Crews from St Patrick’s Rowing Club in action at the regatta. Picture courtesy of Fr Tonge
Heavy rain did not dampen the spirits of the 120 crews who competed in the St Patrick’s Rowing Club annual regatta, which took place on July 30th.
For the many supporters who came to savour the atmosphere and enjoy the spectacle, there was plenty of room to take shelter in Paddy’s clubhouse, which was packed all day.
The competing clubs were well-prepared and brought their own tents where the rowers could relax while waiting for their races to start.
Sadly, the many kids who were there didn’t get to enjoy the two bouncy castles as much as they might have liked, but they did make the most of the sunshine between the showers and were clearly having a ball.
The event was very well run, as always, with Richie Saunders and Eimear McCormack on the river in the Bradogue, judging the racing, checking the turns and co-ordinating with Dublin Port. Irene Montgomery was busy organising things back at the clubhouse and Tony, Christine and Jacqueline were full of activity on the BBQ, making sure that everyone was well fed. John Hawkins took charge of the marker buoys, for what he swears is the last time, although his friends at the club told NewsFour that, “he says that every year!” Philip Murphy was MC for the day and his dulcet tones could be heard above the clamour, keeping everyone entertained and telling the crews what to do.
When the rain came, it came down in buckets but the racing continued throughout, so there were few delays. There were a couple of breaks to facilitate shipping, but these were carefully timed to cause minimum disruption to the racing schedule. The Dublin Port Company is a great supporter of the local clubs and smooths the progress of their regattas as far as it can.
Picture courtesy of Fr Tonge
One of St Patrick’s oldest members, Paddy Orr, is happy to see his beloved club doing so well this season. He said: “It went very well for us today; we won a lot of races – nine races. I think that’s a record. The crews did very well. The weather was against us, but we have to make the best of it. I think we did great to get through the day as quick as we did. Even though there was a lot of shipping involved. We had to pull the marks out a few times to let the ships in because we can’t disrupt the shipping, the port comes first. But the races went well. All the crews did very well and I’m delighted for them all.”
Later, Paddy’s went on to win two more races, bringing their total number of firsts on the day to 11, surpassing all previous records. They also had two crews take second place and two crews come third.
by Jennifer Reddin
