This weekend is the opening of the regatta season for both domestic and international events with Neptune and Commercial Regatta kicking off in Island Bridge, and the “Memorial Paolo d’Aloja” International Regatta in Piediluco, Italy for our High Performance Athletes.

With over 500 entries across the two events in Island Bridge, it’s looking to be a great weekend of racing. 30 clubs from around the country will be attending the events, racing head to head in the knock out style regattas. See below for the draw of both events:

Neptune Regatta: Click Here

Commercial Regatta: Click Here

Further south in Cork, Kilmacsimon Coastal Head of the River is taking place with over 30 crews due to race. For more information on the event see HERE

Over in Italy, 15 of our High Performance athletes will be racing at the XXXVII edition of the “Memorial Paolo d’Aloja” International Regatta. This event has been the opening event for the HP squad over the last few years and gets them set up before the World Rowing Events later in the season. The regatta begins this afternoon and finishes on Sunday afternoon. See below the entries for the first session (Friday afternoon and Saturday morning) as well as the race timetable.

Finals will be livestreamed HERE on Saturday and Sunday from 8am-11:30am.

Session 1 Entries

M2x – Philip Doyle, Daire Lynch

M2x – Konan Pazzaia, Brian Colsh

M4- John Kearney, Ross Corrigan, Fionnan McQuilan Tolan, Adam Murphy 

W2x – Sanita Puspure, Zoe Hyde

W2x – Margaret Cremen, Aoife Casey 

W2- – Fiona Murtagh, Tara Hanlon 

LM1x – Hugh Moore

HPD – Antonio Maurogiovanni 

Coaches – Fran Keane, Giuseppe De Vita, Nicolo Maurogiovanni

Race Schedule: Click Here

As a means to share the High Performance Club Programs with clubs, a new private page has been created on the website that can only be accessed by password.

Any club that is looking to access the High Performance Macrocycles, please fill out the form below. Each club can nominate one member to have access details to the page, either the Club Captain or Club Secretary must be the nominator for the club.

We please ask that these documents do not get shared online and are kept internally within your club.

If you have any questions please contact communications@rowingireland.ie regarding the page and michael.orourke@rowingireland.ie regarding the Macrocycles.

Please find the invitation list to the April HP camp from the 11th-14th of April. Invitations are based on several factors, including recent erg testing, February water trials, engagement with the process this year, and strategic plans for each group. 

The following boats are required for the camp:

U23 Women 

• 2x

U23 Men 

• 2X 
• 2X

U19 Women 

• 4x

U19 Men 

• 4x

U23 Lightweight Women 

• 2x

U23 Lightweight Men 

• 2x

Notes:

• Full details will be emailed to the coaches concerned in the coming days.
• All athletes must bring their own sculling oars. 
• Please note that athletes may be added to this list at short notice, at the discretion of the HPD/Leading Coach, in the event another athlete is unavailable.
• Clubs are expected to support their athletes with boats as required.
• Please email michael.orourke@rowingireland.ie availability by 5pm Friday 31st March.

Please find below the results from the Lagan Scullers 2023 HOR event.

Rowing Ireland are delighted to announce Brian Richardson as the March Volunteer of the Month!

Brian, more widely known as Richie, is the current Club Vice President and committee member of St Michaels Rowing Club in Limerick. He helps coaching across the squads as well as being involved in every aspect of the club from fundraising to recreational rowing.

Richie has captained the club a couple of times and is a key member of the Limerick Regatta Committee. He has commentated at events including the Indoor Rowing Championships, University Championships, the Irish Offshore Championships and the Irish Rowing Championships. He has also branched into the wider rowing community now commentating at FISA international events.

On top of all this Richie has now also volunteered to help with the 2023 Championship Organising Committee. He continuously gives his time to St Michaels Rowing Club, Limerick rowing and Irish rowing.

Entries open for April’s award on the 11th of April so make sure to nominate your volunteers!

It gives us great pleasure to announce that the 1k Classic is now scheduled to take place on July 1st, 2023, at the National Rowing Centre. We would like to thank the organising committee, who have generously volunteered their time to make this exceptional event possible for our Juniors and Masters categories this year.

Moreover, some of the committee members are also contributing their time to the Championships event taking place on July 14th-16th. Enniskillen Boat Club has kindly offered their assistance to guarantee the smooth operation of this event on our calendar. To ensure that both events and the Home Internationals that we are hosting also this year will run seamlessly. The Rowing Ireland team will also provide support for all three events.

We eagerly anticipate continuing the weekend’s celebrations and encourage clubs to participate in an exciting junior and masters weekend on that Sunday at the esteemed Fermoy 500m regatta on July 2nd, 2023.

We wish everyone good luck in the races and look forward to seeing you all throughout the regatta calendar as we build to these key events.

Unfortunately due to poor weather conditions the decision has been made to cancel this weekends head.

Crews Wanted!

Rowing Ireland has purchased a new safety launch to help provide and promote safety at Rowing Ireland licenced events. The safety launch will be made available firstly to the larger events throughout Ireland and as more crew members are trained up on the use of the launch it will be made available to more and more events.

The launch will be manned by personnel that have been specifically trained as coxswains and crew on this vessel.

Rowing Ireland wishes to train interested people to become members of the safety crew. We intend to target interested persons in areas that the launch will be used most. With that in mind if you are interested in becoming a member of the Rowing Ireland safety launch crew, please see the criteria below that we will be using to select crew members from.

Availability

• Crewing of this launch will be undertaken by volunteers.
• You must be available for at least three events a year.
• You must be available to partake in a two-day training session (cost of training course will be covered by Rowing Ireland. Travel and Accommodation to be covered by the individual)

Experience

• Interested people must have some experience in launch driving. (Qualified instructors will assess each individual before training commences to confirm competency).
• Persons with a level 1 or level 2 RYA qualification or Irish sailing, powerboat certification or equivalent will place higher on the potential candidate list. 
• Persons with recognised safety boat qualifications may be selected and only require familiarisation training.
• Experience of, and a car licence for, towing a boat while not essential will be seen as a plus.

Location

• Taking into consideration the above criteria a person living close to where large regattas are held may be a deciding factor in selection.  
• Persons may be selected for strategic locations in Ireland to provide cover for the larger licenced events held in Ireland.

Coverage

• The launch is suitable to be used as a safety launch to cover all types of rowing events, flatwater, coastal, offshore, and beach sprint events.

While it may take some time, Rowing Ireland will strive to make this safety launch available to events where required. It is proposed that two training sessions (6 students on each course) will take place this year with more planned in 2024.

Initial training course will take place at Lough Rinn as Leitrim County Council (LCC) have purchased a safety launch for use in Lough Rinn. LCC have agreed to allow selected candidates for this programme to train on their safety launch also, this will allow for larger group training.

Safety launch running costs

It is expected that a small charge will be invoiced against event organisers for the use of this safety launch. This charge will be used to cover the cost of getting the rescue launch to the event and the petrol required for the running of the launch at the event.

As is tradition at rowing events in Ireland it would be expected that the volunteers manning the safety launch would get some food and beverage from the event organisers during the day.

Crew Selection process

A selection panel from the Rowing Ireland safety advisory committee will be set up to review the applications and to form a candidate ranking. The panel will use the criteria set out above to rank candidates. Candidates may be contacted by the panel to establish and confirm competencies and experience.

Pat Kiely, Chair of Rowing Ireland Safety Advisory Committee.

The Colours Boat Races are an annual series of head-to-head rowing races between Trinity and UCD on the River Liffey in Dublin. The series began in 1947, and comprises of the Gannon Cup for Senior Men’s 8+, the Corcoran Cup for Senior Women’s 8+, the Dan Quinn Shield for beginner Men’s 8+ the Sally Moorehead Trophy for beginner Women’s 8+. The website contains more information on the history of the event.

2023 will be the 73rd edition, taking place on Saturday 25th March with the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race taking place in London the following day.

Colours offers a unique spectacle on the River Liffey with each race consisting of two 60ft racing boats, each with 8 rowers and a coxswain. The current course runs from O’Connell Bridge to St. James Gate Brewery and takes between 7 and 10 minutes depending on the race. Several sponsorship opportunities are available including overall event sponsor and individual race sponsors. For more information, reach out via email.

For this first time, all four clubs will be captained by women in the series, with Isabel Doyle and Shauna Fitzsimons breaking the glass ceiling as the first female captains of Trinity and UCD’s Men’s clubs.

“Colours is one of the premier dates in the Irish rowing calendar and has a great historical significance. It represents some of the highest level of amateur sport and competition in Ireland, fittingly taking place through the centre of our capital city” – Isabel Doyle, Captain Trinity Men.

Colours is one of the highlights of our rowing season. Racing through the heart of Dublin city against one of our biggest rivals is a huge privilege and showcases the very best of our club” – Alicia O’Neill, Captain Trinity Women.

“I am really excited to be racing once again in The Colours Boat Races. It is always an honour to represent your college while racing through the centre of Dublin”- Ellie Scott, Captain UCD Women.

“It’s always a special race remembering one of our great Captains Ciaran Gannon and we’re delighted so many of his family are able to make the trip to Dublin this year to join us'” – Shauna Fitzsimons, Captain UCD Men.

Volunteers in our sport play a vital role in the enjoyment, participation and safe organisation of our sport. We wish to recognise the significant part played by our legion of volunteers, by each month highlighting the efforts of the individuals and awarding them with the ‘Volunteer of the Month’ Award.

Whether it’s in your club or at committee or board level, being a volunteer can be immensely rewarding. And although it can seem that the altruistic intent puts the focus on helping others, volunteering also provides the volunteer with lots of benefits. Volunteering is a great way to gain new skills or try out a new activity. Recent research also shows that helping others can be a deeply fulfilling experience that’s positive for your wellbeing.

The following definition comes from Volunteer Ireland; What is volunteering? To put it simply, volunteering is doing more than you have to, because you want to, because you care.

We in rowing have an abundance of enthusiastic, experienced and motivated Volunteers. We would like your help to give formal recognition to those that go above and beyond to support our clubs and our sport.

Each month in 2023 we will award one volunteer with the title of ‘Volunteer of the Month’.

To do this we need your input, we are asking clubs and individuals to nominate their volunteer of the month. This award is open for all affiliated rowing clubs in Rowing Ireland. Nominations will open on the 11^th of each month and close on the 21^st of each month. The winner of the monthly award will be announced on the 24^th of each month. There will be a prize every month for 12 months, and an overall ‘Volunteer of the Year’, selected from one of the 12 monthly winners.

Eligibility:

• All nominees must be members of Rowing Ireland and a paid member of an affiliated Club.
• Nominations must be submitted by a member of an affiliated Rowing Ireland Club.
• Must be an active volunteer in the sport.

Volunteer Annual Recognition and Celebration

We hope to hold an event at the end of this year that will celebrate all our volunteers, coaches and athletes. All 12 monthly winners will be invited to this awards ceremony where the overall winner of ‘Volunteer of the Year’ will be announced.

The Offshore Committee have worked with their team on a survey that they are asking clubs to complete. The survey will be open from Saturday 11th to Saturday 18th of March, and aims to gather information regarding the current level of expertise within the Clubs, as well as areas where the Committee can provide support. Your participation in this survey is highly valued and will help us to improve the quality of our work.

This is only one of the many initiatives and engagements planned by the Club and Athlete Development Committee for our coastal rowing cohort.

We were informed last night by the organisers of Dublin Head that the event has unfortunately been cancelled. We have not been informed of any new proposed date for the event

Today as part of Women in Sport Week we take a look at one of our most popular participation initiatives ‘Women on the Water’ which allows women to access learn to row and recreational rowing at any age.

River, Coastal and Offshore clubs can provide a 6 or 8-week programme to female adult beginners. The programme is one session per week with a trained instructor.

The programme includes use of the rowing machine, progressing to the water with drills and exercises that will gets the participants comfortable with the rowing stroke. This programme is for adult females looking to start the sport recreationally. Participants must be over 18, but no one is too old to start!

Rowing is an excellent sport to take up recreationally as it brings you outdoors in nature, is a whole body movement, a form of resistance exercise which is great for your muscles and bones and the club is a social community setting. Clubs can add depth to their membership by running a WOW programme as it improves social connections and diversity in your membership which may improve volunteerism and membership takings amongst other benefits.

What Rowing Ireland assists with:

• Administrative support with sign ups
• T shirts for all participants and coaches
• Financial model – whether your coaches will deliver the programme voluntarily or paid coaches (club decides whether they want to make more or less profit)
• Documents such as 6 and 8 week training programmes, agreement forms, information sheets for participants
• Media support gathering videos and images of the course for promotion of the clubs programme

Where to sign up: If you are a woman reading this who would like to sign up to a programme please wait until next week March 17th when we will post all available programmes on the Rowing Ireland website. If you wish to join a mailing list about the programmes email your name to womeninsport@rowingireland.ie

The following form is a final call for interested clubs to run a programme this Spring/ Summer 2023 and your programme will be advertised on the Rowing Ireland website and social media channels.

Today’s focus as part of Women in Sport Week looks at women in Leadership and Governance. Read more below about our exciting new leadership course with Sarah O’Shea and an opportunity to get involved at board level governance.

We have two exciting and important opportunities below for women to grow and become more involved in leadership and governance in rowing, from grassroots to board level. First, we have a new Leadership Programme for 12 participants selected via application process and secondly, we have spaces for Independent Directors and would welcome female applicants.

Women in Leadership

The Women in Sport Leadership course, run by Lisa Clancy and Sarah O’Shea, has seen over 270 women take part since its commencement in 2020 and many of the course graduates have gone on to chair committees, get jobs in sport, be elected to board positions, be elected to European sport committees and a range of other local and national successes.

This is a fantastic opportunity for females working in leadership roles or those aspiring to be a leader within their Rowing Ireland club and regions e.g. committee members, umpires, coaches etc.

6 participants from Rowing Ireland have already undertaken the course. Our 2022 participants:

–Shauna Fitzsimons of UCD BC (UCD Captain and Chair of the University Championships Committee, Student Sport Ireland Leadership Award winner 2022)

–Margaurite Deasy of Ring RC. (Club Leadership Mentor 2022, Offshore Committee Chair 2022, Team Manager of the Irish Beach Sprints Team at the World Rowing Beach Sprints finals (WRBSF) as well as Chair of the Irish Offshore Rowing Championships.)

Mary Moore of Garda Siochana Boat Club. (First female Captain of Garda Siochana Boat Club. Supported the development of the first Junior Program at the club.)

This highly successful course is an extremely rewarding, informative and enabling programme.   The course is fully interactive and participants are provided with an insight to all facets of leadership through a series of 5 online and 1 in person session.  Participants are encouraged to fully immerse themselves in the course which is designed to build confidence and enable participants to have a great connection with each other establishing valuable network of powerful women. This course is suitable for all female club leaders or aspiring club leaders such as committee members, coaches and other volunteers.

Course Content

The course modules include the following core topics:

·  Leadership and Values

·  Networking and Collaboration

·  Challenge and Resilience

·  Crisis Management 

·  Communications and Developing Your Personal Brand

·  Influencing and Change 

·  Governance

Participants will also receive a one-on-one coaching session and guidance in producing their own Personal Development Plan.

Modules will also include inputs from 4 guest speakers relating their own personal leadership experiences.

Dates (you should be available to attend all sessions):

• April 17th and 24th (Monday evenings) from 7pm-8.30pm online via zoom

• May 1st, 8th and 15th (Monday evenings) from 7pm-8.30pm online via zoom

and Sunday 21st April  (11am-2.30pm in person / Dublin Location TBC)

To apply please fill in the form below. There is a poster attached to circulate to any women in your club who may be interested.

Independent Directors on the Board of Rowing Ireland

We have two vacancies on the Board of Rowing Ireland in 2023. This is an inspiring time for the sport, particularly with Paris 2024 fast approaching. As an Independent Director, you will have the opportunity to shape the future of our sports organisation and make a real impact. You will work closely with the rest of the Board to develop strategies, set goals, and make critical decisions that will shape the organisation’s direction. Our vision is “Spearheading excellence, strong clubs and rowing for life.”

The Board has identified a need for the following skills:

Accounting / Financial Management

Legal / Company Law

Communications / Commercial / PR

We would prefer that each Director have at least one of the above skills.

The Board of Rowing Ireland shall comprise at least 40% of each gender among the directors, and any committees shall endeavour to reach a similar composition. We encourage applications from every community, particularly those currently under-represented. We run a comprehensive induction process for all new Board members.

We are looking for applicants who are independent of our sport, perhaps even unfamiliar with our sport, who will join a Board and enable us to collectively question, challenge and discern to make better decisions. We seek applicants with strong leadership skills and a commitment to excellence. Whether or not you have experience in sports management, business, or a related field, we encourage you to apply.

The current Board comprises 9 Directors and is led by the Chair. Within the Board is a Board range of skills and experiences.

Our current Board members can be seen on our website

Expected Commitment

• The Board meets approximately six times a year, on a Saturday or Sunday and holds additional meetings as the situation requires. 
• Meetings usually occur at Sport HQ in Blanchardstown, Dublin, at 9:30 am. 
• Occasionally, meetings are held at alternative locations around the island of Ireland. 
• Expenses are reimbursed per our Travel & Subsistence Policy (which will be made available upon request to applicants shortlisted for interview).
• You will be required to complete Induction Training as arranged by or provided by Rowing Ireland.
• You should be prepared to spend at least two days per month on company business after the induction phase.
• Independent Directors are expected to join and participate in one or more Committees. 
• Successful applicants will be Garda Vetted before formally joining the Board.
• The term is three years.

This is a unique opportunity to make a difference in the world of sports and contribute to our organisation’s growth and great success.

If you are interested in joining our Board as an Independent Director, please submit your cv and a cover letter outlining your qualifications and experience to Valerie at nominations@rowingireland.ie.  By 5:00 pm on 10th March 2023

We look forward to hearing from you.

Interviews will be held during the week beginning 20th March 2023

For an informal conversation on the role with any Board member or the CEO, please email the Chairperson, Martin Hogan, at chair@rowingIreland.ie

Join Sport Ireland on Friday, 10^th March, to hear from experts Dr Diane Cooper and Irene Clark on everything menopause related, from symptoms to changes in the body, nutrition and exercise-related guidelines. Whether you’re trying to get back to exercising or an active female now experiencing symptoms of menopause, this webinar will provide tips, guidelines and engaging interviews to help you on your journey. 

Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/sport-ireland-menopause-and-physical-activity-webinar-tickets-564941915477

Rowing Ireland are delighted to announce the launch of our new campaign with Sport Ireland and Crew Class titled ‘She Ergs‘. She Ergs is part of the country wide ‘Her Moves‘ campaign all about getting teenage girls active. Read more below on how your club can apply to get involved.

Her Moves is an evidence informed campaign, following consultation with teenage girls on what they enjoy for recreational sport and physical activity. It also is informed by the Sport Ireland study and project ‘Coaching Teenage Girls’ where girls around Ireland gave their voice about what inhibits them from physical activity and sport and what encourages and creates an inclusive environment for them. All across Ireland, National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships will be getting involved in this campaign.

Sadly, the drop out rate for teenage girls out of sport and physical activity in Ireland is the highest out of any population group. This has to change. Rowing Ireland is committed to supporting and playing our part in ensuring teenage girls can access our wonderful sport, with all its benefits for their physical, mental and social health and our involvement in this campaign will reflect this. We already do such amazing work with our competitive and get rowing campaigns and this is another opportunity to show how our sport is a leading game changer for teenage girls.

Clubs are invited to take part in this campaign where we have designed Indoor Rowing sessions for teenage girls that are based on fitness, health and enjoyment. This is different from a pathway into competitive sport. We want to facilitate clubs offering a new side of the sport to our communities, growing their membership and using their facilities to benefit both these users and the club itself.

We are excited to partner with Crew Class on this, who are the countries leading provider of adult indoor rowing fitness classes. Crew Class will work closely with us and the success clubs on this pilot campaign to ensure a fun, challenging, rewarding and positive experience for the teenage girls.

Crew Class founder and Olympian Niall O’ Toole had this to say about the campaign : “Having coached teenage girls, I’m acutely aware of the attrition rate. We are delighted to work on this campaign to help change that. Rowing is a great sport for those who don’t have that positive experience in other sports.”

“Rowing is a sport that everyone can participate in and can work at their own pace.” said Aifric O’Sullivan of Crew Class. “With indoor rowing we see people progress and increase their confidence in a really short space of time and this is particularly important to teenage girls”

Rowing Ireland CEO, Michelle Carpenter said: “On International Women’s Day, it’s particularly exciting to be a part of the launch of this campaign for teenage girls. In Rowing Ireland, we are committed to supporting women in sport and this begins for women and girls in the early teenage years experiences in sport. We have amazing competitive structures in our sport and our dedicated clubs. Now it’s time to develop and support recreational pathways into the sport for teenage girls who want to experience our sport for all the health and wellbeing benefits it has to offer”

Today, we are at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin for the launch of this campaign and you can find some images and videos about this on our social media.

To support clubs interested in getting involved in this campaign we will be providing the following supports:

• Crew Class training for coaches so they can deliver the ‘She Ergs’ 6-8 week Programme
• Merchandise for those coaches including a She Ergs hoodie and beanie
• Financial support to pay for the coaches delivery of these sessions
• Financial support for hall rental space in the club
• Adminstrative support from the women in sport officer in sign ups, advertising and supporting the programme
• Media support gathering videos and photos of the programme to promote its success in the club

A small number of clubs will be chosen via application process. You can apply by filling in the form below and send any queries to womeninsport@rowingireland.ie.

Rowing Ireland are excited to announce a series of supports for current or aspiring female umpires which will form a pathway for women into umpiring, support those who are developing after qualifing, those who have been umpiring for a number of years and those who wish to umpire internationally. This initiative will be funded by the Women in Sport programme. Read more details and how to access the support below.

In 2020, Rowing Ireland conducted a survey of its female umpires and identified reasons why women enjoyed umpiring as well as some potential barriers to umpiring. In 2022, Sport Ireland conducted a survey of all women in officiating across all sports in Ireland and the in depth report of this survey is being launched today on the Sport Ireland website.

The aim of this initiative is to support women who would like to umpire, to help those who are qualified and wish to umpire more or increase their competencies and also to support those who wish to umpire at a national and international level and promote lifelong participation in sport and physical activity. Umpiring is a great way for people to stay involved in the sport, develop new skills, enjoy being on the water and in the outdoors; perhaps at a time when they are not rowing or coaching.

The Umpires Committee of Rowing Ireland work closely with all our umpires, training them up and delivering exams and will be a vital support to this initiative in terms of supplying expert knowledge. Rowing Ireland’s women in sport officer will facilitate the following supports categorised into 4 areas:

Please find attached provisional invitations to the upcoming April trials held at the NRC from 21st-23rd. Please note that invitations are based on several factors, previous water trials, and physiological results from the various erg tests, including the most recent 2k and 6k erg tests.

Provisional plan

Friday – arrival, rigging
Saturday – AM 2k,  PM 2K
Sunday – AM 2k,  PM 2K 

Notes 

• Further detailed information regarding the weekend’s trials will be published closer to the date.
• Coaches are asked to confirm athlete’s attendance by emailing michael.orourke@rowingireland.ie by Friday, March 10th.
• Clubs are asked to support their rowers by providing an adequate amount of doubles pairs and fours. 

Please find the invitation list to the March HP camp from 17th-19th of March. Invitations are based on several factors, including recent erg testing, February water trials, engagement with the process this year, and strategic plans for each group. 

The following boats are required for the camp:

U23 women 

• 2x 

U19 Women 

• 2x
• 2x

U19 Men 

• 2x
• 2x

U23 Lightweight women 

• 2x

U23 Lightweight men 

• 2x

Notes:

• Full details will be emailed to the coaches concerned in the coming days.
• All athletes must bring their own sculling oars. 
• All athletes may be involved in a matrix that is occurring with NRC based athletes at the same time 
• Please note that athletes may be added to this list at short notice, at the discretion of the HPD/Leading Coach in the event another athlete is unavailable.
• Clubs are expected to support their athletes with boats as required.
• Please email michael.orourke@rowingireland.ie availability by 5pm Wednesday 8th March

Women in Sport Week 2023 kicks off with Monday’s theme – High Performance. Have a look below at our amazing achievements by women in High Performance.

Our High Performance programme has shown amazing progress in recent years in getting more and more women training, competing and succeeding at the highest levels of the sport. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics we saw the first ever women’s team medal come home to Ireland, with our Women’s Four bronze medal.

Margaret Cremen, Tokyo 2020 Olympian said, ‘What I love about being a woman in sport is that I never have to look too far for inspiration. My female team mates are my sporting heroes. Through my junior club days, college rowing, to high performance. 

I think partly because I know the adversity/obstacles they have had to overcome along the way and have still become the person (athlete) they are today. 

In college competing in the 8s I remember having a realisation that these girls are my blood sweat and tears? Training day in and day out together, living inside each others pockets. I thought, I want and I need to be the best version of myself for them. I think that’s so cool & powerful that women can impact and lift each other within sport and life too. Some of them were leaders, some were messers, some would sit next to you on the rowing machine until you finished the session. Everyone’s qualities shone. 

Behind every result, behind every athlete and woman there’s a story and people can relate to these things. And therefore believe well I could maybe do that? This is where it starts, that’s the jackpot – you can absolutely run away with belief and take it somewhere special.’

‘When we embrace equity, we embrace everyone from different diversity’s in life.’ said Alison Bergin, U23 Bronze medallist. ‘In sport there is no reason as to why we can’t empower women and all genders to embrace equity.’

Below you can see some summaries of performances on the international stage by women in the last 12 months.

Success at U19 and U23 World Championships, July 2022

In the summer 2022 season we saw women’s crews achieve excellent results at the U19 and U23 World Championships. These crews included:

• The Women’s Quad of Kate Reidy (Lee RC), Lauren McCarthy-Steele (Skibbereen RC), Moya Knowles (Skibbereen RC) and Ayla O’Neill (Kenmare RC) who finished 3rd in the B final

• W2x of Holly Davis (Lee Valley RC) and Anna Keating (Shannon RC) who finished 6th in the A final

• Alison Bergin (Fermoy RC) stormed home in the BW1X with a bronze medal at the U23 Championships, as well as setting a new World Record in her semi final!

These crews were supported by international female coaches Leah O’ Regan and Janet Walsh

Success at World Cup II, June 2022

• The W4- of Tara Hanlon, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Aifric Keogh finished in third place, taking home a bronze medal.

• Sanita Puspure and Zoe Hyde won silver medals in the W2x.

• Katie O’Brien won her final of the PR2 W1x, to take the gold medal.

• The LW2x of Margaret Cremen and Lydia Heaphy had a huge race, finishing in bronze position.

• Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty also took home bronze medals, thins time in the W2-.

Success at the Senior World Rowing Championships, September 2022

• Katie O Brien (Galway RC) claimed victory in the PR2 1x to become World Champion.

• Mags Cremen and Aoife Casey (UCC) blazed home to bronze in the LW2X.

• The Women’s Four of Emily Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe and Aifric Keogh finished sixth in the A Final.

• The Women’s Pair of Tara Hanlon (UCCRC) and Natalie Long (Lee Valley RC) finished in second in the B final.

• Lydia Heaphy (Skibbereen RC) finished in third place in the Lightweight Women’s Scull B Final, ranking her ninth in the world.

• The Women’s Double of Zoe Hyde (Killorglin RC) and Sanita Puspure (Old Collegians) pulled a blinder of a race to win a bronze medal in the A final.

Success at the World Rowing Coastal Championships, October 2022

• Niamh Hayes of Galley Flash RC finished 5th in the CW1X B Final

• Gillian Hosford of Castletownshend RC finished 9th in the CW1X B Final

• Barbara Johnston ( Olderfleet RC), Catherine Maxwell, Joanne Stewart & Kirsten Leitch and Norman Leitch finished in 1st place in the CW4X+ B Final

• Aoibhe Sweeney, Caitlin Ward, Cian Sweeney, Leah Gallagher and Mairead Bholscaidh finished 9th in the CW 4x B final (Loughros RC and City of Derry RC)

• Sionna Healy (Arklow RC) 4th in the CW1X final

• Xena Jordan (Arklow RC) 5th in the CW1X final

• Miriam Sheehan (Castletownbere RC) 8th in the CW1X final

• Monika Dukarska (Killorglin RC) 13th place in the CW1X final

• Rhiannon O Donoghue & Monika Dukarska (Killorglin RC)2nd place in the CW2X final

• Ella Cialis & Gillian Hosford (Castletownbere RC) 9th place in the CW2X final

• Dineka Maguire and Niamh Doogan (Kinclassagh RC) 15th place

• Andrea Kinsella & Mary Ann Kent (DNF)