Busy start to a promising season for Offaly Rowing Club 

Offaly Rowing Club are off to a flying start this season with some very strong performances in their opening weekend of racing.

The season started in Dublin at Neptune and Commercial Regattas, where we had a number of impressive performances. The day started bright and early for our mens j18 singles with paul O’ Beirne, Shane McLachlan and James O’ Beirne in their time trial. They performed well in a strong field of rowers, of which some are looking at places on the national team.

We then moved to the women's j16 single with a promising 12th place for Anna Walsh and 17th place for Ciara Chambers in their time trial. The time trials were promptly followed by the women's j18 coxless quad of Blaithìn Clarke, Sadhbh Keohane, Ciara Chambers and Ealga  McAuliffe who narrowly missed out on a spot in the semi final, beaten by the home favourites Neptune.

The first win of the day came from the mens j14 double of David Mooney and Finn Lowry, a young crew who tackled the winding course like professionals to take the win. There was also some impressive performances from our masters men, John Ward and Baithen Mooney who came 10th and 11th respectively in their singles.

The mens j16 coxed quad of Caden Coleman, Cian Craven, Oran Sampson and John Twomey who had an impressive performance in their quarter final and narrowly missed out on a spot in the semi. The women's masters sculler Adele O'dwyer who raced in the inter single had a very good race against her experienced competitor who represented Ireland at the home international regatta last year.

The women's j18 singles had a good showing in the time trial with Sadhbh Keohane coming 2nd and Blaithin Clarke coming 10th, Sadhbh then went on to the semi final where she narrowly missed a spot in the final losing to a rower from commercial on her home water. 

Day 2 of racing brought Commercial Regatta where the womens j16 coxed quad of Ciara Chambers, Anna Walsh, Katelyn Taylor and Ealga McAuliffe who had a convincing lead over Carlow in their quarter final but were beaten in the semi final by Shannon b.

The mens j15 coxed quad of David Mooney, Daniel Lamb, Finn Lowry and Caden Coleman raced very well against an unstoppable Enniskillen crew. David Mooney and Daniel Lamb then took to the double where they repeated their great performance.

The mens j16 coxed quad of Cian Craven, John Mcdonald, Oran Sampson and John Twomey rowed well but came up short against an impressive Waterford crew. Adele O'Dwyer took to her single once again where she performed very well in her time trial and was unlucky that only the top 2 advanced to the final.

The women's j18 double of Lyla Kane Walsh and Blaithin Clarke came 8th in their time trial, not enough to get to the final. The same was said for John Ward in the mens club single where he came 8th in the time trial. Our mens j18 singles of Paul O’ Beirne and James O’ Beirne came 3rd and 7th respectively but unfortunately only the top 2 progressed to the final. The harsh road to the final also showed in the mens j18 double where Paul and James narrowly missed out on the final once again. Finally in the women's j16 singles Anna Walsh had a good performance in the time trial but missed out on a top 2 spot for the final. 

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     Overall it was a very enjoyable weekend of racing and a good representation of what could happen for the rest of the season.