ROWING:THE BUILD-UP to Women's Henley this weekend has focused on one Irish entrant – a boy. Male or female crews in rowing can have a cox of a different gender, but Rory Keogh, the Commercial cox, is special because he is just 10 years of age.
He will be the youngest ever competitor at this event, and this week the fourth-class pupil in St Joseph’s Boys’ National School in Terenure was interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford. He told them his job was to steer straight as long as possible and support the crew.
“You have to encourage them loads,” he said.
Keogh is the son of club captain and coach Dermot Keogh, who says he took to the role “like a duck to water”.
He coxed Commercial’s senior women’s eight to victory at Trinity Regatta last month. He is so light he will have to carry ballast in the boat to bring him up to the required weight.
Rory Keogh is set to guide the women’s four of Áine Feeney, Jane Shackleton, Laura Byrne and Naomi Fearon at Henley. The crew, in coxless formation, took bronze at a regatta in Ghent last month and were given free ferry transport to the event because of that achievement.
The Irish entry this weekend is quite strong. NUIG, Queen’s, UCD and Trinity all have senior eights entered, and the Neptune elite lightweight pair of Claire Ludlow and Elaine Fitzgerald are also in form and a good tip for glory.
The elite lightweight single scull features Siobhán Jacob and Sheila Clavin, who represented Ireland at the first World Cup last month.
While Ireland are not represented at this weekend’s World Cup in Munich, the team for the final World Cup in Lucerne will be named on Monday.
Two Ireland crews, the pair of Cormac Folan and Seán Jacob and the lightweight pair of Anthony English and Peter Hanily, compete at Marlow Regatta this weekend at Dorney Lake.
Henley Royal Regatta begins on Wednesday week and a number of Irish club crews hone their competitive preparation at Marlow. The chances of a good result for Queen’s University in the Temple Cup at Henley will be much clearer after this weekend when they take on some big guns.
Carlow, Galway Rowing Club, UCD and Trinity are also testing the water in the run-up to Henley and the National Championships.
Castleconnell have drawn a big junior entry to their regatta on Sunday, with particular strength among competitors from under-14 and under-15 grades. The Limerick club have been the leaders in Ireland in promoting adaptive rowing, and they start the weekend with their annual adaptive regatta tomorrow, which has drawn 20 athletes.
With the first four events completed, it is clear the Grand League series has fired the imagination of Irish rowers. Time-trialled heats yield placings in finals, so an accurate time in a heat is crucial – indeed the reliability of timing is central to the concept.
What has become clear over the Grand League regattas so far is that this aspect needs to be improved. The cooperation between the domestic events committee and the people in charge of the regatta per se also needs to be streamlined.
The next two Grand League events are Limerick (August 21st) and Monkstown and Cork Harbour (September 11th). Athlone’s regatta next weekend will be run on the old format.
