Cork Boat Club enjoyed a very successful outing at Cork Head of the River on Sat 1^st march, according to Head coach Terence McGrath. The club won no fewer than 9 pennants on the day and a 10^th following a recheck of the times by the organising committee.

• Mens Senior 4 - ; including three from last years crew who finished 3^rd at the national championships John Paul Collins (bow) , Keith Flynn, John Kehely & Stephen Carroll (Stroke) won in a time of 12.43 with the composite crew of Shandon /UCC 16 seconds behind.
• Mens Intermediate 8; crew of Mark Callanan (bow), Ronan Mc Sweeny, Dan Murphy, Vinny Manning, Jonathan Deasy, Dave Walsh, Eoin Hennessy and Graham Sheehan (Stroke) coxed by Conor McGrath had 15 seconds to spare over Galway Rowing in a time of 12.43. This was the 3^rd fastest time of the day 7 seconds behind the winners St Michaels Rowing Club.
• Mens Intermediate 4+; Gavin Sheehan (bow), Ronan McSweeny, Jonathan Deasy and Dave Walsh (Stroke) coxed by Conor McGrath had 4 seconds to spare from Castleconnell in a winning time of 13.28 with the second Boat Club crew in 3^rd place 10 seconds further back.
• Mens Intermediate 1X; Emmet Foley recorded a winning time of 14.29 in very competitive field of 15 scullers. He achieved the fasted single sculling time of the day overall and would have comfortably won the Mens Senior category.
• Mens Junior 16 1X; Thomas Sutton won in a very fast time of 14.48. This time would have placed him 3^rd in the men’s Junior 18 category and augurs well for the season ahead.
• Mens Masters 1X; reigning Irish national champion Jim O’Halloran won in a time of 15.30. Several of the men’s Intermediate, Novice and Junior 18 competitors could not better this time on the day.
• Ladies Junior 18 4x-; due to mix-up with the times this crew were not listed as having finished the race on Saturday despite having a fine row. However the times were re-checked over the weekend and they have now been credited with the overall fasted ladies time of the day of 13.21.
• Ladies Junior 18 2x-; Orla McGrath (bow) and Sinead (Greene Stroke) rowed a fine race to record a wining time of 16 minutes, 54 second ahead of 2^nd place Shandon with Lee, Castleconnell & Fermoy further back.
• Ladies Junior 2-; Irish International Karolyn Walsh (bow) and current national squad member Grace Collins (stroke) rowed over in a time of 16.49. However to put this in context, their time would have won both the women’s senior pair and the men’s junior 18 pair categories on the day!
•  Ladies Junior 15 4X+; the winning crew of Eve Shannahan (bow), Niamh Fehily, Linda Murphy and Stroke Eithne McSweeny coxed by Ciara McSweeney carried on from their success at St Michael’s head to beat Skibbereen by 7 seconds in a time of 14.53. This time would have won the ladies Jnr 164X+ category on the day. There is undoubtedly great potential in this group, well done to all.

All in all it was a great day for the club with a lot of young rowers competing at Cork head for the first time; Deirdre Greene, Holly O’Keeffe, Kate English, Katie Mackey, Amber O’Leary, Niamh Buckley, Claire Bulman, Rachel Willis, Elena Casey, Sarah Higgins, Siobhan Power, Ann-Marie Crowley & Val O’Brien.

It was also good to see Brendan Rose back to cox the Mens Senior eight. Hopefully we will see more of him around the club for the rest of the season.

The event was very well organised and the safety precautions were very good and needed to be in the difficult conditions on the day. Well done to all and great to see so many ‘Boat Club People’involved.

Terence expressed his sincere gratitude to all of the coaches and parents that helped out and made the event such a success.

Next on list Galway Head in 3 weeks time.