Athlone masters and young guns impress in Newry

This year's Newry 5km rowing race was recently held on the beautiful Newry Canal and the Athlone Boat Club masters were represented by Niall Coghill, Emmet Cronin and Paul Gallen. In the morning session all three competed in their single sculls.

The winter training is going well for Athlone Boat Club and it was reflected in the performances as they competed against masters scullers from City of Derry, Belfast Boat Club and Lagan Scullers. Gallen was the winner on day, with Gaetano D'Urso from City of Derry in second place.

Coghill and Cronin joined up for double sculls in the afternoon session with Gallen and Gerry Murphy from Portora Boat Club also in the race. The wind had picked up which made the going tough.

The Athlone pairing of Coghill and Cronin had an excellent row considering it was their first competitive row together. But the combination of Murphy and Gallen proved too strong for the rest of the field with D'Urso & Kenna from City of Derry taking second place.

Competing in the the Junior men's section were the Junior 18 four of James Heaslip, Rian Claffey, Aidan Molloy and Adam Kenny. Aidan Molloy and Adam Kenny took part in the J18 2x, and Rian Claffey competed in the J18 Scull.

The J18 4x crew were placed 2nd in a time of 17:26, 32 seconds behind Methodist College A. The J18 2x powered home to win their event in a time of 19:11, beating Coleraine Grammar School by four seconds with Portadown in third place.

Rian Claffey also put in an exceptionally strong performance when winning the J18 scull event in a time of 19:57, 30 seconds ahead of Newry with Neptune placed third.