All eyes on University of Limerick as rowing season goes indoors

As the evenings draw in and time on the water is more and more limited, attention turns to indoor rowing and the upcoming Irish Provinces Indoor Rowing Championships. With just one or two Heads of the River (club-run time trials on the water) still to be held before the end of 2016, this is the biggest attraction on the rowing calendar during the winter months.

This pre-Christmas event will be held on Saturday, November 26 in the large and airy UL Sports Arena, on the University of Limerick Campus. The event will hopefully build on several recent Irish Indoor Rowing Championship (IIRC) race series, and will be followed by the big post-Christmas test, the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships in January.

This series of indoor events have brought Irish indoor rowing into the mainstream, drawing the best athletes from around the country to compete for their chosen province.

This year’s event has an added incentive for those with aspirations to be the best in the country, with four enticing prizes up for grabs for the top performers. High Performance Director, Morten Espersen, made the announcement in recent weeks in the hope that exceptional scores will be produced and to encourage Rowing Ireland athletes to step up further on the fitness ladder.

“Ergometer performance and ergometer fitness has a direct correlation with on water performance and we want to encourage all our membership to strive to new levels of performance both on and off the water,” Espersen said. “Four grants of €5,000 each will be available if the performance scores outlined are bettered.”

The grants will be for world class times on Concept 2 ergometers (rowing machines). The performances required are: Men, Open, 5 minutes 35 seconds; Men, Lightweight, 5:54. Women, Open, 6:23; and Women, Lightweight, 6:53.

In addition, up to four travel scholarships will be available for participation in the Boston/USA “Crash B” (World Indoor Rowing Championship) in February 2017 by any athletes achieving outstanding performances in Limerick.

The evaluation panel will consist of Morten Espersen (HPD), Joe Cantillon (OC Irish Indoors) & Alex Dunne (Concept 2).

Qualifying athletes must be involved in the Rowing Ireland High Performance on water trialling process in 2016/2017, and if more than four athletes achieve the world class times, the four best are selected based on percentage of times achieved.

With over 800 entries recorded for Saturday’s event, it’s clear that the sport’s recent success has enticed many new participants, as much of these entries are novices and juniors.

Among the entrants will be some of the junior men and women who took part in a recent junior “sweep” training day at the National Rowing Centre, Cork. Athletes were invited based on performances at the Irish Open back in October, as well as those that represented Ireland last year and are still eligible. These athletes will be keen to impress.

Interestingly, the entries don’t just consist of rowing clubs, with teams from different sports also being attracted to the competition each year, including crossfit, strength and conditioning groups, GAA clubs, cycling teams and more. Rowing clubs make up about 60% of the total entries, with many travelling from Donegal, Belfast and other Northern counties, as well as entries from Wales.