Update – December 2014

December has been another busy month for QUBBC and QUBLBC. Things kicked off with the men’s and Ladies’ dinners. Friday 5th December saw a great turn out to the QUBLBC 46th Annual Ladies Dinner. We were pleased to have Beth Rodford as guest speaker, a British rower who has represented Team GB in the last two Olympic games in the women’s eight. There were three awards given out on the night. The first was for the winner of the Tub Champs which was won by Siofra Corr and Millie Jessup. The second went to Lana Mullen as Novice of the Year. The third to Carol Moorehead – The Donall Murphy Prize for her outstanding commitment and her crucial contribution to the club over the last few of years, both on and off the water. There was also a raffle organised by the club fundraisers, Rachel Brown, Rosanna McBrien and Mary-Beth Toner. The money raised will help fund rowing events in the upcoming season. A big thank you to Ellie Holmes for co-ordinating the smooth running of the dinner, it was a great night, thoroughly enjoyed by all in attendance.

The men’s dinner on the following night was a great event as always. A stirring speech from captain Luke McCann was followed by an engaging talk from guest speaker Neil Thompson. As is tradition, the Novice Of The Year award was presented by last year’s head novice coaches Paddy Doherty and Stephen Lockwood, the recipient was Oliver Graham. The Tub Champs trophy was awarded to Mitchell Barr and Jordan Wilson. The night was then concluded with some light refreshments in the boathouse.

Last weekend Chris Beck, Joel Kelly, Luke McCann, Tiernan Oliver, Adam Boreham and Philip Doyle were called down to Cork for the second round of trials for the Irish national rowing squad. The lightweight sweep rowers were seat racing in fours and pairs while the lightweight scullers and heavyweights were racing in singles and doubles. It’s fantastic to see so many of our athletes pushing for national selection and this again highlights the quality of the squad this year.

Meanwhile back in Belfast the Men’s and Ladies’ squads were preparing to race in the Festive HOR on Saturday 19th. The men’s 8+ secured another win, adding to their success at Bann HOR earlier in the season. The crew fended off competition from BBC and BRC to finish first in a time of 10:26.9. This win was particularly impressive considering six of our best athletes were absent due to the trials in Cork; another example of the great strength in depth in the squad. The men’s 4+ also rowed well and finished in 11th place. Three strong novice crews also raced in their second HOR, showing how much they have improved over the last six weeks. One of the novice crews is pictured below.

QUBLBC’s intermediate squad broke up their Bann HOR winning 8+ into a coxless four, coxed four and double scull. The crews recorded some impressive results (detailed below). The novice eights continue to impress and Saturday saw them put in another set of strong performances that sets them up well for the new year. It was a great day with crews dressing up in many different forms of fancy dress; there where Ninja Turtles, ‘Reindeer led by Santa’, ‘Pigs in blankets’, Smurfs, ‘Peter Pan and the Lost Boys’, a ‘Leprechaun, Rainbow and Pot of Gold’ and ’Thing 1 + Thing 2’.

The results are as follows:

Inter 4- 13:59.4

Novice 8+ 14:18.0

Inter 2x 14:35.0

Inter 4+ 15:00.2

Novice 8+ 15:33.7

Mixed 8+ 15:37.8

Inter 2x 17:16.3

In other news I am pleased to announce that after not happening last year, Queen’s will once again be hosting Queen’s Regatta this year in Castlewellan on 09/05/2015. It is a 1500m, fully buoyed, six lane course with official stake boats. This has been a fantastic event in the past and it promises to be a great day of racing; we hope that you are all able to attend. It will not be a Grand-League Regatta.

I Hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and from everyone at Queen’s Rowing we wish you a happy new year!