Junior Champs / 1K Classic

Jun 30, 2024

CIRC was entered into the first race of the day, which called for an early start. The bus left the club at 5:15am to arrive at Lough Rinn shortly after 7:30am. The trailer was already there, as it had been towed up by Stephen Mangan, the day before. The weather, that early in the morning was overcast and drizzly but the sun came out around midday, turning it into a glorious day. It was so hot, coaches advised rowers to stay in the shade of the club tent while resting between races.

The 1K Classic is the national championships for all categories that race over 1K (J13, J14, J15, and Masters). It came into being to relieve some of the scheduling pressures that were causing difficulties for the National Championships, which runs over two days in the National Rowing Centre, each year. All other categories race 2K, so the bundling of all the 1k races into a single event means that stakeboats can be placed at the 1k line, removing the need for running starts.

Rowing Ireland should be applauded for making significant improvements for spectators at this event. They organised a huge marquee, for shelter, in the spectators area, to the side of the finish line, complete with a large screen, showing drone footage of the racing and a mobile coffee shop.

The drone footage was also live-streamed on Facebook. Amenities in the competitor area included a chip/burger van and an ice-cream van. Loudspeakers were placed in 3 areas so that the race commentary could be heard clearly everywhere. The race timetable and live results were visible via an online spreadsheet available on your phone; however, mobile data reception was spotty for anyone not on the 3 network.

Competition was fierce, which is only to be expected at the national event held at the end of the Junior / Masters rowing year, and CIRC's junior rowers did their club proud - of the 19 races, in which they were entered, the club won 2, came a close 2nd in another 2, and were 3rd in 6.

Aidan Clarke dominated his MJ15 1x final, finishing with too many lengths of clear water to count, between him and the Neptune sculler who placed 2nd, and with scullers from Blackrock, Muckross, and Waterford strung out in his wake.

Two races later, the CIRC WJ14 4x , crewed by Sophie Ryder (stk), Lauren Ward, Grace Faherty, Lola-Mae McCormack (bow) and Ellie Sheils (cox) executed an exceptional build in the last 300 meters to very quickly overtake Eniskillen, who had led from the start, for an extremely impressive and thrilling finish.

Well done to all involved- the club is immensely proud of the hard work and progress made by every one of its junior athletes, this year.

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