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Winners |
Arriving in good time on Friday for a paddle was turned into arriving in good time to rig and strap everything down. We returned to our hostel 30 minutes drive away which provided us with a bed and excellent self catering facilities.
As the wind had been howling most of the night I was confident that we would be discovering an extensive insurance job on arrival at the lake on Saturday morning, however the shielding nature of the bowl that the finish area sits in had kept all our boats where we left them.
Queens regatta is divided in to morning and afternoon divisions with heats and finals in all boat classes, being a Grand League event finalists are decided on time rather than top 3 from each heat. In the morning division UCC had 9 boats entered with the first off being Mark Stanton in the novice 1x. Mark won his heat and a place in the A final. Next off were a couple of pairs, one Senior and one Intermediate. The Senior pair was a composite with Old Bones, neither boat felt they had a strong heat and found themselves in the B and C final respectively. The Novices raced the 8 in the morning and won their heat by over a length setting themselves up with an opportunity to win some silverware in the A final later in the morning.
The morning's racing also featured some more scullers; John Griffin and David O'Leary racing as lightweights and Kevin racing at Intermediate. Kevin has been recovering from a couple of injuries so wasn't race fit but got stuck into the racing in his heat. David forgot that he was at the start of the race and so found himself surprised by the other boats departing rapidly. John got off to a good start and won his heat, in the process winning lightweight singles. UCCRC's first regatta win since I started with the college in August 2011.
The final two boats to race in the morning division were the Intermediate 4 which had clear water after 500m in their heat to gain another A final and the Women's Intermediate 2x which had a straight final with one other Intermediate 2x from Queens. Roisin and Niamh put considerable ground between themselves and the competition. The College's second win of the day but sadly this time no medals as apparently there has to be three or more boats.
Mark's A final was an excellent race with Mark and a novice from Sligo battling each other all the way down the track. Mark took the early lead to then be countered by the Sligo sculler, Mark came back but his opponent held on to win by a canvas. Great race, unfortunate to just miss out but undoubtedly a very useful and positive experience for Mark in only his second ever race.
The pairs and David had better rows in their finals with David winning his heat and proving that starting with everyone else is a good tactic. The Intermediate four took a clear lead over their Intermediate rivals but have some work to do to match the Senior competition. A good win and a good reminder of the ground to be covered.
In Novice 8's the UCC crew were surprised by the speed of Queens out of the blocks but got back in contention through the body of the race, pulling off a strong finish to win by a few feet. An excellent result and most importantly another useful racing experience.
UCC had 6 boats in the afternoon's racing starting with Padraic running from the stroke seat of the Intermediate 4 to jump into the senior 2x with Mark. They managed a decent heat to put themselves into the A final later in the day. The novice 8 then jumped into two coxed fours and won both their heats. The Intermediate women finished off the afternoon's heats in their singles. Niamh and Roisin having a good race for the line with Niamh coming out on top in her first ever sculling race. The A finals started with a surprise as Mark and Padraic beat a Queens/Skibberreen composite to win Senior Doubles and put Middleton rowing on the map... sadly the lack of a third boat meant no medals, but a satisfying result none the less. In Novice 4's the 'A' boat won by several lengths to round off a superb day for the UCCRC novices. The women then finished the day with some more confidence building racing in the singles.
In my first season at UCC the club didn't win a single event, at this regatta 6 events were won. A great start to the regatta season and deserved reward for a small group of very dedicated athletes. The squad now goes back into training in preparation for regattas in June and then Irish Champs in mid July.
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