Over the last couple of weeks we have been moving our entire fleet of boats down to our new temporary home at Belfast Boat Club; and I am happy to announce that building work has officially begun at the Queen’s boathouse. The building work will include extending the ground floor of the boathouse out towards the river to increase our boat housing capacity. They are also adding a crew room and a new pontoon, as well the building being upgraded to meet accessibility regulations. The new boathouse is an exciting prospect and will hopefully allow rowing at Queen’s to continue to growth in stature. Below is a photo of the boathouse in process of being packed up ready for work to start. I will be posting progress photos on this blog throughout the building process.
Now a couple of race results to conclude the head season for QUBLBC. Rebecca Edwards (currently away on a placement year) and her crew competed in a composite 8+ at WeHORR on the weekend of the 14th March. They placed 9th overall, finishing in a time of 20:29.9. This is a hugely impressive result at a very prestigious race.
Meanwhile, the novice women’s 4X+ recorded a very good win at the Lagan Scullers HOR (21st March); it was an extremely close category with only a second between 1st and 2nd and place on the results sheet. Another good result for this fast improving squad.
Over the last week the men’s and ladies’ squads have been in County Leitrim doing a training camp on the new regatta course at Lough Rynn. The squads were training well and all crews made excellent progress. A big thanks to Carrick-on-Shannon Rowing Club for letting us use their boathouse for some erg sessions. With all eyes now firmly fixed on success this weekend at the Irish University Champions and Skibbereen Regatta, the camp provided an excellent place for all crews to get some race practice on a fully buoyed course.
For daily results updates over this weekend keep an eye on our Facebook page ‘Queen’s Rowing’, and once all racing is finished there will be a comprehensive report of all the action on this blog on Monday.
Queen’s Regatta in Castlewellan on the 9th May is fast approaching. It promises to be a fantastic event that I would strongly encourage everyone to attend if they are available. Official invitations will be sent out with more details in the coming weeks so keep an eye out for that.
Here is a brief overview of events that Queen’s are currently planning on entering for the rest of the season. Obviously this is subject to changes as the season unfolds for the squads:
Irish University Championships – 10th April, Cork
Skibbereen Regatta – 11th-12th April, Cork
Trinity Regatta – 18th April, Dublin
BUCS Regatta – 2nd-4th May, Nottingham, England
Queen’s Regatta – 9th May, Castlewellan
University Boat Race – 6th June, Belfast
Irish Rowing Championships – 10th-12th July, Cork
Having Queen’s support at any event we are competing in is very special for all the rowers involved and you are always welcome to attend any of the regattas throughout the year. If any events are added or taken away from this list I will endeavour to keep you posted.
Thanks Oliver for your latest news. I watched the Ladies composite crew from Hammersmith Bridge; they looked really good and together. I noticed that your list of future events didn’t include Ladies Henley or HRR. Is this a draft list or is it definite that there will not be a crew at those two regattas? Good luck for the Irish Universities this weekend.
Hi Len, Thank you for getting in touch with us. That is a list of the the events the the clubs will definitely be attending this year. Possible entries for Ladies Henley and HRR is a topic that is being discussed within the squads at the moment. If the clubs do intend to send crews to these regattas then I will inform everyone as soon as the decision is made. It is always fantastic to have support for Queen’s at these events so I will give people as much notice as I can