The first few months of 2024 have been busy for the members of Inver Colpa Rowing Club. Although it’s been a pretty dismal start to the year from a weather point-of-view, training sessions have continued on the river throughout the winter months with plans to get out on the sea in Clogherhead in the near future as the weather improves. Safety is always a priority both out on the river and on the sea and the club hosted a really informative Health & Safety morning for its members in March with Elaine Nelson, Child Welfare Officer (North) & Mary B Teahan, Chairperson of the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation in attendance, along with James Byrne from Dublin Port, where the members of the club learned important information on tides, weather and shipping rules.

A recent grant from the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme run by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has allowed the club to purchase some much-needed equipment, including some Concept 2 Rowing machines (often called Ergs), which will be a great help with future training regimes. A training session took place last weekend with Fitness Trainer Terry Roy to allow club members to understand the sequence of an Erg stroke, the difference between an Erg stroke and a boat stroke, along with various training and best practice techniques on the machines.

As the club prepares three crews for the 8th Annual Boyne Boat Race, which takes place on Sunday, May 5th, crews from all across the country are also preparing once more to jump into boats of varying shapes and sizes on Clogherhead strand and make their way for approximately 16km along the coast to the mouth of the River Boyne and down the river underneath the viaduct for a sprint finish to the de Lacy bridge.

Trainer Terry Roy with club members after the rowing machine training session

Racing across the sea and down the river that day will be a mixture of East Coast skiffs, St. Ayles skiffs, Currachs, All-Ireland one-design boats, Fiesas and Celtic Longboats, with ladies, men's and mixed crews all rowing against the elements aiming to be the fastest in their category.

All are welcome to come to Clogherhead Beach at 8 a.m. on Sunday, May 5th, to see the race start or to line along the river at the finish line (de Lacy bridge) to cheer on our crews from approximately 9.15 a.m. that morning!

Shirley Byrne, Club Vice Chairperson, Elaine Nelson, Child Welfare Officer (North) & Mary B Teahan, Chairperson Irish Coastal Rowing Federation and James Byrne from Dublin Port after the recent Health & Safety training session

As always, the club would like to thank their sponsors KC Shipping, Premium Pellets, Flo Gas, helpmypension. i.e. and The Mariner, along with the Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Service for the ongoing use of their facilities until the new boathouse is built, hopefully, to be started later this year.