The national indoor rowing championships are all about pulling, pulling as hard and as fast as you can, and our athletes certainly did that! They pulled a tally of 12 gold (including two women’s relays), one silver and two bronze medals!
Airida Mateviciute and Amy Kelly started off the day with a win and a third in the women’s junior 13 3minutes race. Later in the day, Airida recorded another win, this time in the women’s junior 13 500m sprint event. Airida also set a new Irish record in the 500m 12 and under category. She won the race in a time of 1:42.7. Our next two wins came in the women’s 50-59 race, where Jessica Lee had a clean sweep in both the 2000m and 500m races, leaving competitors with no doubt that she is the one to be watched in the coming years.
Monika Dukarska achieved a PB and broke the time of 6:50 in the women’s open 2km finishing third behind her teammates, the current world champion Sanita Puspure and Irish international Aifrick Keogh. Monika then went onto the women’s open 500m sprint where she broke her old national record, dated January 2017 and set the new Irish National record for the 19-29 age category in a time of 1:31.9. Zoe Hyde also medalled in the women’s open 500m sprint finishing 2nd to Monika. Zoe has begun her rowing career with the Club at the age of 13, having won several rowing titles in the past and after a short break from the sport, the UL student has returned to test herself but now at under 23 and senior level.
We had three representatives in the highly contested women’s junior 18 2000m race. Rhiannon O’Donoghue had a very tough race to the line finishing third overall (out of 67 entered) with 0.1 of a second separating second from third. Rhiannon achieved a new personal best similarly to Anna Tyther and Katie Boyle, who finished outside of the podium.
For the first time in history of the championship, the Club entered two relays – the womens year 1 and womens open relays, both run over 2000m. The aim of the relay is to finish the required distance as fast as possible, while the distance is shared between a team of four rowers. This means that each athlete covers a portion of the overall distance and the goal is to change as quickly as possible without causing delays as they share the same rowing machine. First off in the relay were Laoise Murphy, Ava O’Malley, Amy Kelly and Airida Matevicute, all from the Intermediate School Killorglin (aka ISK team), winning the race in style! The girls had few heated moments during transitions but managed to pull it out of the bag when mattered most with St. Michael’s Rowing Club team trailing right behind them for the duration of the race.
The womens open team of Monika Dukarska, Zoe Hyde, Anna Tyther and Rhiannon ODonoghue had nothing else in mind but winning. Having set a strong pace from the start and holding onto it for the duration of the race and throughout the 5 changes meant the nearest team was whole 70meters behind by the end of the race. The girls covered the distance in 6minutes and 31 seconds securing another gold for the club.
Also, well done to Olivia Moriarty, Caitlin Cahillane, Marcus Lavery and Meabh Crowley on racing superb races on the day and pulling great scores and for many PBs.
Big thanks to all our #blueandwhite supporters, parents and of course our coaching team and in particular Michael Fleming Jnr for his continuous love and passion for the sport without which we wouldn’t be where we are today!
#GoKillorglin
Results summary:
Womens Open 2km – 3rd Monika Dukarska 3rd
Womens Open 500m – 1st – Monika Dukarska & set new Irish record of 1:31.9
Womens Open 500m – 2nd – Zoe Hyde
Womens 50-59 2km – 1st – Jessica Lee
Womens 50-59 500m – 1st – Jessica Lee
Womes Junior 18 2km – 3rd – Rhiannon O’Donoghue
Womens Junior 13 3min – 1st – Airida Mateviciute & set new Irish record of 1:42.7 in 12 and under category
Womens Junior 13 3min – 3rd – Amy Kelly
Womens Junior 13 500m – 1st – Airida Mateviciute
Womens Year1 Relay Team – 1st – Intermediate School Killorglin (Laoise Murphy, Amy Kellly, Airida Mateviciute, Ava O’Malley)
Womens Open Relay Team – 1st – Killorglin (Anna Tyther, Zoe Hyde, Monika Dukarska, Rhiannon O’Donoghue)
Pictures credit to Just Look At The Lens photography & KRC FB page.
