Rockett and O’Grady lead the way for Athlone with gold medals
Rowing: Athlone Boat Club News
Conditions in Cork at the recent National Rowing Championships proved extremely difficult. Wind and rain stalled the start and racing was assessed and monitored throughout the day due to the bad weather.
Athlone Boat Club entered one of their largest representation of women’s crews for a number of years. The club was delighted to enter two J16 quadruple sculls, three J16 double sculls and four J16 single sculls. Completing their entry at J16 level was the junior women’s 16 8+.
This year also saw entries in a J18 coxless quad, J18 double scull and a single sculler. This is indicative of the health and strong position of the club and the strength of their women’s crews.
The undisputed highlight for the club this year belongs to the girls this year. Sarah Rockett and Anna O’Grady put in the performance of the weekend to outclass the entire junior 16 double scull field - they got through a gruelling time trial process to secure the fastest qualifying time for the highly contested six-boat final and went through to secure the gold medal and first place on the podium.
The club couldn’t be prouder of these two girls who are without doubt aiming to put their mark on Irish junior women's rowing and hopefully follow in the footsteps of their male counterparts in the club with future selection for junior Irish squads a definite target for them.
Athlone’s junior women’s 16 eight put in a fantastic display of rowing qualifying for the final and being just pushed out of the medals with a fourth place finish in a very competitive final. Well done to J16 eight of Sarah Rockett, Anna O’Grady, Riona Cunningham, Ella Colsh, Cara Egan, Sophie Reynolds, Isabella Harrington, Andrea Doran, Jesse Bolger and cox Aisling Flanagan.
Sarah Rockett put on a classy display of single sculling, winning her heat in some of the most challenging rowing conditions in a very dominant fashion. This secured her a spot in the junior 16 1x final where she finished just outside the medals in fourth position out of 40 single scullers. An excellent result considering Sarah was competing as a junior 15 and will have the opportunity to contest this event again next year.
Well done to Anna O’Grady, Sophie Reynolds and Ella Colsh who also took part in the junior sculls and will no doubt build on their performance next season.
Aoife Hensey led the way for the club’s J18 entries, taking part in the junior 18 single sculls double sculls and in a J18 coxless quad.
Club PRO Padraig Hegarty stated: “On behalf of the club we would like to wish Aoife well and thank her for her commitment, hard work and dedication to Athlone Boat Club during her time with the club.”
The junior men also represented Athlone at the National Championships. Competing in time trials in sculls, double sculls and quadruple sculls, all athletes performed admirably with some producing exceptional times in their respective events.
In the Junior 16 sculling event, Aidan Molloy won his time trial heat, but unfortunately his time was not fast enough to earn him a place in the final. In the Junior 18 sculling event, Rian Claffey had an exceptional row in a strong head wind, winning his time trial heat, which placed him in 3rd position overall, sending him comfortably into the six-boat final.
In the final, the wind changed dramatically to a strong tail wind, which favoured the lighter oarsmen and Rian was narrowly pipped for a podium position coming home in 4th place. This was a fantastic performance by Rian who was recently selected to represent his country at the Coupe de La Jeunesse in Amsterdam.
This Junior squad, all of whom are eligible to compete at Junior 18 again next year, gained valuable racing experience at this year’s National Championships. Well done to Oisin Dolan, Rian Claffey, James Heaslip, Eoin Kane, Liam Rowan, Edward Cleary, Killian Collier, Adam Kenny, Aidan Molloy and George Whitarjans.
Athlone Boat Club president Paul Donovan congratulated former club rowers Donagh Claffey and Martin O'Grady who enjoyed success with Galway University. They won the intermediate double and were in the intermediate 8 and Senior 4x- that won.
Paul thanked all parents, coaches and volunteers who put in massive hours to keep the club moving forward. As the season draws to an end, all involved in the club look forward to a much needed rest and there is plenty of optimism for next season.
Paul also paid tribute to all at Rowing Ireland who put on a great event at the national championships even though the weather was not on their side.