Rowing ace with Athlone links competing in World Championships
David Flynn
A member of a well-known family from Tormey Villas, Athlone is competing this week in Varese, Italy in the men’s double sculls of the U-23 World Rowing Championships.
Brian Colsh, who turned 20 years of age last week, is the grandson of Tom and Alice Colsh and has a history in international competition.
Last year, Brian competed at the U-23 World Rowing Championships as part of a 12-strong Ireland team in the Czech Republic. In 2020, he won a silver medal for Ireland at the European Junior Rowing Championships in Serbia.
Brian has been training on Lake Varese in Italy for the past couple of weeks and his first race was yesterday (July 26).
Brian and his teammate won their heat on Tuesday morning ahead of five other five countries to advance to the semi-finals, and Brian's semi-final race will be today (Wednesday).
Brian will compete in the men’s double sculls with his team-mate, Switzerland native, Konan Pazzaia who is studying in Queen's University, Belfast.
Brian, who is studying commerce at NUIG (University of Galway), will be hoping to make the final this coming Saturday, July 30. The race is on after 3pm, Irish time.
Brian is the son of Rosaleen and Tommy Colsh Jnr, who in the 1990s rowed with Athlone Boat Club and before that, Marist College, and he too represented Ireland in his younger days.
Tommy started rowing in the Marist College in 1985 and was trained in those days by Rory Clarke and Padraig Duncan, and then later by Sean Flynn. Tommy joined Athlone Boat Club afterwards and around 15 years ago when he moved with his family to Sligo, he met up again with Rory Clarke who was involved with Sligo Rowing Club.
“We all got involved there and Brian has been hanging around the club since he was around four years old,” said Tommy Colsh.
Brian has trained several times with Athlone Boat Club, while staying with his grandparents, Tom and Alice in Tormey Villas.
Tom and Alice are looking ahead to the week in rowing and are planning to have a projector set up with a large screen to view the races. The races can be streamed on www.worldrowing.com