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I would like to welcome you all to this season’s first newsletter. It has been quite a while since our last up-date but with our club going from strength to strength over the past few months it is with great pleasure that I can introduce myself as captain for the 2012-2013 season. My name is Hazel O’Neill, I am a 3rd year medi-cal student and I began my rowing career 2 years ago with DULBC- safe to say I have never looked back!
When I look at the club- our successes, the great club at-mosphere, the effort of the coaches and the generosity of those who support us; I realise how lucky we are. Rowing is a sport where determination and hard work go hand in hand- what I have seen from DULBC is that fun, team-work and cooperation are what make the members want to be part of a club. From learning to row in my first year to winning championships in my second; I have borne witness to the full spectrum of DULBC- the tireless effort of the coaches to teach the complete novice to be-come a rower, the hard work of the athletes in order to achieve their goals but also the values, standards and loyalty of the members to cre-ating what is a very special club- one that is gearing up to what should be a very interesting season!
With the kind donation of a set of ergometers last season the club has been able to move forward in train-ing allowing greater numbers to train at one time and more often. This, our newly purchased 8+ last June for inter/novice racing along with a number of other donations are investments that have put us in the right direction to succeed in the coming years and we are truly grate-ful for this support.
The past few months and weeks have been exciting ones as far as racing is concerned with crews competing at University Champs, National Champs, Colours, Women’s Henley, London Metropolitan Regatta and the Grand League Regattas to name a few. Along with international representa-tion we also had an incredible haul of pennants from the head season along with several regatta medals, trophies and of course our National Championship wins in the intermedi-ate and novice 8 categories- an un-forgettable achievement for the first
time in 15 years and something I was very lucky to be a part of. This suc-
cess has created a great atmosphere and a renewal of our determination to succeed both as individuals and as
a club.
The senior/ inter squad arrived back with great enthusiasm following last season’s success and have ap-proached the autumn/winter training with definite determination for suc-cess this season. To add to this we have been joined by a number of rowers with previous experience from the USA, the UK and of course from Islandbridge who have joined the ranks and are really adding to the squad. With our first race win of the year in the Dublin Sculling Ladder
junior category by new mem-ber Sally O’Brien safe to say these girls are assets to the club! The squad has already moved training out to Bless-ington to get in some more mileage and plenty of hard work at the weekends as we gear up to our first race of
the year with Neptune Head. Mean-while the 2nd year novice group have found their niche in islandbridge and their training is well underway in the
smaller boats as they look forward to challenging some wins in the novice category this year.
This year we signed up over 160 first year novice rowers- an unbelievable number which was no doubt helped by the fantastic coverage of women’s rowing during the last Olympics. Many of these girls have really em-braced the training in boats at the weekend and the fitness sessions during the week with the guidance of the coaches and the help of a num-ber of experienced members. This year we are hosting an intervarsity novice sprints regatta in Islandbridge in December-something our enthusi-astic newcomers can look forward to as their focus for training over the coming weeks. As a new event we look forward to it in the lead up to Christmas which should give the Uni-versity Clubs an opportunity to be-come acquainted and get an idea of what racing is about at an early stage.
DULBC are extremely fortunate to have four coaches on board again this year. The coaches are
instrumental is helping all of the club members to achieve the high standards they set for themselves and
we are very grateful for all the hard work they put in on a voluntary basis.
Phil Keane
IARU Level 2 Coaching Certificate
Rowed & coached at Neptune RC
Meet the coach - Doireann Ni
Lochlainn
We would like to welcome the newest
member of our coaching panel, Dorieann
Ni Lochalin. Doireann rowed for DULBC
from 2004-2007. She was Captain of the
club for the ’06/’07 season when she won
the Intermediate 8+ at the National
Championships.
No year would be complete without maintaining our links with our alumni and following last year’s suc-cessful alumni dinner in the boat-house we are pleased to announce that we will be building on it this year. In keeping with “The Gathering Ireland 2013” campaign we are or-ganising our very own DULBC Gath-ering for all past and current mem-bers. This will take place over a weekend in March and will certainly give all alumni a reminder of their time in DULBC, a chance to catch up with old crew mates and an oppor-tunity to find out about how we are
getting on now. See the advertise-ment on this newsletter for more info- this promises to be a brilliant weekend of reunions and something we are really looking forward to.
As we settle down to a Winter of training and look forward to the rac-ing season I am excited to lead the club into what promises to be a very interesting year for all involved. I hope to leave my mark on DULBC on what seems like such a short year. With vice captain Sinead Rodger along with an enthusiastic commit-tee working with me we certainly intend to make it one to remember!
For updates on the club have a look at our recently launched website www.dulbc.iewhere you can keep in touch, read the latest news of what the girls in pink and black have been doing and see photos of old and new faces alike in the gallery. I wish our members, alumni, supporters and friends the very best for the season and look forward to the coming months.
Sat-urday the 28th of January saw the DULBC heading to Limerick for the annual St Michael’s Head. This was not only marked the start of the sea-son, but for the DULBC novices- my-self included- also marked the first test of what all the gruelling weight-circuits and 6AM training sessions had been for.
In a move we are fast learning is a common occurrence for rowers, the novices were told meet at a blister-ingly early 5:20 am on Nassau street to board a bus to take us down to the Head. Despite the early start, spirits were high and nerves seemed to have abated by the time our bus arrived and we set off for our very first race. Luckily, most of us man-aged to nap on the two and a half hour bus journey, due in no small part to the soothing tones of Elton John’s Greatest Hits- played on re-peat on the insistence of our bus
driver. “Tiny Dancer” was the unoffi-cial theme song of the day.
We had been told that St Michael’s Head takes place in what is, by in large, a field, and it was surprising to see the huge amounts of Boat Clubs and people involved in the event. We arrived at the slip just past 8 am, and already a huge amount of trailers were being unloaded and boats rigged. The seniors were already at the trailer-looking intimidatingly pro-fessional in perfectly matching gear- and it was nice to see our beloved boat the Michael Johnson- M.J.- and get to work rigging him up, albeit under the judgemental eye of the UCD boat club who just happened to park their trailer directly opposite ours.
The race itself was by far the most enjoyable aspect of the day. Despite preparing myself for an absolute gru-elling 15 minute run down the course, once our crew was in the boat and making our way toward the starting line it was remarkably easy to settle in. If it wasn’t for the dis-
tinct (and nauseating) country smells it would almost have been possible to imagine ourselves back at Island-bridge. The race was over in what seemed like a matter of seconds, un-fortunately not due to the incredible speeds we were going at but because the whole thing was actually really fun! (Who would’ve thought??) The novices were to race twice more that day, with some variation in the crews. Speaking as someone who is usually unbearably nervous when put under pressure, the whole day was really enjoyable and it left all of us with a definite sense of achievement.
St. Michael’s head is a great way for
novices to enter the sport of rowing,
without the nerves and pressure that
can come with a two-lane race with a
direct opponent. The day allowed us
to not only showcase how much
we’ve learnt in the brief time we’ve
been rowing, but also to prove to
ourselves that we are capable of
keeping our heads under pressure
and enjoying a competition.
The Corcoran Cup—The first time
experience Suzanne Daniels
As an intermediate rower this was my first race for colours, as I didn’t race colours as a novice. Colours, for us, marks the beginning of the regatta season, and when all the training starts to come together.
Last February I won my seat race into the senior colours crew slot-ting into the 4 seat. I knew that all the girls in the boat with me had trained very hard over the previ-ous months and we all sought the same goal – to win the Corcoran cup.
Training got tougher, the hours were longer but the gains in our fit-ness, technique and spirit grew with
every session on land and on the water. All training was done together been the 9 of us and our coaches so we spent many hours together but we enjoyed (most of) the hard work.
Of course sadly we didn’t win on the day, with the flow against us but I have to say it was one of the best races of my life. It all seems like a blur now and I wonder how we ever crossed the finish line but we did it in style, with many remarks on the day that we rowed better. Unfortunately one crew has to lose on the day, but we put all we had into that race. The power and emotion was evident from the words Attention, GO.
We definitely are coming back fighting this year as a squad to hopefully be holding the Corcoran cup once again!
The Sally Moorehead Trophy Rebecca Sanfey The annual colours races took place on Monday, the 19th of April, with the Sally Moorhead novice women’s race starting off the four events of the day. Disappoint-ingly, it was to be the only win for Trinity but proved to be one of the most exciting races of the day. Both crews took it in turns to hold the lead, before Trinity managed a huge push under the James Joyce bridge, to which UCD had no response.
The hours of work that went into training for the Novice Women’s race were something of a brutal awak-ening for me, never having partaken in a sport where getting up at 5:30am for training is the norm (my na-ivety is making me cringe as I write this) or where your coaches voice is so drilled into your mind that you can’t say “hands, body, slide” in anything other than an Aus-tralian accent. After the selection of the crew- Amy Nash (Str.), Nicola Davies (7), Tara Hamilton (6), Re-becca Sanfey (5), Lucy O'Donoghue (4), Deirbhile Tuite (3), Cathy Prendergast (2), Rachel Botha (Bow) and
Grace Gannon (Cox)- the work intensified and it seemed that suddenly the race we had always been working towards was getting very, very close. For the most part, I have to say I enjoyed the large amount of circuits, wa-ter-work and cross-training that became part of my life in the weeks drawing up the race. There was never any question but that every girl in that boat wanted to be there, and desperately wanted to win that race.
Despite the overwhelming build-up, the race it-self is somewhat of a blur. I vaguely remember our cox’s initial shout of “DRAWWWWW” and that nerve-wracking noise that all rowing races start with- water moving and riggers grinding and coxes screaming- but the bulk of the race seems to have lasted only a few seconds. One of the crew remarked afterwards that there was never any feeling in the boat that we would
actually lose the race, and despite UCD taking the lead for the majority it, the final push after the James Joyce bridge was where we marked our-selves out as the crew that wanted it
more.
The elation that followed crossing the line first is some-
thing that I will remember for a long time, especially
since despite UCD staging an early take-over of the
buses that followed the race, the few Trinity supporters
who had made it onto them were incredibly vocal about
their support.
Tips for Novices!
A very warm welcome to all our new novices! Hopefully you've all enjoyed your DULBC experiences so far! It was great seeing you guys at the novice night out and the massacre, hopefully you're all looking forward to the Boat Ball. You all seem to be improving well in training so keep up the good work. Blessington training camp will take place in the new year and huge improvements are made so hopefully you can all make it.... plus you can have pasta parties EVERY NIGHT (woo)!! As you can see it's starting to get pretty cold out there so start stocking up on the thermals ladies! Lots of thin lay-ers seems to work the best. Hopefully you're all getting to grips with the rowing language too; touch it, back it, stroke side, bow side, if not don't panic it will become second nature soon enough! Keep working hard and you will be rewarded. Remember if you have any problems/queries you can talk to the captain, Hazel, or Lucy, your novice co-ordinator.
We were delighted to welcome current and past club members to the boat-
house last March for our annual Alumni Dinner. The event was held on the
evening of Dublin Head, giving alumni the opportunity to watch the Interme-
diate and Novice eights race
along the Liffey before joining us
for an evening of entertainment.
The Long Room was cleared out,
tables set and the walls decorated with our most recent winnings pen-
nants from the head season. The evening began with welcome drinks
in the bar followed by a club photo on the steps of the boathouse. We
were joined by current and past coaches, past President Jane Williams
as well as many other recent alumni and current squad members. The
three-course meal provided by Knight’s Catering was enjoyed by all.
Toasts were made to celebrate recent wins and a special presentation of a new club blazer was made to head coach
Andrew Coleman for his dedication to the club over the past 5 years. The night continued into town where we were
joined by the first year novices in D2 nightclub. We would like to thank everyone who attended and hope they en-
joyed their night reminiscing with old friends. A special thanks also goes to Neptune Rowing Club for kindly lending
us the dining chairs for the day. They all made it back in one piece, though one or two went for a quick dip while
crossing the river in the launch the next day!
We intend to plan a similar event for 2013, with the hope that more advance notice of the date should enable more
people to attend. A provisional date of March 30th has been set so please keep this date free in your diary and look
out for your e-mail invitation before Christmas.
The University Championships 2012, hosted by UCC in the national row-
ing centre in Inniscara, Cork were among the most suc-cessful in the history of DULBC. Not only did the club come away with the prestigious Bank Of Ireland Women's Cup for some of our biggest wins against other universities (Novice and Inter 8s) but also took the Overall University trophy with DUBC. Numerous small boats took to the water also, with wins for the senior
pair and some sterling performances in doubles and sin-gles.
Sunday featured an equally successful day with crews taking to the water once more to com-pete in Skibbereen Regatta. Invaluable racing experience, and wins in the Nov-ice 8+ and Novice 4+ concluded the week-end nicely.
With our rather inti-mate sleeping ar-rangements in Lee Valley, and a very well established pink and black base camp in the rowing centre, the weekend was a fantastic opportunity for the entire club to get to know each
other, as well as to race together, and most importantly, win copious amounts of pots!
At the beginning of June DULBC travelled to the UK to take part in the London Metropolitan Regatta. The re-gatta takes place at the Eton College rowing centre, Dor-ney Lake, which was the site of the rowing and kayak events for London 2012. It was incredible to see the preparations for the Olympic rowing taking place around us- crossing under the bridge to the start line we were reminded that the best row-ers in the world would be do-ing the same in less than two months time!
The regatta itself pro-vided invaluable racing ex-perience, with some crews racing up to eight times over the two days. This was par-ticularly beneficial to the Nov-ice crews who were racing at a higher standard and against
tougher competition that would have been possible at home. There was impressive racing from our more ex-perienced members too,
with the Inter1 8+ crew coming third on Satur-day.
Once again this year we owe a huge thank you to Elaine and Tom Coleman for pro-viding food, accommodation, and croquet in the garden!
And, as always, thank you to Andrew and the coaches for organising the trip down to the last detail.
From racing, to sipping Pimms, to piling twenty Nov-ices into Phil’s rented KUGA, the trip was definitely one of the highlights of the year. We all came home inspired and excited, determined to train harder than ever in the run up to National Championships!
Susannah Cass and Rebecca
Deasy—Inter 2x Winners of the Intermediate 8+
The Novice 8+ storming to victory at the University
Championships
Sarah Dolan and Ruth Morris claiming the Senior 2x title
Massacre No need for an introduction to this event…
Fancy dress was essential and everyone ad-hered this to very strictly! The DULBC girls themed up and went with a Harry Potter theme. We had our very own Harry right down to Winky the house elf. We got loads of support from the other boat clubs on the river and it turned out to be a great night, merry and messy. As ever this is one of DULBC’s biggest fundraising events and we
are very grateful of all the support we received!
The Boat Ball The Boat Ball was held in The Burlington Hotel on
upper Lesson Street on Saturday the 17 of November.
This event is run jointly with DUBC with a wine
reception, delicious three course meal, a
performance from the Trinitones and bar and DJ ‘til