Our Lady’s Bower rowers, winners at the Schools Regatta, from left: Kristen So, Muireann Kenny, Aoife Keane (cox), Laoise Claffey and Felicity Heaslip.

Success on the double for Athlone rowers in Limerick

Published: Tue 7 May 2024, 4:37 PM

Last updated: Tue 7 May 2024, 4:41 PM

Athlone Boat Club members were back in action at both the Limerick Regatta and Limerick Schools Regatta recently. As always, the club was represented in massive numbers with entries at all junior levels competing and representing the town.

The number of junior rowers at the club is ever increasing in recent years and this racing season is set to be a good one for the club with long months of hard training both indoor and outdoor over the winter months.

The club had a large number of rowers and crews last Saturday week but the only winning crew was that of the WJ14 4x+ who ran away in the final winning by clear water, defeating Presentation Kilkenny who came second, followed by Athlone Community College in third and CRCC from Cork at the regatta.

The club had a number of standout performances on the Saturday and all rowers can be very proud of their performances on the day.

At the schools regatta on the Sunday first up were the two Marist under 23 doubles - Marist 'A': Rian Claffey, Zach Meegan; and Marist 'B': Oisín Dolan, Adam Kenny. The two crews were drawn in the same heat in lanes two and one respectively with Ard Scoil Limerick and Gaelcholáiste Limerick. Marist B led the race out of the start but began to slow towards the 600m mark where Marist A passed them for the lead of the race and went on to win in a time of 4:54.9 leading a Marist one-two. Both Marist crews made the cut for the final with times good enough for first and third seeding.

Both crews improved in the final and in the end it was Marist A that took the win from St Brendan's A (2nd), Marist B (3rd), and St Brendan's B (4th).

The Marist under 23 coxless quad - Adam Kenny (bow), Rian Claffey (2), Richard Heaslip (3), and Zach Meegan (stroke) headed out for their heat against St Brendan's B, Colaiste Iognáid, and CBS New Ross. The boys in blue finished strongy setting down a firm benchmark winning by over 40 seconds in front of the second place crew, St Brendan's B, with a time of 4:34.0.

In the final they lined up beside the favourites and highly rated Ard Scoil from Limerick, while St Brendan's A and B rounded out the field. The Marist boys led right from the buzzer locked in an exhilarating battle with the favourites for the lead. Ard Scoil made an attempt to claw their way passed the Marist crew at the 750m mark, but the Marist were unfazed and only pulled even more metres on them as they reached the finish line three seconds ahead between them and the favourites as Marist were crowned schools U23 quad champions for 2024.

The Our Lady's Bower girls were too powerful for the opposition finishing 13 seconds ahead of Presentation Kilkenny in second and local rivals Athlone Community College further back in third, with CRCC in fourth.

This is a fabulous achievement for the Bower girls considering three of the crew, Felicity Heaslip, Laoise Claffey and Muireann Kenny are WJ13 and underage again next year.

Four of the crew, Felicity, Laoise, Muireann and cox Aoife Keane were in the winning WJ14 crew with Lauren Cunningham the day before at the Limerick regatta, defeating St Joseph’s from Galway, Shannon from Limerick and Offaly.

This is their first regatta of the season and bodes well for the season. Earlier in the year at the national indoor championships, the girls demonstrated their power by dominating the WJ13 indoor events.

Pictured, L to R: Zach Meegan, Richard Heaslip, Rian Claffey and Adam Kenny.

Finally, Sarah Rockett came out on top of the 24 Junior 16 single scullers. The highly competitive field was narrowed down with six heats of time trials with the fastest four scullers progressing to the final . The final saw Sarah executed an excellent race and led from the start to secure the win.