Two DULBC rowers awarded 2011/12 Sports Scholarships

Sarah Dolan, The Provost & Susannah Cass at the Sports Scholarship presentations. 

At a ceremony in the Pavilion Bar on Wednesday 30th November Sarah Dolan and Susannah Cass were among 22 athletes to be awarded Trinity Sports Scholarships for this academic year. Sarah is a final year Engineering student and Susannah is in the second year of a PhD in Botany and both competed for Trinity and Ireland last year. Susannah raced in the Senior 4+ and Senior 8+ at the Home International regatta, whilst Sarah, a member of the Rowing Ireland High Performance squad, competed at World Cup and World Championship regattas coming 13th in the Lightweight Women's 1x at the senior World Championships in Bled, Slovenia. The Provost, Patrick Predergast, made a speech recognising the pivotal importance of sport and other extra curricular activities to a full University education before handing the recipients the first instalment of their Scholarship funding. Scholars will also benefit from workshops, physiological performance testing and mentoring through the course of the year.

DULBC girls at National Trials

Good luck to sisters Sarah and Sinead Dolan who in are in Newry this weekend at National Trials. The November assessment is the first of a series of trials throughout the year used to select the National squad for summer competitions such as the World Cup regattas, World Championships and this year the London Olympics. Both Sarah and Sinead will be trailing in the lightweight category and will have to row 2km on the erg and 5km in single sculls for this assessment. We wish them the best of luck and will report back on their progress throughout the year.

Ergo Championships 2011

The Rowing Ireland National Indoor Championships were held in the Trinity College Sports Centre on Sunday 13th November. Competitors from around the country (not to mention a number of very large Russians in Olympic kit!) descended on the sports hall to test themselves to the limits on the rowing machine. A number of categories were available to provide every competitor with a suitable level of competition, with the majority of races over 2km and a number of fixed-time races for those in lower school years. The hall buzzed with excitement and nervous anticipation throughout the day and cheers and shouts of encouragement were loud during every race. Each of the 25 ergos used for racing were linked up to the big screen allowing the crowd to see who was in the lead at all times. 

For most rowers, a 2km ergo test is never eagerly anticipated and especially at this time of year, however DULBC stepped up (wo)manfully and put some good numbers on the scoreboard including a number of personal bests. For all members of the club who raced, these scores are a line in the sand and provide a position from which to improve over the course of the year. 

The club was able to enter athletes in a variety of different categories and came away with an impressive tally of 7 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze medals. Full details on the Results page. All in all another good day's work for DULBC. 

Claire Cooney with her Silver medal for the Women's U23 Open category.

Medals at Indoor Champs

It's medals galore for DULBC as Trinity hosts the Rowing Ireland Indoor Championships today. Full report to follow but medals in the W30-39L, WOpen, WU23Open and WU23L already at the time of writing. Freshers and Open relays to come this afternoon.

A clean sweep for DULBC in the WU23L category (below) left - right: Sinead Dolan, Ruth Morris and Hazel O'Neill collect their medals.

DULBC clean up at Neptune Head

Following from earlier successes in the Dublin Sculling Ladder, yesterday saw some great performances in the first of the national Heads of the River race series. Neptune Head is the first opportunity of the year for clubs to compete in all boat classes along the 3,500m course on Blessington Lake. The event runs as two time trial races allowing athletes to compete in two boat classes in the same event and DULBC took full advantage of this entering eights, fours, quads and a single scull- an unusually broad entry again reflecting the increasing depth of skill in the club.

Single sculler Sinead Dolan, a Senior 8+ and a Novice 8+ took to the water in the first Head and were rewarded with winning pennants for each event. The Senior 8+, missing cox Naomi O'Sullivan due to illness, were extremely grateful for the help of an up and coming young cox from Portora Royal School without whom the boat would not have been able to race, thanks Chloe!

The second Head provided the first racing opportunity for a number of as yet untested small boat crews: a novice 4x+, novice 4+, senior 4x- and senior 4+. Again the senior 4+ relied on the very kind help of guest cox Rory Keogh (Commercial RC) to get them down the course. Two more pennants were added to the day's total from the Novice 4+ and Senior 4+.

A number of small illness and injury worries, to be expected at this time of year, meant a somewhat depleted squad was competing in Blessington yet a haul of 5 pennant including the fastest women's boat of the day certainly looks promising for the season ahead.

Success in the Sculling Ladder

Last Saturday, 15th October, the River Liffey at Islandbridge played host to the annual Dublin Sculling Ladder. This year DULBC were able to enter a record number of seven scullers in this time-trial race for bragging rights as fastest on the river. This unprecedented entry shows the increasing level of experience within the club, both from experienced juniors coming to study in Trinity, and an increasing interest in small boats from within the club's existing ranks. On sheer number of entries alone DULBC were already the most successful women on the river on Saturday but the victory was cemented when the times were announced and we had Sinead Dolan's joint first place to celebrate as well. This is only the second time DULBC has claimed the top spot in the Dublin Sculling Ladder, and the last time was 1986! With recent recruits from Commercial RC, Ruth Morris and Claire Cooney, coming in fourth and fifth respectively and DULBC senior Sinead Roger in sixth, it looks like DULBC will be a force to be reckoned with in sculling as well as sweep boats this year. 

A full list of entries and finish positions is available on the Results page.

Great start to the 2011/12 season.

DULBC had a great start to the new year with a very successful Freshers Week. Loads of new recruits were signed up at the Freshers stand and the erg races at TCD's first ever Sports Night allowed freshers to get their first taste of racing. With the help of Rowing Ireland's Lisa Hayden, ergs were linked up to a projector display to increase the excitement as participants (victims?!) could see themselves racing side-by-side on the big screen. This event gave us a great opportunity to demonstrate the principles of indoor rowing to the uninitiated members of TCD's Sports Department and DUCAC ahead of the National Erg Championships which will take place in Trinity on Sunday 13th November. Perhaps DUCAC and the Department of Sport will enter their own relay teams?

We were also lucky to recruit a number of experienced rowers from Ireland, the UK and America alongside the novice group this year and these girls will be important additions to our large Intermediate/Senior squad. Training is already in full swing and our new recruits certainly aren't being eased in gently. There is already a great atmosphere in the club and excitement for the forthcoming season. Best of luck to all the novices taking their maiden voyages this weekend.