Image credit: BUCS Sport
Situated on the River Lagan in the heart of Belfast, Queen’s University Belfast Boat Club consists of both the men’s club (QUBBC) and the women’s club (QUBLBC). Despite them being two separate clubs, they both train out of the same boat house and under the same coaching team, clocking up the miles together on the four kilometre stretch of river. Both clubs have seen their membership steadily growing through both novice and experienced rower recruitment in recent years.
Early morning sessions are made easier as both the recently refurbished boathouse and gym are all a walking distance from where most students live. This is a rare find and is what many find appealing about the boat club in a university setting. A normal week of training consists of water sessions, S&C, full squad ergs and circuits. The Easter break then sees the squad head normally to Banyoles, Spain for their pre regatta season training camp, a week of solid training in the sun.
Head Coach, John Armstrong, has successfully coached the Irish Under 23 squad to multiple world medals in the past few years: with some of these coming from Queen’s athletes. Queen’s has three full time coaches – John Armstrong, Ryan Carney and Andy Purdy – and an army of volunteer coaches who come down to get the best out of their athletes. The boat club is also the only Rowing Ireland Pathway university meaning many high-performance athletes row out of the club and includes those looking at trialling for GB as well as Ireland.
Despite there being the Irish Sea it is no barrier; Queen’s regularly make trips to England for races. Most notably BUCS head, BUCS regatta, Henley Women’s and Henley Royal. They also compete at multiple races all over the island of Ireland meaning the athletes in the club get to compete against a whole host of difference universities and clubs building a depth of experience within the squad.
The past few seasons have seen many achievements including placing fourth in the BUCS regatta Victor Ludorum 2024, reaching the semi-final of the Prince of Wales challenge Cup at Henley Royal and boasting the most successful novice squad at BUCS regatta 2024.
The athletes at Queen’s are made up of both experienced junior rowers but also rowers who learnt to row at Queen’s, many of which the migrate up into the senior squad the next year. Over the past few years, the strength of the novice squad has been highlighted at BUCS head and BUCS regatta and has been the start of many successful rower’s journey.
Alumni include Olympic bronze medallist Phil Doyle, the Irish Olympic pair of Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan, GB rower Rebecca Edwards and their very own head coach John Armstrong who is also a lightweights world’s medallist.
Current women’s captain, Clara McClements says “At QUB rowing we are always aiming to improve our club cohesion. The welcoming club atmosphere helps everyone find enjoyment in the sport at any level. We value supportive friendships, encouraging each other to be better athletes and university students. Choosing to row at QUB has given me opportunities to learn new skills and grow as a person, as well as creating incredible memories.”
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