Irish IRC Race Reports
2010 Event Report
December 18th 2010 saw the hosting of the Rowing Ireland Indoor Championships in Dublin City University's Sports Centre, run by Rowing Ireland for the first time.
Weather conditions threatened the running of the event, but fortunately many areas avoided the heavy snowfall and the event went ahead with 361 of the 580 registered competitors making it to DCU to take on their indoor challenge.
A significant number of the entrants were from a 'non-rowing' background, something that didn't come as surprise to the event organisers. In the run up to the event, Rowing Ireland made a big push to contact gyms, rugby clubs and other fitness enthusiasts to promote the event. The number of entrants from varied disciplines is something Rowing Ireland look to build over future years of the event, promoting the awareness of the Rowing Ireland Indoor Championships and the sport of rowing as a whole.
What added another layer of interest to the event was the Rowing Ireland High Performance team, along with all the hopefuls who are attempting to be included in this elite group. The Rowing Ireland Indoor Championships acted as the first part of a series of assessments for those who hope to represent Ireland in the 2011 International season, which included the Olympic qualification regatta for senior athletes.
Competitors had an early start on the cold Saturday morning with the first of the day's races, the Women's Junior 13 3 minute event, starting at 9:15am. Every race during the day had an enormous level of excitement about it, enhanced by the great support given by spectators to all the competitors. A number of official Irish records were broken on the day - Michael Maher of Three Castles came in well below the required time for assessment athletes, pulling an Open Lightweight record of 6:17.0.
Sanita Puspure and Orla Hayes set reco'd times in the Women's Open and Open Lightweight events, clocking scores of 6:49.4 and 7:19.9 respectively. There was a similar story in the Under 23 women's category, with openweight, Lisa Dilleen, recording a time of 6:57.4 and UCD scholarship athlete, Claire Lambe, finishing in an impressive time of 7:16.8. Other records set on the day were in the Men's 40-49 Lightweight category, where Steepholme Pirates' Shawn Callaghan finished the 2,000 metre race in 6:40:5, and Sean Canning of Commercial Rowing Club pulled a record breaking 829 metres in 3 minutes.
The day's racing ran as smooth as anyone could have hoped, with thanks due to all the supportive volunteers, who gave their time to seeing that the 2010 Rowing Ireland Indoor Championships was a success. A particular acknowledgement must be made to Development Officer, Lisa Hayden, who took on the organisation of the event. Without Lisa's commitment of time, effort and enthusiasm, this event would not have been made possible.
Congratulations to all those who participated in the event and a big thanks to all those who supported the Rowing Ireland Indoor Championships in 2010. We're already looking forward to 2011!
A limited number of event T-Shirts, in black and white, are still available to buy for €10. Contact info@iaru.ie to buy yours!