Queen’s experienced the agony and the ecstasy of the Irish Rowing Championships in Cork last weekend when a heartbreaking 0.14 second (or 1 foot) loss to NUIG in the Senior 8s was sandwiched by outstanding wins for the Novice women’s 8 and 4. The First VIII went bow ball to bow ball with NUIG’s the whole way down the 2000m course leaving the highly fancied Muckross 8 with 3 Olympians in their wake. Queen’s Olympian Iain Kennedy stood at the finish and said it was down to who got the surge on the stroke cycle. A young Queen’s second VIII did outstandingly well to reach the final where they finished last but did us proud.
The Women’s Novice VIII put in an outstanding performance on Friday to gain revenge for last years 2nd place. With 5 freshers in the boat, their 1 1/3 length win over St Michael’s got the Championships off to a great start for Queen’s. This is the first women’s Championship in 10 years and it was followed by a superb win for the 4 in the penultimate race of the final day. This makes 4 big boat Championships for Queen’s in 2 years. Full report to follow in LVBC newsletter in August.”
