork rowing associations to compete over two days.
Galley Flash U12s with cox Julie Harrington.
The masters races kicked off proceedings on Saturday morning with the men of Kilmacsimon battling with the East Cork clubs to finish in third place. Meanwhile the ongoing rivalry continued between the masters’ women of Kilmacsimon and Courtmacsherry, with Kilmacsimon getting the edge on this occasion coming in second place with Courtmacsherry in third.
In the pre-vet categories, the men of Kilmacsimon took the centre spot on the podium, winning gold, while the women of Galley Flash had an amazing race to come in second place.
The Castletownbere U12 crew that won bronze medals.
Rosscarbery kicked off their medal haul with a bronze in the senior mixed category adding to this with bronze in the timber yawl women. The timber yawl women’s race proved to be a West Cork bonanza with Kilmacsimon in gold position and Galley Flash coming in second. The timber yawl men’s race winner was Courtmacsherry with Kilmacsimon coming in third place.
Saturday’s underage races saw Kilmacsimon taking silver in the U18 category with Galley Flash’s U12 girls storming home to take first place and the gold position on the podium. Castletownbere is on level par with Galley in the South West competitions all year and they missed out on this occasion coming in second place, a thrilling race. Ring’s U16 women brought home bronze with Kilmacsimon also securing medals in the silver position. Rosscarbery’s third bronze came from their U14 boys’ crew. Kilmacsimon rounded off day one with a silver in the U21 women’s race and Galley got their second silver of the day in the open sprint women.
Ring's U16 women's crew won a bronze medal in their race.
Day two’s finals started with the veteran men and Kilmacsimon continued their medal collection with a bronze following it up with a silver in the veteran women.
Ring’s U21 men came in third spot with them being the only West Cork club on the podium in this category. Kilmacimon’s U18 women, who have been behind Ring all season, pulled off an incredible win on the day with Rosscarbery coming in third place.
Courtmacsherry’s second gold came from their U12s with Castletownbere not far behind in second place. Kilmacsimon came in second in the U16s and Galley Flash in third place. Courtmacsherry and Rosscarbery were the West Cork representatives on the podium for the U14 girls’ race, placing silver and bronze respectively.
The Rosscarbery senior mixed crew in action.
Kilmacsimon continued with silver medals in the mixed masters category and a gold in the junior women’s race, a bronze in the junior men’s race. Ring came second in the junior men’s race making it their fourth appearance on the podium for the weekend.
Galley Flash’s intermediate women’s gold ended Galley’s weekend on a high with Kilmacsimon coming third in this race.
The last three races of the day were dominated by Kilmacsimon – gold in the intermediate men, senior men and joint first in the senior women with Ballycotton.Courtmac finished off the day with a silver in the intermediate men courtesy of Brian Whelton coxing a Ballycotton crew and a bronze in the senior men.
The Courtmacsherry U14 girls' crew that won silver medals.
A superb weekend of coastal rowing from all clubs and host club Kilmacsimon celebrated on the triple – a successful event in the year of their 40th anniversary and winning Club of the Championships with the most number of first places overall! A great way to close out the coastal rowing year.
As another coastal rowing year comes to a close, it is ending on a high – lots of medals and cups brought back to West Cork. Once everyone has rested up for a bit, indoor training will start again and the preparation for 2025 will kick off.
