After a few months break WBC were back racing at St Michael’s Head of the River on Oct 7th 2023 on an unseasonably warm and dry day. Racing took place from O’Briens Bridge in Co Clare where recent heavy rain led to high river heights. Nonetheless the race went ahead as planned.
The course was a 3K course which was the same length for all crews taking part with a rolling head format meaning that any crew could launch when they wished. WBC entered 21 crews for this race across categories from J13-J16
This Head also saw the Leo Murphy Quad return to action after it’s Summer sabbatical. Happy to report that it’s now safely back on a rack in the boat house after a fine days work.
Official timed results for the event can be found here
Race Review
WJ15 4x+ : First on the water were the WJ15 4x+ crew of Edie, Katie, Aine and Jessica with Harry Grant coxing. The girls set an excellent opening time of 12:28 which would see them top the leaderboard for practically the whole day until the very end when Fermoy pipped them by 8 seconds. Nonetheless an excellent 2nd place out of 9 was a great result.
Unusually WBC entered 2 WJ154x+ crews. The second crew of Kate, Hannah, Faye and Molly with Mads coxing took to the water shortly after the first WJ15 4x+ boat. Despite 2 of the girls being J13 and MOlly being J14 the girls put in a fantastic effort to place 4th just 1 second behind third place Skibbereen and only 26 seconds behind the regular WJ15 4x+ crew. A great showing for their first run out in a race together.
MJ 16 1x : Next on the water were the MJ16 singles. Sean and Darragh competed here for Waterford. In a very large field Sean placed 12th and Darragh placed 18th bu there was a tight bunching of times around the 13:00 minute mark which meant a coupe of seconds the other way could have resulted in a higher placing.
MJ 15 1x : Henry and Oran were next out in the MJ15 1x in another very large field. Oran took 16th and Henry 30th but again a tight grouping of times around the 13:20 range could have seen a large swing in finishing positions with just a few seconds. Good showing from the lads here
MJ14 1X : Last out in the men’s singles was Harry Grant whose time placed 5th in the MJ14 1x. A solid race from Harry.
WJ16 4x+ : Waterford’s first win of the day came courtesy of an excellent row from the WJ16 4x+. The crew of Hannah, Sarah, Deirdre Erin and Siun (cox) took an excellent win finishing in a time of 12:11. Congratulations to the girls for a fantastic row and result.
WJ16 2x : To add to their success in the quad earlier in the day the J16 girls were out again in doubles later in the day. Yet another set of excellent rows led to more high finishes. The Waterford B crew of Siun and Erin put in a great performance to place second just 20 seconds down on winners Muckross. Just a few seconds behind their clubmates were the Waterford A crew of Hannah and Deirdre who finished in a great fourth position.
WJ14 2x : In Waterford’s second win of the day Hannah and Faye took a brilliant win in the WJ14x despite both of them still being J13. Another excellent win for the pair who’ve been having a fantastic season both in the double and the quad. Well done girls.
WJ15 2x : In an eventful run in the WJ15 2x Molly and Kate unfortunately found the reeds during the run badly halting their progress. Despite this significant delay the girls ploughed on and finished in a very good time of 14:29 placing them sixth out of twelve. A real case of what could have been here as the girls easily lost a minute but nonetheless a great recovery and final showing.
WJ16 1x : Waterford had 2 entries in the WJ16 singles with Sarah and Sarah taking part. In another tightly bunched race of 18 competitors the girls had really good races and Siun finished in seventh a couple of seconds ahead of Sarah in eighth.
WJ15 1x : The Girls J15 quad members all took a run at the singles today. In one of the best runs of the day Edie took third place in a field of 34 with an exceptional row just 20 seconds back from the eventual winner from Cork. Katie, Aine and Jessica also had really good races and finished bunched closely together in 12th, 14th and 15th just a couple of seconds apart. Great show from all here.
MJ16 2x : Sean and Darragh took part in a large field of 17 for the MJ16 2x doubles. They eventually finished fourth just a couple of seconds from the Muckross crews in 2nd and 3rd. Another great showing from the lads.
MJ15 2x : Oran and Henry completed the doubles for Waterford in the MJ15 2x. In another really good result in a large field of 23 the lads placed sixth overall.
MJ13 4x+ : The crew of Sean, Toby, Mads, Sam and cox Jessica took part in the MJ13 4x+. The lads showed much better technique in this arce but unfortunately fished down the rankings in eighth out of nine, but an improvement of just 20 seconds could have seen them rise much higher in the rankings. A decent showing here and hopefully a good place to push on from.
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