ROWING:"TRANSFORMATIVE" MAY be an overused word, but the domestic season in Ireland underwent drastic and lasting change last weekend. The first Grand League regatta, hosted by Skibbereen at the National Rowing Centre, was not perfect, but it was as if there was an audible click as a new idea slotted into place and looked right from the start.
One of the major barriers to understanding rowing for a new observer is the myriad grades. These also tend to break the sport down from within: competitors are able to settle at a level where they can boast of success (in a very small pool) rather than up their game by taking on those better than them.
By pitting grades against each other the Grand League blows this comfort zone out of the water – a novice or intermediate competitor or crew in the mid-20s will find it hard to rest on their laurels if they are being beaten by 17-year-old juniors.
In the long term, the Grand League series may bolster the argument for a simplification of the grade system in a way which will be hard to resist.
One big hurdle which remains is the regionalisation of the sport.There were too few northern crews in Cork. The absence of Queen’s, who were entered, was a pity. Coach Mark Fangen-Hall said one of the main reasons they competed in the University Championships but did not stay for Sunday was a number of his athletes are medical students and had to be in lectures on Monday morning.
Tomorrow’s Neptune regatta tomorrow at Islandbridge in Dublin is a Grow the Sport event. Regatta secretary Clare Cox said a competition like this, where crews race side-by-side, is a good introduction to competitive rowing for young rowers. She said there had been a big demand for events.
The bulk of the entry is junior or novice. The programme runs from 8.30am to late in the evening, with the final race scheduled for 6.40pm. Three crews are entered in the men’s senior eights, with Galway taking on a composite of Carlow and Carlow Institute for the right to face UCD.
Commercial, who traditionally staged their own regatta on the day following Neptune, will not be stepping up to the mark this year.However, it is understood they intend to open their redeveloped clubhouse tomorrow.
Ocean rower Peter Williams will give a talk at the club tonight (at 8.30pm, and not 8pm as has been advertised).
Life on the ocean wave may have romantic associations, but when it’s one man in a boat it can have its miserable moments. Seán McGowan is four-fifths of the way to becoming the first Irish-based oarsman to row solo across the Atlantic, but the ocean is throwing everything at him. Along with squalls which drench him and waves which dive over the stern and hit him straight in the chest, there is the unwanted marine life.
“On Tuesday morning I had to clear 31 flying fish off the deck,” he says. “One of them was bite-sized, so he was for breakfast, but the rest of them were all over the side.” He is “very tight on food”, so there is some value in his visitors.
“I can’t cook them, so I’m eating them raw. It’s just to keep me going. I won’t need any Omega 3 fish oil tablets for a long time – and the next fish I eat is going to have batter and vinegar on it!”
