St. Michael’s Head of the River finally heralds in racing in 2025. The 2-mile course is raced from Castleconnell to O’Brien’s Bridge, straddling the Limerick-Clare county border, with two key bends at the beginning. Coxwains will be ensuring they nail those bends to set their crews up for the regatta straight. There are five crews entered in the men’s eights categories.
University of Galway
The University of Galway A crew are the only senior crew entered and have fielded a very impressive collegiate crew. The crew is stroked by former St. Michael’s rower Cormac Benson, who will lead his crew down his former home stretch, where his local knowledge will no doubt aid in University of Galway’s effort to be the fastest crew next Saturday. Another notable crew member is Brian Colsh, the 2023 U23 world champion in the men’s double. The national training centre athletes have been given an opportunity to return to their clubs and colleges this year, being a post-Olympic year, and the University of Galway coaches will have been working hard to harness Colsh’s physicality into a sweep boat.
University of Galway also has two intermediate eights entered. Their A crew is almost entirely different from their intermediate 8 at the championships last year, which is not unusual for college crews. The remaining members are Michael Farrell and the coxswain Jamie Haddock. Both will be using their experience to ensure they stay ahead of their B crew.
Shandon Boat Club
Shandon Boat Club has also entered the intermediate category and faces a stiff challenge against a hungry young University of Galway crew. Shandon did not compete in any eights categories at the 2024 championships, so this race is the first step in a project to compete again in the big boat. The stern three, Oisin McGrath, Robert Butler, and Conor Butler, all raced in the intermediate coxed four at the championships last year. This first race of the year is a good opportunity for these athletes to put the disappointment of last year’s racing behind them and start a new and exciting project in the eight.
Shannon Rowing Club
The most local club to this race is Shannon Rowing Club, racing in the club category. This crew was well established last season, placing third in the club eight at the national championships. They start this season with intent to do even better this season. The crew is stroked by Conor Carmody, a seasoned rower with many years of experience under his belt. It is hard to believe, given how long Carmody has been around the Irish rowing circuit, that there is another rower in the boat with even more years of experience; Kenny McDonald sits in the three-seat, a man famous in this country for his ergometer records. The experience of these two as well as the rest of the crew will be advantageous to them in this race, and in the coming season.
Prediction
I expect the University of Galway senior crew to emerge as the fastest and I think it will be a relatively comfortable margin for them given some of the talent in this crew. The second fastest boat of the day is much harder to predict. The University of Galway intermediate A crew are an unknown entity, while the Shannon crew are well seasoned in this combination. The Shandon crew also have a solid foundation from last season built and will be determined to push on. These three crews should be contesting runner up closely. I believe the experience and cohesion of the Shannon crew will help them nudge in front, with University of Galway‘s intermediate crew beating Shandon for third position.
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