When reversing a trailer into a tight corner, the bows will swing out and find the nearest steel bar..

Not ideal pre-regatta boat preparation

Fill

Sand

Initial prime, followed by fine fill

Prime and fine wet and dry

Gloss, still needs to be cut in but boat is stained anyway!

2014 Irish Rowing Championships

Quiet times on the blog means plenty being done on the water. Especially as there has been little or no internet connection here in Enniskillen. We are five days into the seven day camp and the crews are working away well on final preparation for the Championships. The entries went in last weekend and the list of entries is now online. UCCRC have a strong entry in a number of events:

In order of appearance:
Friday AM:
Men's Senior 2x: Justin Ryan/Andy Harrington
Women's Club 4+: Cox: Daniel O'Callaghan b: Roisin Merz, 2: Niamh O'Mahony, 3: Deirdre O'Sullivan, str: Saoirse Horgan
Friday PM:
Men's Lightweight 1x: Justin Ryan
Saturday AM:
Men's Senior 2-: John Griffin/Padraic O'Connell
Women's Intermediate 2x: Niamh O'Mahony/Saoirse Horgan
Men's Club 1x: Ciarán O'Hara
Saturday PM:
Men's Senior 4x: Justin Ryan/Stephen O'Connor/Padraic O'Connell/Andy Harrington
Women's Club 1x: Deirdre O'Sullivan
Sunday AM:
Men's Senior 1x: Andy Harrington
Men's Intermediate 2-: Seán O'Sullivan/Stephen O'Connor
Women's Intermediate 4+ (same crew as is racing Club 4+)
Sunday PM
Women's Intermediate 1x: Saoirse Horgan, Niamh O'Mahony, Roisin Merz and Deirdre O'Sullivan
Men's Intermediate 2x: Stephen O'Connor/Padraic O'Connell

It is the first year that the Championships have been run under the new Rowing Ireland Tracker points system. This means that former winners can row with less experienced athletes to race again in lower standard events- having looked at the entries it is clear that some clubs have seized this as an opportunity to enter crews with as many as nine senior wins to their name into intermediate events. Here at UCC our objective is to challenge ourselves to develop to be the best we can be. As one of the athletes stated this week, they would rather come second in a hard race than win easily. With this principle in mind I am very proud to state that no UCC winning Senior or Intermediate oarsman is racing at anything other than Senior.

Metropolitan Amateur Regatta

This weekend UCCRC will race the the London Metropolitan Amateur Regatta for the first time in a number of years. A group of 15 will travel and race in the following events:

Saturday 31st May
Men's Senior and Intermediate 1 4x: Justin Ryan/Stephen O'Connor/Andy Harrington/Padraic O'Connell
Men's Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 4+: Sean O'Sullivan/Ciaran O'Hara/Shane Haugh/John Griffin cox: Daniel O'Callaghan
Women's Intermediate 1 4x: Roisin Merz/Niamh O'Mahony/Deirdre O'Sullivan/Saoirse Horgan
Women's Intermediate 1 2x: Merz/O'Mahony and O'Sullivan/Horgan

Sunday 1st June
Men's Senior and Intermediate 1 4-: John Griffin/Stephen O'Connor/Andy Harrington/Padraic O'Connell
Men's Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 4+: Sean O'Sullivan/Ciaran O'Hara/Shane Haugh/Justin Ryan cox: Daniel O'Callaghan
The women's crews are the same as Saturday's.

The draw is up at the Regatta website here:
Metregatta.org

Racing at this event should provide the squad with numerous experiences of hard good quality racing. Exactly what we are looking for heading into the final stages of the season. The squad will then race at Cork Regatta on June 21st and 22nd and finally at the Irish Rowing Championships on July 11th, 12th and 13th.

Student athletes

This video is about rowing at Oxford University but the principle is the same all over the World. I wish the message being put across here was better understood by those in a position to do something about the support for sport at universities in Ireland. Sadly we are some way off, nonetheless only success at what we do on and off the water will give us any chance of improving the communication of this message.
Rowing at Oxford University: A unique experience

Before the dam

Interesting to see what the river Lee looked like before the dam:
Pre-dam gallery

Seeking failure?

Study break video time:
I seek failure