QUB Rowing: Reflecting on a successful year and looking ahead to 2025 

As we approach the Christmas break, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on a remarkable year for QUB Rowing, update you on the current season, and share our plans for the upcoming months. 

Highlights from the 2023/24 Season 

The 2023/24 season has been one of our most successful to date, with numerous achievements across various competitions. Our athletes earned 23 BUCS medals, further solidifying our place as one of the top medal-winning universities. The women’s aspirational quad built on their BUCS head success by reaching the semi-finals at Henley Women’s Regatta (HWR) to follow Molly Curry’s semi-final in the championship single. At Henley Royal Regatta (HRR), our men’s club achieved a historic milestone, securing their first Saturday in many years and narrowly losing to Leander in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup, finishing less than a length behind the eventual winners. The National Championships saw our club win its first men’s Senior Championship in a big boat in some time and this was followed by another win in the men’s intermediate double. 

Internationally, two of our students and three alumni competed in Paris, including a bronze medal for Phillip Doyle. Meanwhile in Canada, Ciaran Purdy won Gold at the World U23 Championships, adding to his silver from 2022. 

Building on Success 

As with any successful year, the challenge lies in maintaining that level of achievement. This begins with recruiting new members for our intermediate and senior squads, while also retaining and developing last year’s beginners. We’ve made great strides in this area, with both the men’s and women’s clubs seeing record membership numbers. In October, we had 35 boats and 115 students on the water, including every eight in the boathouse. 

A Busy November 

November has been a particularly busy month for the club. Our crews raced to victory at the Lagan Autumn Head, where both the men’s and women’s boats posted the fastest times in their respective races. We hosted a round of the BUCS Indoor Championships with over 100 competitors. At Erne 4’s Head, we achieved the fastest men’s boat and second-fastest women’s boat, along with four class wins. Additionally, eight crews had planned to compete at the London 4’s Head before it’s cancellation due to conditions. Our annual dinner coming up on November 30th has been relocated to the Whitla Hall due to the clubs outgrowing other available venues at the University. 

Looking Ahead to 2025 

Between Christmas and Easter, our focus will be on two major events: BUCS Head and our pre-BUCS regatta training camp in Spain, along with Lagan Head. We plan to take over 60 students to both Newcastle for BUCS Head and our training camp in Banyoles, Spain. 

As we look towards the summer regatta season, we anticipate the largest-ever student entry for BUCS Regatta, with hopes of matching or exceeding our previous medal tally. After a break for exams, we’ll return with our social ‘Day at the River’ to coincide with the BRC Sprints, a great opportunity to connect with QUB Rowing friends and family at the boathouse. The season will then build towards key events like Henley Women’s Regatta, Henley Royal Regatta, and the Irish Championships, as well as racing at the London Metropolitan Regatta, Dublin Met Regatta, and Cork City Regatta. Both the men’s and women’s clubs are determined to improve on their 2024 semi-final performances at Henley. 

Some of our top athletes will also be in preparation for selection to the World U23 Championships in Poznan, Poland, and for a few, the World Championships in Shanghai, China. We are hopeful that our students will continue to add to the growing U23 medal tally for QUB athletes representing Ireland. 

Equipment and Resources 

With the growth of the club comes an increased demand for resources. We are fortunate to have a large and well-equipped boathouse, and we are deeply grateful for the support we receive from the University, donors, sponsors, and alumni. Over the past four years, we’ve added five new singles, four new pairs/doubles, and four new fours to our fleet, thanks to generous philanthropic donations and fundraising efforts. In 2025, we aim to add two new eights, as the current ones will be 11 and 13 years old. We’ve already made progress towards this goal with a fundraising drive, including a prize draw generously supported by Options IT, our main sponsor. While the University will make a significant contribution, we still need to raise £20,000 towards the £80,000 required to purchase the two new eights. We will be reaching out to all QUB Rowing alumni for support in the new year. 

Coaching Support 

We are fortunate to have three full-time staff coaches, along with a dedicated group of volunteers. However, the rapid growth of the clubs has placed increasing demand on our coaching resources. As our membership continues to rise, the amount of time available for individual coaching has decreased. We welcome anyone interested in assisting with coaching to reach out to Ryan or myself. 

Gratitude for Our Supporters 

As we head into 2025, we are grateful for the ongoing and increasing support of our main sponsor, Options IT, a global technology firm. Our partnership has been mutually beneficial, and we look forward to continuing to grow this relationship. 

Jess Knibbs sat down with John Armstrong to cover all things rowing at Queen’s 

Can you give us a quick rundown of who’s on the team and their roles? 

So, there’s me as head coach, Ryan who’s the Rowing Development Officer, Andy is our Junior Pathway Coach coordinator but does many other things as well, and then we have our volunteer group, with people from all backgrounds of rowing experience and careers. To help our novices, we also have a group of students who come down, including Luke, Jess, Holly and Nancy. There’s a big width of experience in this pool, and everyone gets mucked in when they can. We all have a clear understanding of what we are coaching and the technical model, so athletes aren’t getting mixed messages! 

What achievements are you most proud of over the past season? 

I’d say it’s difficult to pick 1, so I’ll pick out 3 – there are several that stand out for different reasons. I think being third in the medal table at BUCs Regetta was a big statement, which was a combined effort from the coaches and the students at all levels which is something to be proud of. On a personal level, I think the semi-final of HRR in the Men’s 4x and then a win at National Champs was a huge statement from the top end of the club, showing that Queens can compete at this high level, and they are both things that our support group have been waiting to see, so to see it happen after a lot of patience was brilliant. Then really personally was seeing Ciaran Purdy win the world championship and being there as his coach – I’ve known Ciaran for quite a long time and coached him for a long time, so to see him reach that pinnacle as his last year as an U23 was really special. 

What are you hoping to see from the club in the current season? 

I think there is always a challenge after having a relatively successful year, and that is repeating it. It’s very easy to think “This is just something that we do” and become complacent and expect the same thing to happen. I guess what underpins not allowing that to happen is setting out some fairly ambitious goals, even though the student population is transient – we only have people for 3 [years], 4 if we are lucky and very, very few more. We need to bring in new talent every year and doing that well is very important. We have done it very well this year, and we have new talent in our intermediate group, we have retained a lot of last year’s novice group, and we recruited big for this year’s beginner group. This is always an ambition, and we should always keep it as one. But if I had to pick out a couple of things that I’d love to see this year, it would be to see our intermediate women win medals, just to take that little step forward from where we are, and so we have that parody between the men’s and women’s squad. I think we have the possibility to send something to HRR and do something that the University hasn’t achieved before. If everything aligns, I certainly believe we can win another couple of National Championships. 

What’s the long-term vision for the club? 

I think I’d like a few things, one being to keep continuity and we keep building and building, and as we grow, we have to then adapt to those challenges that come with that growth. Boats wear more quickly, and coaching staff need to be continually supported and rewarded through this growth. I want to see us excel at a standard at all levels and keep pushing at the High-Performance element, as this is a pathway to more. I’d like to think people come to Queens because of this pathway, and we want to keep promoting being the best that you can be, keep developing talent and continue to develop the idea that hard work reaps results, and there is no shortcut to that. 

What changes have you seen at the club since your appointment in 2020? 

Bear in mind, when I came in, we locked down 2 weeks later and instead of a club, I had 17 scholarship athletes and no volunteer coaching allowed, so just myself and the RDO. We had an opportunity to create a system and a culture without any pressure due to Covid. We are now very much one club – or 2 clubs one system if you like. There is relatively little discussion over who rows what boats within reason; there would be no asking the Novice Women to row in Croob or the Senior Women in Aki Mac! There has also been a cultural shift, and people have said that Queens is now a happier place to be, and I hope that’s true. 

If you could sum up this coaching team in one word, what would it be and why? 

It’s fun. We have a laugh albeit with a serious undertone to it. If you don’t enjoy coming to work because it’s not a fun place to be then there’s no point. I have fun at least!