For the first time this season, many of the top crews from across the island of Ireland will compete against each other, hosted on the Erne Head of the River course. In the morning, the women’s events will be held, followed by the men’s in the afternoon. Leading the field in that event is the men’s senior quad, which will race across the six kilometres of twists and turns, racing north towards the town of Enniskillen.
Queen’s University Belfast Boat Club
The only high-performance pathway club on the whole island, Queen’s University, Belfast, has been a hub of great rowers for some time, with a particularly strong group of scullers regularly competing with the best offerings from across the Irish Sea, winning championship medals at BUCS Regatta. Blessed with deep squads, the likely crew in this event contains members of the senior and U23 national teams, many of whom have won medals on the world stage. The match of almost any university quad in the world, they will be looking to show their dominance against home competition, following on from their victory in this event at the Irish championships in July.
University of Galway Boat Club
Two quads from the University of Galway are coming up against them in this category. The first race of the season for the squad from Connacht, they have not raced in the men’s senior quad since Cork Regatta in June, where they finished in a distant second to their rivals from Belfast, subsequently withdrawing from the national championships. This year, having two crews entered of senior standard suggests some increased depth within the squad out west, but it remains doubtful they will have the speed to upset a Belfast squad with reinforcements from the national team group.
Intermediate Quads
Outside the senior category, five crews are racing in the lower-status intermediate category behind them. Two of the boats in the entry represent the second and third-string groups from Queen’s University Belfast, but the other three come from the strong club racing scene on the Island. From Leinster, come Carlow Rowing Club and Neptune Rowing Club, with Galway Rowing Club from further west. This event was not competed for at the national championships, and Galway opted to race up in the senior division, missing the final. Neptune and Carlow did not race men’s quads on Taiscumar Reservoir but were represented elsewhere. Neptune raced in the intermediate fours, pairs and singles, while Carlow’s contingent came only from two scullers in the Club 2 singles.
Prediction
With the entire crew likely having a history of performing well in the emerald green, I would be shocked if anyone but Queen’s University Belfast ended up with the headship this weekend. It may even go as far as having their Intermediate crews finish second on the water – though watch out for some of the junior crews who have been very impressive in recent racing.
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