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News from 2009
Annual barbecue
The club’s annual end-of-season barbecue was held on the Monday following the 2009 National Championships, before everyone scattered for the summer holidays. The barbecue was a great success. News has obviously spread that this is a fun event as the attendance was way up on previous years, boosted by the participation of many parents, as well as members of the NUIG crew who were still celebrating their great win in the Men’s Senior 8+ and Women’s Novice 8+ and 4+ at the Champs.
The evening started with the annual blessing of the boats, performed by Fr. Connail O’Quin, SJ.
Memorial seat
One of the highlights of the barbecue was the unveiling of a memorial seat to the former Jes rower Nicky Hardiman who was a member of the 1958 Maiden Championship winning crew. The seat, set in the grounds of the club, was unveiled by Nicky’s wife, Pam. The club was delighted that other members of the crew Leo Wall, Pierce Connolly and Maoliosa Costello were able to be there.
Training weekend
In June, Coláiste Iognáid rowing club hosted Neptune rowers for a joint training weekend. Families of Jes rowers kindly provided accommodation for the Neptune rowers. Neptune Rowing Club is one of the most successful rowing clubs in the country and has produced arguably the most successful Irish oarsmen over the past 20 years. The Jes and Neptune have strong ties through Jes head coach Seán Carolan, who rowed in the 1970’s for Neptune, Neptune coach Brendan O Dea, who rowed in the last Jes crew to ever win the junior eights championship, and Bryan O Carroll who currently rows for Neptune’s senior squad, having rowed for 6 years in the Jes during the early 2000’s. The weekend was very successful with the Junior men and women from both clubs rowing competitively on the Corrib. A BBQ was organised on the Saturday evening where Gerry Murphy (coach of the Neptune juniors) presented Ian Murphy, Shane Cawley and Ciarán Glynn with Neptune ties. Both clubs agreed that the weekend was a great success and it was hoped that this collaboration would continue into the future.
New developments in training
The club have been looking at ways to improve the standard of training that we can provide for our oarsmen and women. During the month of October 2009, the club approached the HSE and requested a nutrition talk for the rowers. Ciara Heverin of the HSE very kindly offered to give the talk. It was a great success and we hope to organise another talk as we come into the summer season.
The junior men and some of the junior women are recently back from physio testing in the National Coaching and Training Centre in Limerick. This testing is what our Irish Olympians are using in the warm up to the 2012 games in London. Former Jes rower turned Olympian Cormac Folan commented that the NCTC is a fantastic facility and that we should consider utilising it to improve our standard of fitness. We contacted Caroline McManus (a former rower herself) and she has been very supportive of the club and the rowers. We would like to thank Caroline, Toni Rossiter and their staff for all their help and support over the past few weeks.
Ben Murphy has very kindly offered to give a talk on the psychology of a modern day athlete. Ben has given a lot of his time preparing and giving these talks to the club last year and we are delighted that he is willing to give another talk this season.
Club dinner 2009
The rowers and coaches attended the annual club dinner on 22nd October at the Meyrick Hotel in Eyre Square.
The dinner is the occasion where the rowers can formally thank the coaches for their great dedication and hard work over the year and recognise the achievements and teamwork of their fellow rowers. Ian Murphy was nominated as Clubperson of the year. Ian showed time and time again his selfless nature and got involved with first years on a weekly basis, as well as lending a hand with the club’s hardworking maintenance committee. Ian also captained the club in 2008.
Club AGM
The club AGM, held on 4 November 2009, was well attended. Many parents responded to the call for volunteers to help with the clubhouse renovation, general tasks related to the clubhouse, driving the launch and the women’s coaching sessions.
The club is just keeping its head above water in terms of current spending. A previous surplus has been reversed and in the most recent financial year the club has run a deficit of €3435 in current expenditure. Income to cover current expenditure will have to be increased in 2010 so the club looks forward to strong support for all the planned fundraising activities.
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