UCD men won the Gannon Cup by 4 lenghts in a time of 6:33.5

Trinity ladies won the Corcoran Cup.

Trinity Novice Men won the Dan Quinn Shield.

UCD Novice Ladies won the Moorehead Cup

Detailed race reports to follow

Race Day Details

Alumni Reception, Clarence Hotel starting at 13:30

Busses to collect spectators from the Taxi Rank at O’Connell Bridge for the Corcoran Cup and Gannon Cup races.

Race Times

Gannon Cup Race 15:30
Corcoran Cup Race 15:00
Dan Quinn Shield 14:30
Moorehead Cup 14:00

With only 2 days to go, the UCD Ladies are putting the finishing touches on their race plans for Saturday under the watchful eyes of Pat Gannon, Martin Feeley, Myrte Duin and Deirdre Keane. For the novices this will be their first experience of head to head racing and what better place for it than through the heart of Dublin city with excited friends and family cheering them on. The Colours race is unique and exciting one for every rower lucky enough to pick up an oar on the day. With the numerous bridges on the way, encouragement from spectators is never far and when the smell of the hops from Guinness’ hits you it’s the sure sign that the finish is fast approaching. This will also be the first year of a “Goonanette” race, where Novice B crews will go up against each other on the upper Liffey. Everyone is getting excited for the races now, let’s hope that everything runs smoothly on the day.

The Corcoran Cup Crew:

Cox: Jenni Lynch (Co. Dublin)

Stroke: Bronwyn Lait (Co. Louth)

7: Susan Harkin (Co. Dublin)

6: Kate Lorigan (Co. Dublin)

5: Laura O’Brien (Co. Wicklow)

4: Laura Gannon (Co. Dublin)

3: Amy Bulman (Co. Cork)

2: Claire Lambe (Co. Dublin)

Bow: Neva Noone (Co. Mayo)

The Novice crew:

Cox: Leanna Duke (Co. Dublin)

Stroke: Sarah Maguire (Co. Dublin)

7: Clodagh Tanner (Co. Cork)

6: Ciara O’Hagan (Co. Wicklow)

5: Claire Ni Reachtagain (Co. Tipperary)

4: Denise Ryan (Co. Dublin)

3: Lyndsay Baker (Co. Offaly)

2: Grainne Desmond (Co. Cork)

Bow: Deirdre Murphy (Co. Longford)

Best of luck to the Novice girls and a big thank you to the Senior squad. It is a huge privilege to take a seat in the Colours crew this year and I hope that we can do the club proud. Thank you also to all our coaches for their dedication and commitment to our club. Finally, thanks to the Colours Committee of Johnny Devitt and John Walsh for their hard work and preparation in making this momentous race happen and to Kate Lorigan for all of her work organising the programme and dinner!

Congratulations to Trinity. It was a tough race, though conditions turned out to be significantly better than anticipated.

Trinity rowed very well and strongly to see off our challenge and so I wish to extend my congrtaulations to Emma Jacob and her girls for a job well done.

April 6th, 2009

Neptune Regatta was a huge disappointment from the UCD Ladies perspective. To be knocked out in the first round of the Intermediate Eights was not how we wanted to kickstart our regatta season and it was scant consolation that we were knocked out by the eventual winners, Trinity.

I was trying to explain to the Novices, after they were put out of the Novice Eights competition by Queens University on Saturday afternoon, that the Island Bridge regattas are tough relative to six lane races. Like Henley and Reading, you only have one chance – you can just as easily be knocked out in the first round as in the final. It was a harsh lesson for them to learn in their first introduction to side by side racing and one they will not quickly forget.

When the proposition to move Colours to a date after Neptune Regatta was suggested I was immediately opposed. Although the change of date makes sense from a spectator perspective, I had always considered Colours as our link between the Head Season and the Regatta Season. It was an effective link as the Colours course was longer than traditional regatta distance (2000 meters) but yet it was not a Head of the River Race either.  Furthermore,  going into Colours in previous years, you didn’t know how the other club would react to the higher rate, side by side racing – I felt it added to the excitement of the event. Those were the challenges of the race on the pre-Neptune Regatta dates. This year, we face new challenges – there are different unknowns.

Do we know more about Trinity now then we did two weeks ago? The honest answer is “not really”. There is still the same excitement surrounding the race as there was in previous years, contrary to what I originally thought. On that note, I must apologise to Race Organiser, Johnny Devitt, for doubting him.

Ten days until Colours. Ten more breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Ten more days of excitement.

Neptune Regatta took place over the course of Friday (April 3rd) evening and all day Saturday (April 4th) in Island Bridge, Dublin.

Marc h 31st, 2009

Possibly the best thing about the Colours contest is that aswell as having the finest each club has to offer battling against each other, it also caters for the raw novices (beginners) on the same day. The present and the future from each club sharing the challenge and a mutual goal.

The Corcoran and the Gannon Cups have a lot of prestige attached to them and rightly so – the honour of winning either senior event cannot be overstated but at the same time can only be understood by those who compete for it. It means nothing to the outside rowing world but yet means everything to the people competing for them at the time. Novice Rowing (the Sally MoorheadTrophy and Dan Quinn Shield) however has an added spice. The contest is a race against time – what club can get its crew the furthest in the shortest space of time? The naivity of the competitors adding an increased excitement to the event itself.

In the senior events there will always be favourites depending on form coming into the race. In novice rowing there can be no favourites – each crew is untested in this environment usually. Anything can happen.

I’ve never been part of a winning Corcoran Cup crew and I may never be but one thing that I will always take with me is the joy of winning the Sally MoorheadTrophy in 2006 as a novice.

This year, UCD Novices are no different. The challenge seems daunting but yet exciting. As Captain of the club, I feel a responsibility for how they get on but the truth is, it is in their hands. This is my fifth year in the Boat Club and watching the novice race doesn’t get any easier as the years go on. It is always heart in the mouth stuff and this year it promises to be the same.

UCD’s Sally Moorhead Crew are still in the selection process.

March 31st, 2009

Following three days of trialling in mid-March by our Senior Ladies Coach; a provisional Colours Crew was anounced on Sunday, March 22nd.

The provisional crew consists of six intermediate and two senior oarswomen.

The selection process is by no means complete however as we head into Neptune Regatta (Island Bridge) this weekend. The club have entered one intermediate eight and two senior eights.

General feeling of disappointment to discover that we were the only club to enter Senior 8’s but nevertheless the straight final should give JH (UCD Director of Rowing) and the UCD Ladies Coaches plenty to think about as the girls row to seize one of their final chances to break into the eagerly anticipated Colours crew.

Meanwhile the Intermediate category offers plenty of opposition and possibly the toughest draw that UCD have faced in the Neptune Regatta, Intermediate category for some years – opposition including Queens, Portora, Neptune, Commercial and Trinity who we will meet in the first round at 6.30 p.m on Friday (April 3rd) evening.

As this weekends Boat Race finishes on the Tideway over the Championship course Oxford and Cambridge can take a break. Meanwhile here in Dublin, the somewhat smaller events of the Gannon Cup as well as the Corcoran Cup, Moorhead Cup and Dan Quin Shield will have crews from UCD and Trinity competing in the Dublin Docklands Colours Regatta.

The race with the longest history and that has been the main focus of supporters over the last number of years is the Gannon Cup contested by the top crews from Trinity, the current National Champions at Senior 8s and UCD the Intermediate Champions from 2008.  The other events on the day are the Corcoran Cup for the Senior Ladies from the two universities and then the Dan Quinn Shield for the Novice men and the MoorheadCup for the Novice women. For details of race start times.

This years race has generated quite a bit of interest as a result of the new course. This course starts at Sean O’Casey Bridge and heads eastbound towards a point past the Eastlink bridge. This new course will hopefully help to bolster spectators by drawing in crowds from the IFSC, hence the seemingly unusual start time.

Before this years race there will be a drinks reception on board the MV Cill Airne from 17:00 all welcome just email us with your intent to attend at gannonalumni@gmail.com

Other than that we hope you enjoy this years event and that we have a great days racing

The Committee