We hope to carry this momentum into the weekend with Erne HORR on Saturday 4^th March. Between the clubs, there will be a big Queen’s presence, with 73 athletes competing. We are also looking forward to Lagan Head on the 18^th March and onwards.

On the 18^th February, members of both clubs competed in The Lagan Scullers Head against 156 other crews. Congratulations to Philip Doyle for recording the fastest time in Race 1 (12.10.4) to win Men’s Senior 1x. The women’s senior quad completed race 3 in a time of 13.09.7, cementing themselves as the fastest women’s crew of the day. Congratulations to Emily Romeril, Samantha Gallaher, Francesca Morelli, and Ella Brogan for a fantastic result!

At the Rowing Ireland trials in Cork on 23^rd February, Chris Beck finished 3^rd with a time of 23:49 not far behind Olympic medallists Paul and Gary O’Donovan. Encouraging results also came from Sam McKeown and Miles Taylor, both of whom have been invited to the March Trial along with Chris and Tiernan Oliver, who sat out the last trial due to injury.

These promising early season results bode well for the upcoming regatta season. Our intermediate and senior athletes are travelling to Banyoles for our Easter training camp with club development officer Trevor McKnight, an upgrade from rainy Leitrim! This 8-day camp is planned with BUCS regatta in mind where we hope to turn promising early season results into regatta speed.

Our novices will have their own training camp at the National Rowing Centre in Cork where, they have been promised, it never rains!

For those of you who do not contribute in other ways, we would ask that you consider making a small donation to assist with the fundraising to enable the transport of our boats to Banyoles.  We have set up a crowd funding page at https://www.gofundme.com/queens-rowing-banyoles-2017.

The Lady Victoria Winter Dinner was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the 3^rd February and was attended by a large contingent of current rowers.  The night was a terrific success and in particular over £1500 was raised by LVBC to help with Queens Rowing.  The guest speaker was Neil Weir who formerly rowed for Queens and now works in the Estates Department of QUB.  His tales of endurance running in extreme conditions and his successes in that regard were a particular inspiration to all the athletes present who will doubtless have gained inspiration to help on those cold winter mornings when the alarm goes off at 5.45am!

We wish to thank everyone for your continued support. We couldn’t have achieved so much already without the help of all those involved in Queen’s Rowing.

Yours in Rowing,

Laura Potts and Bilal Korimbocus

The training camp was also a great chance for everyone to welcome Trevor McKnight, our new Club Development Officer, back to Queen’s Rowing. Trevor rowed for QUBBC whilst studying at Queen’s and was part of the Men’s 8 that represented Great Britain at the European University Championships in 2010. As he has returned to Belfast after over a season of coaching at the University of York, his experience and expertise is priceless and we look forward to the year ahead under his guidance. Mick Desmond continues his work at the club as the High Performance Coach.

Queen’s University Belfast came third in the UK at the BUCS Indoor Rowing Championship 2016-2017, claiming two gold medals and two bronze medals. Sam McKeown came joint first in the Men’s Championship 2km, with a time of 5:59.0, and Philip Doyle came third, with a time of 6:01.5. Tiernan Oliver scored an impressive time of 6:06.6. In the Men’s Lightweight Championship 2km, Ewan Murray scored a time of 6:26.4 and Jordan Wilson a time of 6:31.0. These are extremely positive results, as all of the aforementioned competitors scored within the top 10 for their respective categories! 

We also saw some very impressive results for both the Women’s and the Men’s Novice 1km, with competitors achieving times within the top 10 of their categories. In the Men’s Novice 1km Fergus Gordon came third with a time of 3:00.4, Lorcan Oliver finished with 3:02.7 and Denis O’Dwyer with 3:05.0. Elle McMaster came eighth for the Women’s Novice 1km with a time of 3:39.3. These results are extremely promising for the year ahead.

On Saturday 21st January 2017, Sam McKeown broke the Irish Record at the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships, University of Limerick. Massive congratulations are in order for his amazing 2km result, a sub six minute time of 5:55.

We would like to extend an enormous thank you to Lady Victoria Boat Club for donating a new coaching launch to Queen’s Rowing. Lady Victoria will be hosting their annual winter dinner on the 3rd February at the Crowne Plaza Belfast where Neill Wier, a former QUBBC rower, globe-trotting cyclist, runner and hiker, is set to be the guest speaker. This event is open to all rowers, past and present. Tickets are available via the Queen’s Rowing website.

The clubs are now building towards the final head races of the season: BUCS 4s and 8s Head in Newcastle, Erne Head and Lagan Head. All squads are grafting hard and making the most of their time on the water. We would like to thank everyone for their support throughout 2016, and we hope we can do you all proud in the year to come. 

Yours in rowing,

Laura Potts and Bilal Korimbocus

On the last Saturday in October, there was a small head event on the Lagan for local crews with both novice and intermediate crews competing. However, our first main race was Bann Head on the 12^th November 2016. QUBBC managed to secure some promising results with a win for the Intermediate Men’s 8+, finishing 1 minute 20 seconds before second place and being the fastest crew on the river on the day. The Intermediate Ladies 8+ also finished first, a notable 18 seconds ahead of Trinity and they were also awarded a “Fastest Women’s Crew” pennant for the Intermediate 4-. At the BUCS indoor event, both clubs saw PB’s left, right and centre, with some of the most impressive erg scores we’ve had in years. This is a great start to the year and may the improvements continue into regatta season. As our very own Emily Jordan would say, ‘winter miles make summer smiles’.

Novice Ladies at Bann Head

Ladies Dinner 2016

Phil Costen at Men’s Dinner 2016

Festive Head 2016

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Queen’s Rowing!

Yours in rowing,

Bilal
– PR and Fundraising Manager (bkorimbocus01@qub.ac.uk)

Laura
– PR Manager (lpotts03@qub.ac.uk)

Sam McKeown, he had a very good weekend. He was third overall in a time of 23.57 behind Mark O Donovan (23.53) and Shane O Driscoll (23.57) who were both the Senior World Championship in Rotterdam in August last. Sam was also ahead of Olympic silver medalist Garry O’Donovan (24.09). Tiernan finished 6^th in a time of 24.17. The only one that was missing from that field was Paul O Donovan. It showed significant progress by Sam and Tiernan in the single sculls.

Tiernan and Sam combined on Sunday the race the same distance in the double sculls. They won this race in impressive fashion ahead of a combination of Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan. Calculating their performance in GMT % they scored 81.7%, second overall to Sanita Puspure (83.9%) and ahead of Shane and Mark (81.3%). The first and third boats have consistently been top performers for Rowing Ireland last season. The only other boat ahead of these are the men’s double scull of Paul and Garry O’Donovan. This result put the QUB rowers well up the rankings with Rowing Ireland so far this season. They can now look forward to training with Garry and Paul in Seville in January with confidence.

Some even more impressive results came from our Academy rowers Ewan Murray, Miles Taylor and Jordan Wilson. On Saturday Ewan Murray finished third in the lightweight u23 single sculls in a time of 24.44 behind Fintan McCarthy (24.22) and Colm Hennessy (24.41) both of whom were in the lightweight u23 quad at last year’s world championships where they missed out on a medal. He was ahead of others that made up that crew. Miles Taylor and Jordan Wilson finished 9^th and 10^th in the same race finishing ahead of rowers that competed at the World University Championships. This is good work from Jordan Wilson considering that he took up sculling in August this year. Both guys were just inside our cut off point on the ergs for Academy last year and since then they have worked hard and made big improvements in their physiology which has shown up on PB’s on the ergs and excellent results on the water. They raced in composite double sculls on Sunday over 6k and Ewan came out as the winning u23 double, with Jordan third and Miles fourth.

There is a lot of good work done by the rowers to date, along with the support of Queen’s Sport, Mike, Hugh and Pertina and thus we have reasonable prospects for the season ahead.

Hello,

This year at Queen’s Rowing we have two new PR Officers, Bilal Korimbocus and Laura Potts. We would just like to take a moment to introduce ourselves. Bilal is a second year Medical student at Queen’s University Belfast. Last year, he was the novice cox for the men’s cub. This year he has chosen not to participate competitively, but instead has taken up the roles of public relations manager and fundraising manager for the club. Laura is a Mechanical Engineering student, who began rowing as a novice last year, and is continuing her rowing career as an inter. We are hoping to publish a monthly update on recent news on what is happening at the club and try to strengthen the relations between present and past rowers as well as updates on key events.

This year, recruitment has been a huge success with rowers from both clubs representing rowing at the fresher’s fair on Thursday the 29th September. Additionally, Chris Rice, was walked up to the Lanyon Building, serving well to catch the eyes of unsuspecting potential recruits. This was a great opportunity to show off our new equipment and pay honour to the late Chris Rice. By the end of fresher’s week, the men’s and women’s clubs had over 600 email addresses of interested students in total. The following week these students were invited down to the boathouse, on either the Wednesday afternoon or Saturday morning, to have a chance at being in a boat and learning the skill. These days were a huge success with six boats on the water and over 48 novice’s trying out rowing for the men’s squad on day one, and seven boats for the ladies. Circuits and ergs at the PEC have started and there has been an overwhelmingly positive response by the novices in participating and bonding as a crew. Upcoming events for the novices includes the micro head on 5th November and BANN head on the 12th November and the Trinity sprints.

Ladies Captain, Victoria Coulter, putting the novices through their paces from a new perspective.

Meanwhile the intermediates have been training since the beginning of September. There are currently 14 inter men, and the main aim of training at the moment has been focused on producing a competitive eight and four. The women’s intermediate squad currently stands strong at 20 members who are currently training in small boats. Both clubs are also enriching their training with core, ergs, cardio, and weight sessions twice a day, 6 days a week. Upcoming events for the intermediates include BANN head, BUCS indoors on the 27th November. 

We are also excited to announce that the following student took part in high performance trials in Cork over the weekend of 08/10/16: Chris Beck, Phil Doyle, Sam McKeown, Gavin O’Dwyre, Ewan Murray, Miles Taylor and Jordan Wilson. The results of the weekend included the single sculls where Chris Beck made the A final and placed 6th overall and Sam McKeown making the B final and placing 2nd (8th overall) for the men. Gavin O’Dwyre, Ewan Murray and Jordan Wilson also competed and won their respective finals while Miles Taylor managed to come an impressive 3rd place in his final. Also, we sent two male quads and managed to secure both 2nd and 5th place. Meanwhile for the women’s club Olivia Blundell, Roisin Maguire, and Siofra Corr with recent graduate Bekki Davison, all competed as well. Olivia won the A final of the women’s quad, and placed an impressive 5th overall in the single scull. Roisin qualified for and won the C final in her single, and Siofra and Bekki placed 6th overall in the A final for their pair. It was a hugely successful weekend for the club with exceptional performances, and we are exceptionally proud of all students that have competed.

In the next newsletter. We hope to update you on the novice boats and how the club fared at Bann Head on the 12th of November, and also the mini-head on the 5th. If you have any questions or would like to know more, please feel free to contact either of us and we will be happy to answer any queries.

Yours in rowing,

Bilal

– PR and Fundraising Manager (bkorimbocus01@qub.ac.uk)

Laura

– PR Manager (lpotts03@qub.ac.uk)

Patrick Martin – Men’s Club Captain

Hello fellow QUBBC alumni past, present and indeed future, for the 2016/17 season I am Patrick Martin and I am privileged to call myself Captain.

Blonde hair and lightweight it now seems QUBBC definitely has a type when it comes to Captains over subsequent years. Personally I hope this is not where the similarities end, over my time at Queen’s I have observed great passion and leadership from those who have held the position before I, from the determination and sheer drive of Luke McCann to the encouragement, example and understanding shown by Jason Armstrong, I strive to live up to this standard.

I want to take this opportunity to say Thank You to all of those who have given me the opportunity to row as part of this great rowing club. First and foremost thank you to all of the past alumni of the boat club and to the guidance and support demonstrated by Lady Victoria Boat Club. It is far too easy for us at times to take for granted the opportunities we have been provided due to the sacrifices of our elders, I feel especially grateful given the recent passing of Paddy Kemp. A man I never had the privilege to meet, however had it not been for the efforts of those such as himself and in fact the very boat that bears his name, I might not be rowing today. Joining QUBBC in the Autumn of 2014, I definitely wasn’t what a coach might look for in terms of the ideal rower, re-joining team sports after a yearlong recovery following a broken femur, average height and build, as well as lacking the drive, commitment and fitness it takes to survive in this unforgiving sport. It quickly became clear that I wouldn’t make the cut for the top 8+ and in order to survive Michael Quinn and I would need to adapt to our surroundings and realise that two oars can be just as good as one, to do so there for only one boat for the job, the Paddy Kemp.

My second Thank You is to the coaches and mentors that welcomed me as a novice, who couldn’t tell the difference between stroke side and bow, let alone scull and sweep. It is a sport that has always fascinated me, being a past student of Loreto College Coleraine I was always somewhat jealous of the surrounding schools having boat houses giving them unfettered access to the open water of the River Bann. I now take this opportunity to thank Phil Costen, Brian Murray and the late Chris Rice, you have helped develop me as a rower, focus me as a student and shaped me as man.

My final word of thanks goes out to my Vice-Captain David Roy, never short of words of encouragement or a smile on his face even during a 2K test. David kept me company in the bows of both an eight and a quad last year and he is equally as competent at steering a boat as well as a club, I can think of no better an individual to share the role of Captain with this year.

That’s enough about me! Let’s move on to the upcoming season, I could list the wins of the club from the previous season and tell you that we did indeed medal in many events in both the Irish and British circuits, from novice level to elite, but I don’t really think I need to. I am so proud of our club, if I have learned anything in the last 12 months it is that when we face a challenge we come together and overcome it as a team, that’s pretty hard in a sport like rowing were to the naked eye passion and ego might seem bigger than club spirit at times. As we progress and grow in strength and numbers year on year it is so encouraging to see the level of sportsmanship within our club thrive within our club.

We have started the year with a healthy supply of rowers who are anything, but short on drive and determination. We begin our year by sending athletes to London and Bann Head within the next few weeks and Winter training is well underway. I am very pleased to welcome back this year Paddy Doherty, Stephen Lockwood, Mark McMullan and James Cook who are assisting Tom Drummond and Paddy Holden with our fresh wave of novice men. In addition we welcome Ronald Walker as lead coach to our inter men squad and Mick Desmond as lead coach to our Elite and academy lads.

With a new development officer role to be filled shortly, watch this space! QUBBC are primed and rearing to fire off the start line this season, I am excited at the limitless potential this club possesses and hope to be see you all at the Annual Men’s Dinner on Saturday 3^rd December. If you would like to get in touch in the interim, my details are listed below.

Patrick Martin
QUBBC Captain

Victoria Coulter – Women’s Club Captain

Hello, my name is Victoria Coulter and I am Captain of Queen’s Ladies Boat Club for the 2016/2017 season.  I am twenty-one years old and I recently graduated from Queen’s with a degree in English Literature and have just started a Masters in Marketing.

I joined Queen’s Rowing four years ago as a first-year student with no previous rowing experience.  I simply joined because my friend was going and she encouraged me to go with her.  I remember my first Saturday as I was placed on an erg and told that “I had no core” followed by standing in the foot well to climb into the boat and being completely confused at the coach’s explanation of “feathered” and “square” blades.  However, despite all of this, from that first water session with novice coach Andy Wells I was hooked and enjoyed the fact that friends and family were convinced I wouldn’t stick it out.  Initially I was far from the best, with an interesting technique, very sore hands and a lack of fitness but one thing I have always had is a competitive spirit which was enough to keep me coming back to training.   Unlike the state of my hands, my technique and fitness have improved over the years and my love of the sport has also increased.

As much as I love training, pushing myself to my limits and ultimately – winning, I also love the people at Queen’s Rowing.  Rowing is unlike any sporting team I have ever been a part of; partly because of the number of hours you dedicate to it but also because of the bond you form with your team mates.  Through rowing I have met many different people and have made friends for life, counting the girls in my squad as my second family. My motivation to train hard and to win is as much for them as it is for myself.

After the recent success of Ireland and Great Britain’s rowing teams at the Rio Olympics we are expecting hundreds of freshers to sign up and come through the doors of Queen’s Boathouse.  The novice women are back under the care of experienced coach Andy Wells and his team of helpers and we are hopeful that this year we can reclaim the Novice 8+ Irish Championship title in July.  The intermediate women had a successful season last year but despite all the hard work we disappointingly fell short at the end of the season.  However, with this in mind our twenty-three-strong squad are more motivated than ever to win from the start to the end of the season and are confident we will do so with the help of our coach Stuart Kelly.

This year we intend to send the whole Ladies Club to local events such as Bann Head, Lagan Head, Queen’s Regatta and the Boat Race.  We will also send crews to Skibeereen Regatta, Cork Regatta and Irish Championships and hope to travel a little further afield to BUCs Head, BUCs Regatta and Henley Women’s.  When we go to these events we proudly represent the University and Queen’s Rowing and will try our best to do as well as possible.

As the Ladies Captain I intend to lead by example of work ethic and performance and hope to lead the club to many victories over the long season.  However, I am aware that club success is not possible without the help of our coaches, the support from Lady Victoria Boat Club and of course, the rowers themselves.  I cannot recommend joining Queen’s Rowing enough – and this year promises to be very exciting.

Victoria Coulter
QUBLBC Captain

Email: rowing@qub.ac.uk
Tel: 07842751552

Last month not only saw the start to our Regatta Campaign but also something very personal to Queen’s Rowing. With the loss of Chris last year to a tragic car accident many club members, supporters and coaches wished to do do something to honor his memory.

The decision was finally made that the Men’s Club Filippi 4+ would have the privilege of carrying his name. This particular boat is one of most prized in the entire fleet at Queens. A 2011 hull that has seen many National Medal wins as well as success at both the British University College Sport Championships and Irish National Championships.

Chris himself trained and competed in this boat as well as winning the Novice 4X+ event at the 2014 University Boat Race in his first year at the club alongside Oliver Graham, John Vincent, Phillip Doyle and (Cox) Peter Ramsey.

After a small presentation and a toast the crowd watched as the Intermediate Lightweight 4+ took to the water for a ceremonial row past by David Roy, Luke McCann, Jason Armstrong, Miles Taylor and Carol Moorehead. It was a very fitting sight to see Chris’s name on a boat as respected as this and we could think of no better tribute to someone who devoted so much of his time to Queen’s Rowing as an Athlete, Coach, Novice Manager, Mentor, Committee Member and Friend.

International Ghent May Regatta, Belgium

As the rest of Queens compete at the Queen’s Regatta this weekend in Castlwellan Forest Park, two of our Elite Athletes traveled to Belgium to compete in the International Ghent Regatta on the G. Nachez Course.  Both Tiernan Oliver and Christopher Beck made the journey earlier in the week to compete against some of the toughest European competitors in the sport with many athletes having represented their Universities at U23 level as well as their respectable nations of origin.

Heats

With the competition in full swing  both athletes took to the water to test their mettle in the LM 1X and the  M 2X. 

First up was Chris Beck who rowed a time of 7.52.97 in the Lightweight 1X placing 1st in his heat.

Chris and Tiernan then took to the M 2X in which they rowed a time of 7.16.78 placing them 3rd in their heat.

Finals

With the recent success at BUCS for the Queens Senior 2X there were high hopes for more success in Belgium. Unfortunately Phillip Doyle was unable to race due to sickness which meant that Christopher Beck joined Tiernan Oliver racing hard and placing respectively against the rest of the field.

Christopher placed 3rd in Lightweight 1X with a time of 7.41.70 just behind Mattias Johannson who is a former Swedish Junior World Champion and first place to German  John Urspung.

A big congratulations to both athletes journeying to represent their University and to Christopher on bring home a Bronze medal for QUBBC. Bravo!

(Credit to Tiernan Oliver & John Armstrong for photographs)

Last weekend saw Queen’s University Belfast travelling to the British Universities & Colleges Sport Regatta in Nottingham.   

Following on from the first two regattas of the year at the Irish University Championships and Skibbereen Regatta in Cork during April, the Men’s Squad had set their sights on Nottingham.

Results & Medals 

The first success came from the Beginner 4X- comprising of Luke McAnespie at Stroke, Michael McNamee at 3, Patrick Holden at 2 and Jack Knight at Bow. The Beginner men displayed great nerve and conviction to go against a club such as Reading  and emerge with a 2nd place posting a time of 07:59.16  

Next we saw the Lightweight 4- of Miles Taylor stroking with last years Captain Luke McCann and the current Captain, Jason Armstrong making up the middle pair of the crew (3 and 2 respectively) with Jordan Wilson in the bow seat. The crew has been together for the majority of the season and the time invested in training shined through in their Bronze medal against Nottingham and Newcastle posting a time of 07:04.43   

The success kept coming for Queens with Phillip Doyle clinching a Silver medal in the Championship 1X, a mere 4.14 seconds behind Sam Twine from Reading who is the current U23 British Indoor Rowing Champion. 

The following day Phillip Doyle returned with double scull partner Tiernan Oliver to compete in the Championship 2X in which they dominated the course winning gold with a time of 08:03.16. A fantastic achievement for both oarsmen that has come about from rigorous dedication  all year.

Returning to the big boats, the Intermediate Men took part in the Lightweight 8+

Lead by Cox- Carol Moorehead the crew of Stroke-Miles Taylor, Seven- Luke McCann, Six- Jordan Wilson, Five- Jason Armstrong, Four- Brent Whiteside, Three- Harry Mahoney, Two- Patrick Martin, Bow- David Roy took to the water and faced off against Exeter, Cambridge and Newcastle. In what can only be described as stern competition (no pun intended) the Queen’s Men placed 3rd with a time of 7:11.94 against crews from three of the largest rowing universities in Britain  with 2nd place going to the official Cambridge Lightweight 8+ and 1st place going to Newcastle who were the overall winners at BUCS. 

In a great performance by Michael McNamee who only joined Queen’s Rowing in October of last year managed to place 3rd in the Beginner 1X A Final posting a time of 8:57.57.

The emphasis on Novice/Beginner sculling has always held a special importance at QUBBC and has been greatly emphasized by Novice Coaches; Dr Patrick Doherty, Mark McMullan and Novice Head Coach Dr Phil Costen this year. The weekend also saw Ciaran Foster placing 6th in the Beginner 1X B Final with a time of 9:59.32 and is pictured below on the left.    

Moving to the Men’s Beginner 4+ QUBBC placed 1st in the D Final from Cox- Bilal Korimbocus, Bow-Thomas Drummond, Two-Patrick Meenan, Three-Matthew Elliot, Stroke-Johannes Lobinger.

A second Beginner 4 comprising of Stroke- Niall Moore, Three- Fionnbharr Brady, Two- Harry Webb and Bow- Ciaran Foster and Cox- Abbie Ellis Saunders competed with times and placing to follow.

We also saw racing from David Roy and Patrick Martin in the Mens Intermediate Lightweight 1X posting time of 9:02.83 and 8:39.29 respectively in the D Final with Ross Taylor posting a time of 9:21.26 in the E Final.

Finally to the Men’s Beginner 8+. With the recent success over the weekend the QUB Novice 8+ took to the water fueled for a hard fight taking on the best in Britain. The novice Empacher of Cox-Bilal Korimbocus, Stroke-Luke McAnespie , Seven-Michael McNamee , Six-Johannes Lobinger , Five-Thomas Drummond , Four-Patrick Meenan , Three-Cesar Jimenez , Two-Patrick Holden and Bow-Jack Knight  rowed hard against the rest of the field and placed a respectable 4th with a time of 7:36.54. 

What’s Next?

With racing concluded Queen’s Men came away with;

2 x Gold, 5 x Silver and 14 x Bronze Medals for the club with no shortage of smiles shown and effort made.

• We look forward to the weekend which will see Queens hosting their own Regatta at Castlewellan Forest Park on Saturday 7th May.
• Queen’s Rowing also has Tiernan Oliver and Christopher Beck travelling to Ghent International Regatta in Belgium to compete in the Heavyweight 2X and the Lightweight 1X. As usual we shall keep you up to date with their progress.

As we enter into our stride for the Regatta Season we will endeavor to bring you more details of racing events and results but please also refer to our Facebook and Twitter pages for even more information, news and videos of our athletes, links to which can be found below:

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/QueensRowingClub/?fref=ts
Twitter

https://twitter.com/queensrowingni

With the beginning of the regatta season Queen’s Rowing set out to Cork and the National Rowing Centre at Farran Wood. Both Men’s and Ladies squads from Novice to Senior were raring to go from winter training and a long HoRR season.

The first event was the Senior 2-. Representing Queens were David Roy and Brent Whiteside. Both oarsmen performed admirably in racing, facing off against a large contingent of clubs from Dublin and Galway but unfortunately being bested on the day.

The Senior 1X came next with both Philip Doyle and Christopher Beck challenging for the top prize. In some very tight racing Philip bested all other competitors to take the win with Christopher as usual showing he is no slouch on the water keeping Philip nervous in the final.

The Intermediate 8+ came next and once again all crew members maintaining their Lightweight standard of rowing. The crew (Bow-David Roy, 2-Patrick Martin, 3-Harry Mahoney, 4-Brent Whiteside, 5-Jason Armstrong, 6-Jordan Wilson, 7-Luke McCann, Stroke-Miles Taylor) headed by Cox- Carol Moorehead faced competition from Cork, Dublin and Galway but could not best N.U.I.G on the day.   Again in the Club 8+ event there was an even larger contingency of competitors with N.U.I.G crossing the line first, however the Queen’s men did not shy away from the challenge to test their mettle again.

The Intermediate 2X saw Phillip Doyle again taking the seat teaming up with Christopher Beck to produce an excellent victory. The pair outclassed all competition to take the win for Queens and secure the first medal of the weekend.

The Intermediate 1X next had Ross Taylor competing against a large class of athletes some with much more racing experience than himself. Coupled with a turn in the weather Ross powered through the event and added a worthy feather to his cap.

The Club One 4+ (Bow- Jordan, 2-Jason, 3-Luke, Stroke- Miles, Cox- Carol)  was won by U.C.C.R.C sadly pipping the Queen’s Men to the post.

The Novice 8+ event came next with with both Queen’s boats locking horns with clubs from Dublin, Galway and Limerick. With early victories in the HoRR season for Queen’s Novice Men this spurred on the Trinity, U.C.D and Limerick clubs to show what they could do. Ultimately Trinity won the day providing some food for thought for the Novice Squad who now eagerly look ahead to meeting them again in competition soon!

Empacher Novice 8+

Bow- Luke McAnespie, 2-Matthew Elliot, 3-Jack Owen Knight, 4- Patrick Holden, 5- Thomas Drummond, 6-Patrick Meenan, 7-Michael McNamee, Stroke- Johannes Lobinger, Cox- Bilal Korimbocus 

Janousek Novice 8+

Bow- David Turner, 2-Fionnbharr Brady, 3-Ryan Smith, 4- Harry Webb, 5- Ciaran Foster, 6-Ilyas Bektasoglu, 7-Cesar Navarro Jimenez, Stroke- Niall Moore, Cox- Aaron Sloan. 

The Novice 4X+ (Bow-Matthew Elliot, 2-Thomas Drummond, 3-Patrick Meenan, Stroke- Johannes Lobinger, Cox-Aaron Sloan) saw one of the largest fields of competition of the whole day but regardless the Queen’s Oarsmen dominated the field winning the event with their first regatta victory of the season.

Skibbereen Regatta

Following on from the first Regatta of the season at the Irish University Championships both clubs returned to the National Rowing Center the following day to compete at Skibbereen Regatta. With a weather warning coming through the decision was made to move the Sunday’s racing to the Saturday resulting in a very contested day of racing but only doubled up on the level of competitive racing for all to enjoy.

The first event was the Senior 4- (Bow-Jordan Wilson, 2-Jason Armstong, 3-Luke McCann, Stroke-Miles Taylor) which saw the Queen’s boys taking the first medal of the day against University of Cork and took the win displaying excellent pace and stamina off the line before moving away from their adversaries to take victory.

Next saw the Senior 2X of Philip Doyle and Tiernan Oliver taking to the water and once again the Senior scullers displaying their dominance against all competition taking the win for QUBBC.

‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire’. With the Senior 2X only just completed Philip was back into his Filippi Single to compete for a Senior 1X medal for the second in the weekend. Philip outclassed his competitors once again and took the top spot completing a hat trick of wins for him.

The Lightweight 1X saw both Ross Taylor and Christopher Beck return to the water in which Beck crossed the line first and taking the medal at Skibbereen.

The Club One 8+ was again a chance for the Queen’s Men to show their worth but after a sterling effort came close but not enough sadly loosing out to the Commercial crew. (Bow-David Roy, 2-Patrick Martin, 3-Harry Mahoney, 4-Brent Whiteside, 5-Jason Armstrong, 6-Jordan Wilson, 7-Luke McCann, Stroke-Miles Taylor, Cox- Carol Moorehead)

Next was the Club One 4+ (Bow- Jordan Wilson, 2-Jason Armstrong, 3-Luke McCann, Stroke- Miles Taylor, Cox- Carol Moorehead). After having to accept second best the previous day to the University of Cork the previous day the crew focused their sights on evening the score in the ranks. A high rate start with some excellent calls from cox Carol saw the Men get the win they richly deserved!

Following on from the success of the morning the wins kept on coming in the afternoon. In the Club One 4X- only victory would do (Bow-David Roy, 3-Patrick Martin, 2-Harry Mahoney, Stroke-Brent Whiteside)  and that’s exactly what they delivered leaving everything on the water and taking the win.

Again another win came in the Club 2- with Brent Whiteside in the bow seat and David Roy at stroke.

Later that day the Club Two 1X had not one but 3 Queen’s oarsmen competing against each other, Patrick Martin, Ryan Urquhart and Ross Taylor producing not only close competition racing but also some great inter-club rivalry for the rest of the squad to cheer on.

Skibbereen Regatta again saw the Men’s Novice 8+ crews go head to head with each other and even though the weather had worsened since the previous day coupled with a challenging  wind the QUB Novices took to the water to try and oust Trinity from the top spot. With all their effort in what was a very tough race they unfortunately lost out to their rivals providing some good racing experience and food for thought as they return to training.

Finally the Novice 4X+ threw their hats into the ring for one last time in and once again pushed until they had nothing else to give. They pushed off the start and left the competition behind before charging for the line and taking the winning position.
(Bow-Jack-Owen Knight, 2-Patrick Holden, 3-Michael McNamee, Stroke- Luke McAnespie, Cox-Bilal Korimbocus).

All in all Queen’s Men experienced an excellent weekend of racing. The men have identified both their strengths and weaknesses to which they can polish and hone their race strategies for BUCS Regatta in the first week of May. Also, a few more photographs of the action at Cork over the weekend;

QUBLBC Newsletter

On the 7th of April, Queen’s ladies traveled the lengthy journey to Cork to begin a heavy racing weekend at University Championships and Skibbereen Regatta. Thankfully, it was well worth the journey. QUBLBC saw the rewards of a hard winter’s training, and came home feeling happy with what they had achieved.

QUBLBC wins included: Women’s Club 8+ Women’s Inter 4+ The Ladies Club 8+ raced twice on the Friday, only coming second in a more senior category by 2ft. Our novices enjoyed their first regatta experience, and came away from the championships with a 3rd in their Novice 8+.

Due to bad weather conditions, Skibbereen Regatta was cancelled on Sunday, but went ahead on the Saturday. All of Sunday’s races were therefore raced on Saturday. QUBLBC wins included: Club 8+ Club 4+ Club 2 1x. As a whole, the weekend gave the ladies club a real confidence boost, and feelings of excitement and motivation for the upcoming regatta season.

We are now ready to train as though we are in second, and continue to improve ourselves one stroke at a time.

The Men’s Championship Lightweight 4- comprising of Jordan Wilson, Luke McCann, Jason Armstrong and Miles Taylor posted a time of 16:51.4 and placed 6th in their category.

That afternoon saw the Intermediate 8+s taking to the river with the Bow 4 of the Lightweight Men’s 4- crew joining Brent Whiteside, Harry Mahony, Ben Evans and David Roy in the Sleive Donard Empacher. From nearly 50 crews competing in this event the Queen’s Men rowed an exceptional race and placed a respectable 8th overall with a time of 18:47.3, a fantastic placing considering every oarsmen was in Lightweight category.

Lagan HoRR- Saturday 27th

This weekend Queens shall be racing at Lagan HoRR. The Men’s Squad shall be submitting;

Senior 1X
Intermediate 8+
Intermediate 2-
Intermediate 2X
Intermediate 1X
Novice 8+

Race One is 2700m and shall start at 10:30am and shall run from The Albert Bridge to the Finishing Oar at Queen’s Boathouse.  

Race Two will run from The Odyssey/SSE Arena and shall be a longer 4200m beginning at 1:30pm.

A full listing of entries and mapping can be obtained at;
http://www.rowingireland.ie/documents/_Lagan%20Head%202016%20-%20RACE%20INFO.pdf

We look forward to seeing you all there to support the crews. Please refer to as well as liking and following the Queens Rowing Facebook page for regular video and photo updates of all crews racing and training, a link to which can be found below along with it’s respective Twitter accounts to receive all the up to date information on the Club’s Training progress and Competition News;

https://www.facebook.com/QueensRowingClub/?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/queensrowingni

QUBLBC Newsletter

With winter still upon us, the Ladies Club is continuing to work hard towards the rapidly approaching Head races. Both the Novice and Inter squad completed a tough January training camp on the Lagan and hope to reap the rewards come Regatta season. In February there was a strong attendance from the women’s club (past and present!) at the Lady Vic annual dinner, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Results Update

On 12^th December Trinity novices travelled to Belfast to compete against the Queen’s Novice Ladies. Novice crews raced each other over the course of 500 metres in front of the Queens boathouse. The racing was quite a spectacle, dominated by the Queens Novice women who won all of their races. The club would like to thank Trinity for travelling up to compete; it was a great experience for both clubs.

The club had a number of crews competing at Festive Head before the Christmas break, one novice 4+, one novice 8+, one inter 4-, one inter 2x and three 2- competed. Crews produced some impressive times and competition in small boats has given the Inter squad a strong base to begin competing in eights and fours. Both squads jumped at the opportunity to dress up in the festive spirit as Christmas Puddings, Polar Bear, Penguins and The Grinch speeding down the Lagan.

Crews from Festive Head, costumes on and ready to race!

Earlier on in the year one athlete Roisin Maguire attended Irish Indoor trials in Limerick to complete a 2000m Ergometer Test. Roisin not only pulled a personal best but also placed 6^th overall in the Open Weight Senior category. Another individual recognition should be extended to elite athlete Rebecca Edwards who attended GB trials having met the 5K erg time. Rebecca proceeded to compete in the water 5000m time trial on 13^th February. Placing 24^th out of 41, a fantastic achievement!

Due to illness the ladies club only had one athlete competing at Lagan Scullers Head on Saturday 13^th February. Rachel Brown competed in the Women’s Club 1x, not only winning her category but also placing 4^th in the Inter category against more Senior athletes.

Rachel Brown (Club 1x) racing at Lagan Head.

On the 20^th and 21^st February the club travelled to Newcastle to compete over the 5000m  course of BUCS HoRR. Two Novices 8+s competed and placed 20^th and 29^th out of 33 crews in awful conditions, it was a great experience for the Novice squad to be competing at such a large event. The Inter squad had a great set of results, the Queen’s Championship 4- placed 5^th against more Senior crews in a highly competitive category. The Intermediate 4+ finished 11^th in their category out of 28 crews. The Inter 8+ put in a fantastic performance and finished in 5^th place (only one second behind 4^th place) out of 33 crews. Finally the lightweight 4- brought home bronze medals, placing 3^rd place in their category, another incredible achievement from what was a very prosperous and enlightening weekend.

Lightweight 4- with their bronze medals!

What’s Next?

The club will be competing at Lagan Head this coming weekend with a number of crews. In the next couple of weeks crews will also compete at Erne Head and Women’s Head of the River. The novice squad continues to work hard and is developing quickly.

Save the Date!

Queen’s Regatta will take place on the 7^th May 2016 at Castlewellan Lake. It’s a great event for both rowers and non-rowers alike. If you wish to help out please do not hesitate to contact us, equally any crowd support for Queen’s crews would be very well received!

Finally the club would like to thanks the continuous support of the Lady Vic donors. However, many regular contributions have now expired. If you wish to continue to support the Clubs please contact Pamela Cunningham, thank you.

Below is an outline of the upcoming events that Queens shall be competing in over the coming months;

Lagan HoR: 27th of February
Erne HoR: 5th of March
Irish University Championships Cork: 8th to 10th April
BUCS Regatta Nottingham: 30th April to 2nd May
Queen’s Regatta Castlewellan: 7th May
University Boat Race Belfast: 14th June
Cork City Regatta: 25th June
Irish National Championships Cork: 15th to 17th July

We invite all supporters of Queen’s Rowing both past and present to attend as many events as they can, the support is greatly appreciated! We may also be taking part in smaller and more local events which we shall keep you informed of as they unfold.

Lagan Sculler’s HoR- 13th February

With favorable conditions being a rare sight this early in the year they were very welcome on this occasion.

Race 1 saw Philip Doyle take the Senior 1X with a time of 11:56.2 finishing ahead of Tiernan Oliver who finished with a respectable 12:15.9

Race 2 was claimed by the Queens Senior 4X- comprising of Miles Taylor, Luke McCann, Brent Whiteside and David Roy posting a time of 10:43.6. A second Senor 4X- also competed and finished with a time of 11:31.0 which placed them 3rd overall with a crew including Harry Mahoney, Jason Armstrong, Ben Evans & Patrick Martin. Ryan Urquhart competed within the Intermediate 1X and finished at 14:20.5.

Race 3 saw Philip Doyle and Tiernan Oliver join forces in the Senior 2X but be narrowly pipped to the post resulting in a 2nd place result overall with a time of 10:57.4

Irish Indoor Rowing Championships- 23rd January

The end of January saw Jordan Wilson, Tiernan Oliver and Philip Doyle travel to the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships in the University of Limerick’s Sport Arena to test their mettle against the best the country had to offer. This is a prime opportunity for not only the clubs elite athletes to contest for National Trials but also the Academy Members to increase their experience at larger competitions to help progress to larger feats within the sport.

Tiernan Oliver pictured above with Sam McKeown from Portadown BC came 2nd in the Open 2000m missing the Gold medal by only 0.3 seconds.  

As the seasons calendar moves on the trialing process moves into on the water testing at the National Rowing Center in Cork. We wish all our athletes the very best over the coming months and shall update you on how their season progresses.

Winter Training

With New Years over and the crews having enjoyed their Christmas break all squads have returned to training. With exams looming the Men’s Club is prioritising their time well alongside their academics. Thanks to a break in the bad weather some great progress has been made on the water with the Novice Men’s crews going up against the more senior oarsmen of the club as well as a few Methody crews resulting in some very enjoyable and competitive training.

Festive Head 19/12/2015

On Saturday the 19th of December Belfast Rowing Club held the Annual Festive Head of River. The event was a roaring success as usual with a wide array of boats not to mention costumes. The Xmas season brought out several Alumni and past Oarsmen from the club pitting themselves against old friends and current athletes from Queens along with the eager Novice squads.

University Beginner Sprints, QUB vs DUBC 12/12/2015

On Saturday the 12th of December Trinity Boat Club travelled to the Lagan to compete against the newest intake of Novice Oarsmen at QUBBC. This event was the first of its kind and an excellent opportunity for these two squads to test their mettle early on in the season. With 3 Novice Men’s Crews travelling up from Dublin and 2 Queens crews competing there was no shortage of racing. Even at the early stages of the year this Novice Squad has shown great promise and this was reflected on the day as they completely dominated the days racing winning all but 1 of the races.

A very big thank you to Trinity for travelling up to Belfast for the day to produce some excellent racing and we hope that this shall become an annual event for our two clubs!

QUBLBC- Winter Newsletter

The Rowing season began for the ladies club with our inter women returning in September to a new training program and a series of tests which showed the power and strength within the club. As term began the whole club got behind the drive for novice recruitment and we have managed to maintain a high level of involvement with at least three eights being entered for all events up until Christmas. Bann Head of the River was the first race of the season which we sent two inter fours to and came home with the fastest women’s pennant which was a great start to the season for the ladies club. The weather conditions at Bann meant that we were unable to send our three novice eights or our inter small boats which was disappointing however the novices were given their first taste of racing as we staged a series of time trials on the Lagan which produced some excellent results for all of the novices involved. The next major event for the whole club was the BUCS indoor championships which proved a great success for the ladies club with seasons best being set by many of the inter women and even an ulster record being broken by a novice rower which considering they have only been rowing for two months is a great achievement.

Queens athlete Rebecca Edwards had been steadily working her way through the trials season producing ever more impressive results winning the senior women’s single at Tullamore time trials and coming home from the senior British rowing championships with a bronze medal in her composite four which is an incredible achievement and one which the club is incredibly proud of. She then moved on to British trials where she managed to hold her own amongst the GB squad and then then went on to become the fastest senior women’s four at fours head of the river with her same composite crew. The whole club wishes Rebecca the best of luck and continued success for the rest of the season.

The annual ladies dinner took place on the 5^th of December and provided an opportunity for our new novice women to see a different side to Queens rowing that didn’t involve quite so much rain. Michelle Carpenter the women’s development officer for rowing Ireland gave a highly informative and interesting speech that gave the whole club food for thought about the development of women’s rowing in Ireland. Thanks must go to Pamela Cunningham for her contributions to the raffle which raised much needed funds for the club as well as to our Club Captain Ellie Holmes and Secretary Gemma Canham for all the hard work they put in to making sure the event ran smoothly.