Galway Regatta
Jun 03, 2023
A beautiful sunny day in Galway was perfect for viewing some fine rowing from the 15 clubs that attended the day-long event.The narrow river Corrib means that this event has only 3 lanes, over a shorter distance than the usual 2k. As a result, only winners are awarded a medal.
CIRC crews performed admirably on the day, clocking up wins for Mens Junior 16, Mens Junior 14, and Womens Junior 14 coxed quads. There were also 11 2ndplaces, many of them in very close races, by CIRC Eights, Fours, Quads, Doubles, and Single Sculls.
The Anderson cup, the Mens Junior 18 Eights race, which each year is hotly contested between local rivals CIRC (The Jes) and St. Josephs (The Bish), saw 2 Bish crews entered against 1 Jes crew. In this exciting race, the Jes easily outpaced one of the Bish crews but were unable to catch the other, who had an outstanding race and won by a length.
The club won 3 of 23 entered races and deserved more wins. Many crews were unable to enter races they had been signed up for, for various reasons, and others experienced unfortunate setbacks during their races, including steering issues, seats coming off tracks, and other race-costing issues. But this is part and parcel of rowing - you never can predict how any race will go on the day! Luck may not have been entirely on our side, but the club is immensely proud of how all our athletes performed, and conducted themselves on the day. And 15 gold medals went back to the the clubhouse, all from younger crews, which bodes well for the future.