2016 Irish University Championships
With the beginning of the regatta season Queen’s Rowing set out to Cork and the National Rowing Centre at Farran Wood. Both Men’s and Ladies squads from Novice to Senior were raring to go from winter training and a long HoRR season.
The first event was the Senior 2-. Representing Queens were David Roy and Brent Whiteside. Both oarsmen performed admirably in racing, facing off against a large contingent of clubs from Dublin and Galway but unfortunately being bested on the day.
The Senior 1X came next with both Philip Doyle and Christopher Beck challenging for the top prize. In some very tight racing Philip bested all other competitors to take the win with Christopher as usual showing he is no slouch on the water keeping Philip nervous in the final.
The Intermediate 8+ came next and once again all crew members maintaining their Lightweight standard of rowing. The crew (Bow-David Roy, 2-Patrick Martin, 3-Harry Mahoney, 4-Brent Whiteside, 5-Jason Armstrong, 6-Jordan Wilson, 7-Luke McCann, Stroke-Miles Taylor) headed by Cox- Carol Moorehead faced competition from Cork, Dublin and Galway but could not best N.U.I.G on the day. Again in the Club 8+ event there was an even larger contingency of competitors with N.U.I.G crossing the line first, however the Queen’s men did not shy away from the challenge to test their mettle again.
The Intermediate 2X saw Phillip Doyle again taking the seat teaming up with Christopher Beck to produce an excellent victory. The pair outclassed all competition to take the win for Queens and secure the first medal of the weekend.
The Intermediate 1X next had Ross Taylor competing against a large class of athletes some with much more racing experience than himself. Coupled with a turn in the weather Ross powered through the event and added a worthy feather to his cap.
The Club One 4+ (Bow- Jordan, 2-Jason, 3-Luke, Stroke- Miles, Cox- Carol) was won by U.C.C.R.C sadly pipping the Queen’s Men to the post.
The Novice 8+ event came next with with both Queen’s boats locking horns with clubs from Dublin, Galway and Limerick. With early victories in the HoRR season for Queen’s Novice Men this spurred on the Trinity, U.C.D and Limerick clubs to show what they could do. Ultimately Trinity won the day providing some food for thought for the Novice Squad who now eagerly look ahead to meeting them again in competition soon!
Empacher Novice 8+
Bow- Luke McAnespie, 2-Matthew Elliot, 3-Jack Owen Knight, 4- Patrick Holden, 5- Thomas Drummond, 6-Patrick Meenan, 7-Michael McNamee, Stroke- Johannes Lobinger, Cox- Bilal Korimbocus
Janousek Novice 8+
Bow- David Turner, 2-Fionnbharr Brady, 3-Ryan Smith, 4- Harry Webb, 5- Ciaran Foster, 6-Ilyas Bektasoglu, 7-Cesar Navarro Jimenez, Stroke- Niall Moore, Cox- Aaron Sloan.
The Novice 4X+ (Bow-Matthew Elliot, 2-Thomas Drummond, 3-Patrick Meenan, Stroke- Johannes Lobinger, Cox-Aaron Sloan) saw one of the largest fields of competition of the whole day but regardless the Queen’s Oarsmen dominated the field winning the event with their first regatta victory of the season.
Skibbereen Regatta
Following on from the first Regatta of the season at the Irish University Championships both clubs returned to the National Rowing Center the following day to compete at Skibbereen Regatta. With a weather warning coming through the decision was made to move the Sunday’s racing to the Saturday resulting in a very contested day of racing but only doubled up on the level of competitive racing for all to enjoy.
The first event was the Senior 4- (Bow-Jordan Wilson, 2-Jason Armstong, 3-Luke McCann, Stroke-Miles Taylor) which saw the Queen’s boys taking the first medal of the day against University of Cork and took the win displaying excellent pace and stamina off the line before moving away from their adversaries to take victory.
Next saw the Senior 2X of Philip Doyle and Tiernan Oliver taking to the water and once again the Senior scullers displaying their dominance against all competition taking the win for QUBBC.
‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire’. With the Senior 2X only just completed Philip was back into his Filippi Single to compete for a Senior 1X medal for the second in the weekend. Philip outclassed his competitors once again and took the top spot completing a hat trick of wins for him.
The Lightweight 1X saw both Ross Taylor and Christopher Beck return to the water in which Beck crossed the line first and taking the medal at Skibbereen.
The Club One 8+ was again a chance for the Queen’s Men to show their worth but after a sterling effort came close but not enough sadly loosing out to the Commercial crew. (Bow-David Roy, 2-Patrick Martin, 3-Harry Mahoney, 4-Brent Whiteside, 5-Jason Armstrong, 6-Jordan Wilson, 7-Luke McCann, Stroke-Miles Taylor, Cox- Carol Moorehead)
Next was the Club One 4+ (Bow- Jordan Wilson, 2-Jason Armstrong, 3-Luke McCann, Stroke- Miles Taylor, Cox- Carol Moorehead). After having to accept second best the previous day to the University of Cork the previous day the crew focused their sights on evening the score in the ranks. A high rate start with some excellent calls from cox Carol saw the Men get the win they richly deserved!
Following on from the success of the morning the wins kept on coming in the afternoon. In the Club One 4X- only victory would do (Bow-David Roy, 3-Patrick Martin, 2-Harry Mahoney, Stroke-Brent Whiteside) and that’s exactly what they delivered leaving everything on the water and taking the win.
Again another win came in the Club 2- with Brent Whiteside in the bow seat and David Roy at stroke.
Later that day the Club Two 1X had not one but 3 Queen’s oarsmen competing against each other, Patrick Martin, Ryan Urquhart and Ross Taylor producing not only close competition racing but also some great inter-club rivalry for the rest of the squad to cheer on.
Skibbereen Regatta again saw the Men’s Novice 8+ crews go head to head with each other and even though the weather had worsened since the previous day coupled with a challenging wind the QUB Novices took to the water to try and oust Trinity from the top spot. With all their effort in what was a very tough race they unfortunately lost out to their rivals providing some good racing experience and food for thought as they return to training.
Finally the Novice 4X+ threw their hats into the ring for one last time in and once again pushed until they had nothing else to give. They pushed off the start and left the competition behind before charging for the line and taking the winning position.
(Bow-Jack-Owen Knight, 2-Patrick Holden, 3-Michael McNamee, Stroke- Luke McAnespie, Cox-Bilal Korimbocus).
All in all Queen’s Men experienced an excellent weekend of racing. The men have identified both their strengths and weaknesses to which they can polish and hone their race strategies for BUCS Regatta in the first week of May. Also, a few more photographs of the action at Cork over the weekend;
QUBLBC Newsletter
On the 7th of April, Queen’s ladies traveled the lengthy journey to Cork to begin a heavy racing weekend at University Championships and Skibbereen Regatta. Thankfully, it was well worth the journey. QUBLBC saw the rewards of a hard winter’s training, and came home feeling happy with what they had achieved.
QUBLBC wins included: Women’s Club 8+ Women’s Inter 4+ The Ladies Club 8+ raced twice on the Friday, only coming second in a more senior category by 2ft. Our novices enjoyed their first regatta experience, and came away from the championships with a 3rd in their Novice 8+.
Due to bad weather conditions, Skibbereen Regatta was cancelled on Sunday, but went ahead on the Saturday. All of Sunday’s races were therefore raced on Saturday. QUBLBC wins included: Club 8+ Club 4+ Club 2 1x. As a whole, the weekend gave the ladies club a real confidence boost, and feelings of excitement and motivation for the upcoming regatta season.
