Offaly rowers claim gold medals in men"s junior 14

The Irish National Rowing Championships were held over three days at the National Rowing Centre on the River Lee outside Ballincollig, Co. Cork last weekend. Offaly Rowing Club competed in a large number of categories including junior women, junior, novice, intermediate, senior and masters men. Offaly Rowing Club had serious contenders in three events and came away with two gold medals in the men"s junior 14 single sculls. On the first day of racing, Offaly Rowing Club was represented in the men"s and women"s junior 14 quadruple sculls, men"s junior 18 quadruple sculls, men"s junior 14 and 16 single sculls and men"s intermediate sculls. The men"s junior 14 quadruple scull of Patrick Grogan, Cathal Phelan, Eric Conway, James Peters and cox Maurice Harnett finished fourth in their final. In the junior 18 quadruple scull, Cathal Phelan, Patrick Grogan, John Neale and Maurice Harnett put in a tremendous effort but narrowly missed out on qualification for the final. David McCabe represented the club in the intermediate category while Maurice Harnett and John Neale, competing in the men"s junior 16 single sculls, made it through the heats to the semi-finals with Maurice narrowly missing out on a place in the finals. There were two medal wins for Offaly Rowing Club in the junior 14 single scull for both Cathal Phelan and Patrick Grogan in the A and C finals. In the women"s category, Kaylin Moran, Aoife and Emily Hehir, Nicole Finlay and cox Rachel Byrne competed in the junior 14 quadruple sculls. Weather conditions on day one of the competitions were favourable for rowing. Day two saw the weather change dramatically with heavy rain and strong winds in the early afternoon. The morning session saw Peter Grogan and Maurice Harnett racing the men"s junior 18 single sculls. Maurice placed fourth in his heat while Peter Grogan qualified for the semi-finals in the fastest heat by far, but unfortunately did not make it to the final. Peter"s hopes were dashed when he hit a buoy in rough conditions a minute into the race, and fell in. He was just leading the race when this occurred. Other races scheduled for day two included the junior 14 women"s sculls and the junior 15 men"s sculls. Due to severe weather conditions however the single sculls had to be rescheduled for the following day. Although weather conditions for the final day were greatly improved on day two, the water remained quite choppy. The first race of the day for Offaly Rowing Club was the novice men"s single sculls of Maurice Harnett and John Neale. Maurice competed strongly but didn"t manage to make the finals and, unfortunately due to injury, John Neale was unable to finish the race. In a straight eight boat final, Peter Grogan finished fifth at senior level in the men"s open single scull. In the quadruple sculls category both a men"s and women"s junior 15 team represented the club. The men"s junior 15 quadruple scull of Patrick Grogan (substituted for the injured John Neale), Dermot Lynam, Jarleth Glynn, Aaron O"Neill and cox Leah Moran rowed very well in rough water. In the women"s junior 15 quadruple sculls, Rachel Byrne, Claire Mangan, Emily Hehir, Leah Moran and cox Kaylin Moran had an exciting race for third place with Carlow Rowing Club. For the first time in the history of Offaly Rowing Club, two masters rowers competed in the championship, namely Frank Durkin and Vincent Hussey. Based on age categories a start time allowance was provided for the older competitors. Frank Durkin from Offaly Rowing Club was the first to start with Vincent Hussey the last to start as the youngest competitor. Although weather on the last day of competitions had improved on day two the rough conditions lead to the cancellation of the women"s junior 14 and men"s junior 15 single sculls. In the men"s junior 15 single sculls Jarleth Glynn, Cathal Phelan, Patrick Grogan, James Peters and John Neale were unable to compete along with Claire Mangan, Nicole Finlay and Leah Moran in the women"s junior single scull. Most of the members of Offaly Rowing Club performed well at the National Championships, based on their experience and training. Cathal Phelan and Patrick Grogan completed a winning season with a number of good performances. The under 14, 15 and 16 boys raced with confidence and drive, and had no cause for disappointment. The under 14 girls performed well, as they have all season, and will be back next year with realistic hopes of leading the pack. Peter Grogan is preparing to go on to a training camp in Skibbereen in preparation for the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Vichy, France, where he will represent Ireland in the junior quadruple scull.