The Queen’s crews traveled down to Cork during the week of the 6th of July in preparation for the grand finale to the 2014-2015 season; the Irish Rowing Championships.
The Men’s intermediate 4+ were first up on Friday morning, and came up against some of the strongest crews in Ireland. After comfortably qualifying for the final, they threw the kitchen sink at NUIG, UCD and St Michaels, but sadly it wasn’t enough on the day and they finished a canvas down on UCD with NUIG a length ahead.
Cox – Carol Moorehead, Stroke – Philip Patton, 3 – Philip Doyle, 2 – Oliver Graham, Bow – Luke McCann.
The women’s club 4+ had two Queen’s entries, the A boat won their heat and progressed into the final, but they came up against some very strong crews. A strong row saw them finish in third place. The second crew were unfortunately unable to make the final.
Queen’s A: Cox – Charlotte McCausland, Stroke – Alicia Green, 3 – Rachel Brown, 2 – Victoria Coulter, Bow – Ellie Holmes.
Queen’s B: Cox – Gemma Canham, Stroke – Stephanie McIvor, 3 – Rosanna Duilia-McBrien, 2 – Jennifer Salmon, Bow – Rachel Smylie
The Men’s novice quadruple scull faced a tough task against Commercial and were unable to overturn the early deficit and finished in second place.
Cox – Jason Nicoletti, Stroke – Ryan Urquhart, 3 – Patrick Martin, 2 – Chris Hayes, Bow – Tiernan Treacy.
The women’s intermediate pair qualified for the final but unfortunately finished sixth.
Stroke – Ruth Taylor, Bow – Dineka Maguire.
Some great performances so far, but as yet no pots for Queen’s. That changed however in one of the last races of the day. After coming through the heat, the Men’s 8 brought home Queen’s first championship of 2015 in a thrilling race in the men’s club 8. Queen’s edged out Cork BC by three tenths of a second, finishing in a time of 6:03.62.
Cox – Peter Ramsey, Stroke – Philip Patton, 7 – Luke McCann, 6 – Oliver Graham, 5 – Philip Doyle, 4 – Joel Kelly, 3 – Lloyd White, 2 – Ben Evans, Bow – David Roy.
On Saturday, championship number two was secured courtesy of the novice men’s 8. A strong start saw them begin to move away from Trinity but at 500m in the Queen’s crew were still level with UCD. As the race went on they slowly began to walk up the UCD 8, but they were unable to shake the Dublin crew. It wasn’t until 500 to go that go that they made the decisive push and broke clear water. A fitting end to a fantastic season for the novice men. A special mention must go to David Beirne, who fell very ill the night before the race and was unable to join his crew, and missed out on the championship win. He has been a driving influence for everything that the squad has done well this year, and his whole crew agree that they would not have reached the level they have without him. Also, a huge well done to Ryan Urquhart for stepping in to the crew with less than 12 hours notice and putting in an incredibly commendable performance to bring home the championship.
Cox – Adam Campbell, Stroke – Jordan Wilson, 7 – Alex Crowley, 6 – Evaldas Parsiunas, 5 – Roger Dawson, 4 – Ryan Urquhart, 3 – Patrick Swaile, 2 – Michael Quinn, Bow – Niall Stevenson.
The men’s 8 returned from their win on Saturday to compete in the intermediate 8+; Another strong row saw them finish third behind the Trinity senior 8 and the UCD intermediate 8.
Cox – Peter Ramsey, Stroke – Philip Patton, 7 – Luke McCann, 6 – Oliver Graham, 5 – Ross Williamson, 4 – Joel Kelly, 3 – Lloyd White, 2 – Ben Evans, Bow – David Roy.
The women’s novice 8 have had a very successful year, but disruptions to crew consistency in the weeks before the championships ultimately cost them, and unfortunately they were just off the pace of the Commercial crew. They did however finish well ahead of the Trinity crew and recorded an impressive second place finish.
Cox – Gemma Canham, Stroke – Siofra Corr, 7 – Sarah McElroy, 6 – Ellen Greene, 5 – Mia Johnston, 4 – Katherine Dawson, 3 – Rebecca Davison, 2 – Victoria Wallace, Bow – Katherine Beattie.
The novice sculler Patrick Martin was competing in the club single scull; unfortunately he just missed out on qualification from his heat. A great experience, and we hope to see him back next year challenging for some championship pots.
Philip Doyle was competing in the inter single scull, and after comfortably qualifying for the semi-final he struggled in the incredibly challenging conditions and missed out on a place in the final, finishing fourth in his semi-final.
Rachel Brown produced a fantastic third place finish in the women’s club single scull. Considering the rowing boats have been her main training focus this year, this was a very impressive result in extremely challenging conditions, and something to build on next year.
The women’s club 8+ were in action on Sunday afternoon. They comfortably qualified for their final but the classy Portora crew proved to be too strong in the final and the crew finished in 4th place behind Portora, Trinity and NUIG.
The novice men split their winning 8+ into two coxed fours and also competed in the club 4+ category but despite impressive performances against strong and more experienced crews they just missed out on qualification from their heats.
The men’s 4+ completed a three piece set in for QUBBC as they finished just under a length ahead of UCD in second place to take home another championship pot in the club 4+, finishing in a very fast time of 6:28. Another fantastic result for a squad that was written off by many before these championships; however these guys always knew what they were capable of and the managed to produce the performances on the days when it counted and they now walk away with two Irish championship pots. There is plenty of excitement as to what this squad can do in the coming years, as it will be strengthened by the returning novices and hopefully some new recruits. The focus now will turn to bringing these guys up to senior level and chasing that senior championship win that has proved elusive in recent years.
A collection of photos from the championships will be uploaded on this blog in the next few days so look out for those.
A great finish to what has been a tough season for QUBBC and QUBLBC with three championship pots coming back to Belfast. The season is now complete for all but one of the Queen’s Rowers. Chris Beck will travel to Plovdiv, Bulgaria to compete in the U23 world championship in the Ireland lightweight coxless four; so keep an eye on this page as well as our Facebook page “Queen’s Rowing” for updates on how he is getting on.
Some well dissevered time off now for the rowers, but they will be back into training soon to begin the 2015-2016 campaign. Thank you for your unwavering support of Queen’s Rowing this year, and we will see you at the start of next season!