14/12/2005 - Coming weeks - Things get a little disjointed over the next couple of weeks with Christmas upon us. The lads group will continue to train and times etc will be advised by yours truly via e-mail or Mark B on an updated basis every few days. 5k erg tests are to be done by all in training over the coming week while training this Saturday will be at 9am as usual with time for Sunday decided at that point. Master Gately informs me that he is in the process of putting together a Womens Novice 8 to rival the Mens Novice 8 so if anyone knows any girls who would like to take up the challenge please have them contact Shane - this would include the Junior girls aswell I assume???

14/12/2005 - Indoors - Well done to both Shane and Mark O'Halloran who competed at the National Indoors in UCD last week-end. Mark set a new PB and was mid way up the table in one the largest fields of the day while Shane rowed well despite being outside his PB from last year - thats what married life does to a man.......

06/12/2005 - Interesting Article - Found an article on the web today. Its an interview with Head Coach of GB Rowing Jurgen Groebler. Itshere and gives a good insight into a well run system over in the UK.

05/12/2005- Back to Reality - Training continues as usual this week-end with the Mens Novice Group on the water at 9am on Saturday morning while a number of the clubs members will be competing at the Indoors in UCD on Sunday so best of luck to Shane and Mark O'H in that.

05/12/2005- Club Christmas Head - The annual club get together took place last Saturday and started off with most of active club members taking to the water in practically every boat we own and racing down from the first lake. The crew of Skier, Gerald, Conor and Dymps took the new coxless four out on its first outing and ended up winning the event narrowly over the Mens Nov 4+ of Shane, Eren, Mark K, Ewan and cox Donncha. Third was going to Finlay before he managed to wrap himself around the new markers Waterways Ireland have erected on the Regatta course straight so the mixed 2x of Paul Gunning and Aisling McDermott sneaked in ahead of him. There were a number of other doubles and singles while the raw Novice 8 with one or two Vets in the boat brought up the rear. After the racing there was food and drink in the Clubrooms while a number then made it on as far as The Oarsman while even a fewer number made it to Cryans and then eventually Cartown - one of those who did make it out was Skier despite catching 40 (+ another 40) winks in The Oarsman beforehand.

05/12/2005- New Boat No. 1 Arrives - Walk into the boathouse and you'll notice a new colour scheme away from the usual white boats to our new Empacher 4- which arrived on Saturday morning. It was no sooner in carrick than it won its first race, see above

29/11/2005- This week-end - This week-end sees our annual Club Pre-Christmas racing and get-together. Plans are to get everyone in the Club out in some form out boat and empty the boathouse for a short Head style race form the First lake down to the steps weather permitting. Kick off will be 1pm approx with crews being sorted at that point. There will be food and "refreshments" in the Clubrooms afterwards and all club members and family are invited to attend. There will also be a pre-race warm up in the Oarsman on Friday night for those who feel they have been out of practice recently (eg Elaine....)

29/11/2005- New Boats - Some of you will no doubt be aware at this stage that we have acquired two new boats recently. A brand new Double Scull / Pair was recently bought for the club by a very generous Honorary Memeber (more anon) and this will be arriving in from England in the second week of December while we also recently purchased a second hand Empacher Coxless Four which should be arriving this Saturday morning all going to plan.

29/11/2005- Athlone Head - Unfortunately our planned trip to Athlone had be called off due to the event being cancelled due lack of entries - it was disappointing as it would have given the lads Novice group a good chance to see how they were progressing - the next event on the horizon not being until late January with St Micks Head in Limerick......

15/11/2005- Athlone Head - The entries for Athlone Head (Sat 26th Nov) were submitted today. This Head is for coxed boats only so our two entries will be a Novice 4+ in the 2nd Head at 2pm consisting of Shane (stk), Eren, Mark K, Ewan (bow) and Katie (cox) while we will also have a Vet 8 in the 1st head at 10.30am made up of Shane, Mark B, Mark K, Ewan, Fin, Gabor, Jay, Dave Keane (newbie) & Katie as Cox.

15/11/2005- Christmas get-together - I know its a bit early to be talking about Christmas but just a little prior warning that the Club Christmas get-together will be happening a little early this year due to the hectic lives that we all lead in the club. It is pencilled in for Saturday 3rd December and general outline will be that we will all gather at the club around lunchtime (incl Juniors) and get into every boat the club has to offer in all forms of combinations and head off up river and then race down in a mini Head style format. There will be food and drinks in he club afterwards with a few of the elder statemen/women maybe heading over the road to The Oarsman afterwards.

15/11/2005- Last remaining photos - I have uploaded some further photos to the Head of the Charles folder in the Photo Album. They are the ones Elaine held off on getting developed due to the sheer anticiaption of what was in there....

02/11/2005- Training - Training for the Mens Sweep Group gets back into action this week-end after the Head of the Charles break - we will meet as usual at 9am on Saturday and 10am on Sunday unless some changes drastically between now and then - Mark

02/11/2005- Committee Meeting - The next meeting of the clubs committee will take place on Sunday 13th November at 12.30pm in the Clubrooms

02/11/2005- Head of the Charles Photos - Having just about recovered I have uploaded some photos from the trip to the Head of the Charles to the Photo Album........

28/10/2005- Head of the Charles - Haven't a clue where to start about describing last week-end over in Boston so I think I will wait till next week when I upload the photos and you can see for yourself. Great few days had by all with some good racing on the Saturday, expecially by Dymps. I'll have plenty more next week once I get the photo's in order......

10/10/2005- This week-end - Early reminder that training for the Mens 8 will be as per usual 9am on Saturday and 10am on Sunday, all crew members asked to make a special effort to attend this week hail, rain or shine as these are the last spins before we head off for the Head of the Charles.

10/10/2005- Get well - Meant to put this up a couple of weeks ago but I'm sure all the club will join me in wishing Ronan (Evil Kinevil) Tinsley a speedy recovery after being involved in an accident a couple of weeks back. He was extremely lucky in that there wasn't more damage done but with all the bruises and broken bones already over the past couple of years I'm sure h'll be back on the water down in Galway in no time.

10/10/2005- Another Plug - Completely un-Carrick and un-Rowing related but for those of you who happen to be watching The X-Factor on TV3 / ITV there is the small matter that the girls I previously plugged a number of weeks back as talented members of our family have made it through to the final of the programme from over 75,000 initial applicants. Shameless plug again I know but well worth your vote. Keep updated here and here. Jay is heading over the week after next so you might spot him in the audience aswell (if you are unlucky).

10/10/2005- Reminder to the Junior Girls..... - A reminder to the Junior Girls that the money for the club one-pieces is still outstanding..........

03/10/2005- Update - Not alot happening on the news front at the moment, everyone settling into the winter training schedule. The Dublin Sculling Ladder (2km timetrial in Dublin) takes place this week-end while the club will have an Eight and Dympna in a Single in the Head of the Charles in Boston in just over a fortnights time. We are currently in the process of hopefully acquiring a second hand coxless four and we still await our new Double Scull which should be arriving in the next couple of weeks. A reminder that training for Novices and Seniors is 9am on Saturday morns and 10am on Sunday and new members are always welcome, expecially into the Novice Mens Group.

07/09/2005 - This Week-end - Just a reminder that the main spin in the 8 will be at 9am this Saturday morning and all crew members are asked to attend.

07/09/2005 - Head of the Charles - Carrick Rowing Club's two entries into this years Head of the Charles in Boston have been accepted. We will race in the Club 8's and Dymps will race in the Club Singles. Full list of entries can be seen here and here.

31/08/2005 - Absent Friends - Found this when I was trawling the web this evening, just to show you Nutbag MacEoin is still alive and kicking here he is competing at the Galway Triathlon last week-end.......

29/08/2005 - Appeal - Once again I would appeal to anyone who knows anybody who would be interested in taking up coxing in the club to bring them down any week-end and we'll show them the ropes, the Saturday and Sunday morning spins will start to falter unless we get one or two coxes on board fairly soon.

29/08/2005 - Training Times - For the coming weeks we will operate along the following lines with regards to training times at the week-end in order to fully maximise boat usage - Saturday morns 9am - 11am Senior / Novice Mens & Womens Squad; 11am-12.30pm Junior Men and Junior Women. Sunday morns 10am - 11.30am Senior / Novice Mens & Womens Squad; Juniors to arranged with Tony on the Saturday morning session.

29/08/2005 - Recent Happenings - Things are all quiet on the news front for the past few weeks. We named our new scull and will hopefully be taking receipt of our new double scull in the coming weeks. People are starting back into winter training now with Boston, Tribes Time Trial and the Indoors creeping up on the horizon. There is the bones of a new Mens Novice 8 in training, but still lacking the one or two bodies that will create the link for a full Novice squad so anyone in the club who knows any males between the ages of 18-45ish who would be interested in giving it a go please bring them along any week-end morning, bearing in mind that we will have for the first time in a number of years a couple of fulltime coaches on hand to train the crews this season. The Junior girls should be getting back on the water in the coming week and they (along with a couple of the Novice Scullers) should be thinking of the Offaly Time Trial which we will probably travel to at the start of October.

09/08/2005 - Committee Meeting - There will be a meeting this Sunday at 12.30pm in the Clubrooms, all members are asked to attend if at all possible.

04/08/2005 - Boat Naming & Blessing - All club members and friends of the club are invited to the official boat naming and blessing ceremony of our new scull "John C. Costello" this Saturday afternoon at 4.30pm. The boat will be named in honour of a life long member of the club, John Costello, who passed away recently. It will be a short ceremony with a few words from our Club President & Captain.

04/08/2005 - Regatta Photo's - I have uploaded some photo's from last week-end up on to TheWaterEdge.com. As most of you will appreciate, having a camera stuck to my face during the day was not on the top of my priorities so most of the photo's are from the last hour of racing on the day when I handed over Umpiring duties to my faithful sidekick. I will upload some more Carrick specific photo's to this website hopefully next week.

02/08/2005 - Regatta Results 2005 - Carrick Sprints have come and gone again for another year and were a huge success. Large crowds, good weather (after an early morning blip) and great racing were the order of the day. Thanks to everyone who helped out on the day in any way and special thanks to Keith & Anabella and Victoria Hall for the generous sponsorship of the event. I have now posted the results here. I'll have further details of the regatta later including photo's.

25/07/2005 - Sprints Draw & Timetable - The draw & timetable for the Victoria Hall Carrick Sprints 2005 is now online and available in the Carrick Sprints 05 section on the left hand menu - many thanks to all those clubs who have entered.

04/07/2005 - Club Meeting 2005 - The last official club meeting before the Regatta will take place this Sunday at 12.30pm in the clubrooms. All club members (not just Committee Members) are asked to attend if at all possible as preparations will get into full swing after this week-end.

04/07/2005 - Connemara Triathlon 2005 - Well done to Conor, Dymps & Colm who competed at the Connemara Triathlon in Carna, Co. Galway last week-end. For three people who have never competed in such a gruelling event (750m swim, 40km cycle & 8km run) they all done exceptionally well. There were approx 300 competitors with Conor finishing 21st overall in 2hrs 1min, Colm finishing in 2hrs 30mins and Dymps finishing 11th in the Open Womens event in a time of 2hrs 36mins. For three rowers with no triathlon experience its not bad going by all accounts. I have uploaded some photos of the event in the Photo Album.

04/07/2005 - Have you lost a book? - For some unknown reason I have two copies of Matthew Pincents autobiography in my book collection. If anyone is down one from there collection and may have given it to me for some reason you can claim it back from me.

26/06/2005 - Victoria Hall Carrick Sprints 2005 - I have now updated the Sprints 2005 page (see left hand menu) with the official prospectus that went out to all the clubs this week.

21/06/2005 - Club Meeting - There will be a Club / Committee Meeting this Sunday @ 12.30 pm in the Clubrooms. All Club members as opposed to just Committee Members are asked to attend if possible as we get the ball rolling on our annual Regatta.

20/06/2005 - Vet 8 & 4 win in Galway - We travelled over to a blisteringly hot Galway Regatta over the week-end with our largest trailer load in a long time. Carrick's purchase of an 8 continues to reap the rewards with the Vet 8 winning the final by a length from Galway RC and St Michaels Limerick a further length back in third. The Mens Vet 4+ of Conor, Mark B, Mark K, Shane & Fin (cox) also won. Ewan had a great race in the final of the Vet sculls coming back from a slow start to work his way back into second place. The girls quad of Andrea, Oneisa, Aishling, Tara & Katie (cox) continue to improve immeasurably and will definitely be ones to watch next year considering three of them are still underage for Jun 16 again next year. Tara & Andrea also done well in the double with a good start against Castleconnell only to be called back for a restart when Castleconnell came across their lane & clashed with them. Eren competed in the Jun 18 & Novice sculls losing out narrowly in the semi's of both while Conor & Mark B done well despite veering slightly off course at the start. I have uploaded the photo's in the Photo Album. Also, thanks to John Lowe for pulling the trailor and his support on the day.

20/06/2005 - Sponsorship - After our trek over to Galway at the week-end one small but valuable piece of equipment we are lacking stood out like a sore thumb especially for our group of coxes. A Cox-box is urgently required for our 4 & 8 but with the club finances currently very tight we should try and see if anyone would be willing to sponsor this very valuable piece of equipment. One cox-box (which would do both boats) would cost in the region of €750.00 so if anybody knows any person / business willing to sponsor the club for the purchase of the cox box please let one of the club officers know or alternatively e-mail me and I will try and sort something out.

20/06/2005 - New Scull - For anyone who has not been in the club in a couple of days our new scull has now arrived while our new launch is in the country and is just awaiting collection so should be here within the next fortnight.

13/06/2005 - Galway Regatta 2005 - This Sunday we travel to Galway Regatta with a large entry. The draw for the Regatta can now be found here. For once we do not have a ridiculously early start with the clubs first race at 9.30am. We will be hoping to get a spin in the 8 on Saturday so I will be in contact during the week re times and we will then load the boats Saturday afternoon.

08/06/2005 - Next Up - Next up is Galway Regatta which takes place on Sunday week. we will have a full range of entries from our new Vet 8 down to the Jun 16 girls and boys. I'll post a full list of the entries later in the week.

08/06/2005 - TransAllen Crossing - After getting our first spin in our new 8 last Sunday evening we headed off to Spencer Harbour on Lough Allen for the first ever TransAllen Crossing. Weather was not ideal but the 8 showed its strength and ploughed through the waves to win the event comfortably in the end. I have uploaded some photo's to the Photo Album.

01/06/2005 - This Week-end - At the moment it is looking that there may be problems with our trip to Carlow this week-end, at the moment it looks as though we may not be travelling but more later when I know exactly. On Monday we will travel up to Spencer Harbour on Lough Allen for the TransAllen crossing which is a 5km race across Lough Allen in non-powered boats. At the moment we plan to bring the 8 across weather dependent and we may have one or two other smaller boats so any club members who can make it is asked to come along. We have to be up there for 11am on Monday so will be around the club from 9am to load up etc.

01/06/2005 - New Arrival - Those of you who have been in the boathouse will have noticed a new addition to the boathouse with the arrival of our new 8. Hopefully she will be getting her maiden voyage on the Shannon this week-end.

23/05/2005 - Carlow Regatta - The following entries have gone in for Carlow Regatta which takes place on Sunday week:- Mens J18 1x (Eren), Mens Vet 1x (Shane), Mens Vet 1x (Ewan), Mens Nov 2x & Vet 2x (to be made up from Shane, Colm & Ewan), Mens J14 1x (Donncha Breheny), Womens Nov 1x (Tara Fleming), Womens J15 1x (Tara Gibbons), Womens J15 2x (Tara & Andrea), Womens J16 2x (Oneisa & Aishling) and last but definitely not least the Womens J16 4x+ (Andrea, Aishling, Oneisa, Tara & Katie).

23/05/2005 - Momentous Week-end - Last week-end we took a major step in our rebuilding process when the club purchased an eight (yes, AN EIGHT!). Some may find it strange considering we haven't had an eight in the club in nearly 15 years never mind 8 people to put in it (I am pretty sure I was a young 14 or 15 year old Junior in the last eight we put on the water) but on Saturday we agreed the purchase of an Aylings Olympian 8. We hope to collect the boat this coming Saturday morning so hopefully we should have it back in the boathouse by Saturday afternoon. With the pending arrival also of the new club scull and safety launch its time we really got to work on the boathouse extension..... And before anyone asks will the 8 actually fit into the Boathouse the answer is yes as we were clever enough to take some measurements.

16/05/2005 - Next Up - Next up for the club will be Carlow Regatta on the Sunday of the June Bank Holiday week-end where we would hope to travel with a big contingent.

16/05/2005 - Portora Regatta - Well done to the Juniors at Portora Regatta last week-end, some really good performances for them on thier first outing for the club. The Jun 16 Womens 4x+ (Andrea Breheny, Tara Gibbons, Aishling McDermott, Oneisa O'Connor & Katie Jolley) lost out narrowly to Methody College Belfast, losing by only a matter of feet while also beating Portadown into third place. The two Jun 16 scullers of Tara Gibbons & Oneisa O'Connor were 2nd and 3rd respectively so well done to them also. On another promising front the bulk of these girls are only Jun 15's so hopefully they will progress on to bigger and better things next year at Jun 16 again. Eren had a good row (even though he was disappointed himself) in the Mens Jun 18 1x where he was 2nd to Abraham of Portora BC.

09/05/2005 - New Boats - Most of you will be aware by now that we have purchased a new scull and a new launch, both of which should be arriving within the next couple of weeks or so. It has been decided that the new scull will be named in honour of the late John Costello, a fitting tribute to a former lifelong member of the club. We will be holding a naming ceremony, probably next month, and I will post further details when I have them.

09/05/2005 - Club Visitors - Those of you around over the week-end may have noticed more activity than usual on the river with one of the top Mens 8's in Ireland spending the week-end down in Carrick on a training camp. For their own privacy I won't name them but it was good to see a top quality 8 training in Carrick again even if it was only for a few days - pity the weather didn't do them any favours......

09/05/2005 - Committee Meeting - There will be a Committee Meeting this Sunday at 12.30pm and all members are asked to attend as plans for our own Regatta get into full swing.

09/05/2005 - Portora Regatta - The Club travels to Enniskillen this week-end for Portora Junior Regatta. Eren will race in the Junior 18 Sculls, while we will also have the Womens Junior 16 Quad Scull making their debut and also there will be two Junior 16 single scullers from this group so best of luck to them and hopefully it will be the start of a long and successful career for these young girls.

27/04/2005 - Shameless Plug - Check out this website, catch them now while you can before they start selling out the RDS, Wembley etc. And who said there wasn't any talent in our family........

27/04/2005 - Coming Events - We'll be deciding over the coming on which Regatta's we'll be going to over the next couple of months but it will look something along the lines of Portora, Carlow, Athlone, Galway, National Championships and then the biggest of them all, CARRICK

20/04/2005 - Carrick Sprints 2005 - Further details of Carrick Sprints 2005 including details of the Waterways Ireland Junior 14 & Junior 16 League can be found here.

20/04/2005 - Queens Photos - Queens Regatta Photo's now uploaded to the Photo Album.

19/04/2005 - The Coming Weeks... - Back on the water as usual 8am on Saturday. As regards upcoming Regattas we are going to have to sit down and have a chat about when people are available. We had planned to go to Portadown on Saturday week but this now looks highly unlikely due to unavailability of some people so we may have a quick get together after the spins Saturday morning.

19/04/2005 - Queens Regatta - We travelled up North to Castlewellan last Saturday for Queens Regatta. It is definitely the earliest I have ever been up for a Regatta (3.50am) and I'm sure its the same for all the others. The day was "damp" to put it mildly and a bit on the blustery side. We had no wins on the day unfortunately but we did have a couple of good runs. Shane & Eren had a great row in the Novice 2x considering it was their first spin in a Double together. The led most of the race only to be overtaken by Portadown in the push to the line, coming second by less than half a length. Colm & Ewan never recovered from a bad start in the Vet 2x and had to settle for fifth in the final. Eren qualified out of his heat of the Mens Jun 1x but could not contest the final due to the late timetabling of the race. Mark B & Conor were second in the Mens Inter 2x while they also came fifth in the Open 2x. Thanks to Ewan who pulled the trailer on the day.

13/04/2005 - Queens Regatta - We travel to Queens Regatta in Catlewellan on Saturday. We have a pretty big contingent and it will be a very early start for all those travelling. We will try and meet at the club at 5 on Friday for those who can make it down for a quick spin on the water and then load the boats after at around 6.30pm.

13/04/2005 - Neptune / Commercial - Eren didn't travel in the end last week-end so he will have to unleash the pent up rowing fury he has built up over the winter in Queens this week-end. Grainne was the only Carrick representative last week-end rowing in both the Novice Eight & Four for DULBC. She can be seen in action here & here. You can thank me later Grainne.

05/04/2005 - Regatta Start Procedure - The Union have issued the following with regard to the new FISA starting procedure for Regattas. Please click here and familiarise yourselves with this.

05/04/2005 - The Coming Weeks - Neptune & Commercial Regattas take place this week-end in Dublin with Eren being the only entry. Having a little problem at the moment with getting the scull up so if anybody knows anyone travelling up with a roof rack Friday / Saturday morn can you give one of us a shout. Queens is the following week and we have a pretty big entry as follows:- Mens Open 2x (Mark B & Conor), mens Inter 2x (Mark B & Conor), Mens Vet 2x A (Shane & Conor), Mens Vet 2x B (Colm & Ewan), Mens Nov 2x A (Ewan & Colm), Mens Nov 2x B (Shane & Eren), Mens Vet 1x (Shane), Mens Jun 18 1x (Eren). More details re travelling & loading etc when I get them but hopefully we will get a spin in the Friday afternoon before loading the boats (along with all the spins this week-end as per usual).

30/03/2005 - Committee Meeting - A quick reminder that there will be a Committee Meeting this Sunday at 12.30pm in the Clubrooms and all members are asked to attend if possible.

30/03/2005 - Upcoming races - Regatta season starts the week after next with Neptune Regatta. Eren will be the only Carrick representative in the Jun 1x while the following week-end we will travel to Castlewellan, Co. Down for Queens Regatta and we should have a full contingent travelling to that. More details about that when we meet at the week-end.

30/03/2005 - Tribes Head Photo's - I have eventually got around to uploading the photo's from Galway so they can be found in the photo album.

25/03/2005 - Irish Boat Race - Best of luck to Grainne Cox who competes as part of the Trinity Novice Womens Crew in tomorrows Irish version of the Boat Race. The event takes place on the Liffey tomorrow morning.

21/03/2005 - Tribes Head - Just have a quick minute to go thru the headlines, great day had by all I think apart from Colm and Ewan who reakoned they couldn't have had a worse spin if they tried....Shane & Conor had a good row in the 2x, second in the Open category, Shane had another good spin in the Vet 1x and came third, Eren had difficulties with his steering so was a little disappointed with his spin (plus a botch repair to the bow of his scull by yours truly didn't help his cause), as stated Colm & Ewan had difficulties with the blustery conditions of the 2nd Head and will put last week-end well and truly behind them while Ronan (rowing for some strange new club) was probably one of the most convincing winners of any event of the day by winning the Novice Sculls by over 30 seconds from his nearest rival. More details and photo's when I can get my head above water to breathe......

16/03/2005 - Committee Meeting - The first meeting of the incoming Committee for 2005 / 2006 will take place on Sunday 3rd April @ 12.30pm in the Clubrooms. All members are asked to attend. (Please ignore prev posting re meeting being on 27th March as this is Easter Sunday, Mark)

15/03/2005 - Tribes Head - After some very late alterations to the entry the following will be racing on Saturday in Galway:- Mens Junior 1x (Eren), Mens Vet 1x (Shane), Mens Open 2x (Shane & Conor) & Mens Novice 2x (Colm & Ewan). The First Head will start at 10.30am (Eren & Shane) while the Second Head will be at 1.30pm (both Doubles) so we will have to be leaving around 6.30 on Saturday morning. More exact details when I have them but anyone who wants to travel down as support please let one of us know as there should be some extra room available in the cars travelling.

15/03/2005 - Paddy's Day - There will be a quick paddle for those racing on Saturday at 9am on Thursday, will probably take the same format as last Sundays spin from the pocket down but might be over a slightly shorter distance depending on the weather. Depending on time we may also load the boats afer the spin to get it over and done with.

08/03/2005 - Next up... - Just a quick reminder that Tribes Head is on on the 19th March (Sat week) in Galway, more on this later

08/03/2005 - Erne Head - Enniskillen turned out to be a bit of a non event at the week-end with the Mens 4x+ having to withdraw due to terrible rowing conditions. Half the field was pulled from the event for safety reasons and this included the 4x+ and also the Trinity Womens Novice 8 which included some girl by the name of Grainne Cox, vague recollections of someone in the club with a similar name......Dymps, Elaine and Tara used the occasion to peruse the local shop windowns while Shanes eternal search for the ultimate master butcher was brought to an end.

08/03/2005 - Visitors Board - For any of you who do occasionally go into the Vistors Board on this website and wondering where a recent Poll has gone to I have had to delete it as Jason decided he was going to vote on behalf of the whole club under a few different pseudonyms (great thing on being able to see behind the scenes and seeing peoples IP addresses). This little glitch in the system is currently being sorted.

01/03/2005 - Membership - Membership fee's are now due (within 30 days of the AGM) for current members. For any new members or overseas supporters I have uploaded a Membership Form (see left hand main menu under "Membership"). It is the tradition within the club that each existing member would try to bring in one new member into the club each year so if anyone knows anybody interested please get them to sign up.

28/02/2005 - AGM - Well, the AGM as been and gone again for another year. By my reakoning (well at least for as long as I have been a member of the club, nigh on 17 years) I think it was the quickest ever AGM - great planning on my part by putting it on just before the Ireland England match. No major controversy or scandal to report. Good turnout it has to be said which was great to see. The outgoing committee were re-elected en masse except for two or three alterations (can be seen on the Committee page shortly once I have it updated). We announced the purchase of a new launch (eventually - thanks to Ewan and Fin for the work they put in on this) and also the imminent purchase of a new Stampfli single scull (couple of minor technicalities to be sorted), both of which should be arriving in approx 5 weeks. One or two other important matters were brought up at the meeting also which I would prefer not to go into on this web page but will need careful consideration over the coming weeks so the first Meeting of the incoming Committee will be vitally important.

21/02/2005 - AGM - Again, all members are advised that the club AGM is on this Sunday at 12.00pm and all members are asked to attend. I have sent notices to all those I have addresses for so if anyone knows anyone else who is interested in coming along please encourage them to do so.

21/02/2005 - Head of the Charles - Numbers are finally falling into place now for the trip to Boston. It looks like we have reached an 8 on the Mens side and Dymps and Elaine will also be travelling. It is proposed that we get the Aer Lingus 13.45 flight from Shannon on Thursday 20th of October and return on the 20.45 flight out of Boston on Tuesday 25th of October. Those of us who are definites are booking our flights on next Monday (day after AGM) so if anybody else is interested this is the proposed plan of action.

21/02/2005 - Erne Head of the River - The club will send a Quad Scull to Erne Head of the River on Saturday week. The event will take place in Enniskillen so it is only a short trip up the road.

21/02/2005 - Club Gear - I will be placing another order for gear with Powerhouse this Sunday. If anyone wants anything else please let me know by then. This will be a final deadline so if anybody wants anything after this they get it themselves. Also, money is to be paid upfront (I'm still out a pound or two from the last order!)

15/02/2005 - Club AGM - Further to my previous posting re the Club AGM on the 27th Feb, the meeting will now take place at 12pm (as opposed to 3pm) in the Clubrooms in order to avoid a clash with the Ireland England 6 Nations Rugby match.

15/02/2005 - Club Dinner - Good night had by all I think last Friday night in Lemongrass (especially Mr. Keane I think). Thanks to Keith & Anabella for the great layout and food as always. Some retired at a respectable while hour while others were seen wandering the streets at 3am outside Havana. I have uploaded some photos to the Photo Album. Congrats also to Dympna on being presented with the inaugural Oarsperson of the Year award and also to Frances Cryan Murtagh who received a special presentation to mark the 25th anniversary of her respresenting Ireland at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

10/02/2005 - Annual General Meeting 2005 - Notice is hereby given that the 2005 AGM of Carrick on Shannon Rowing Club will take place on Sunday 27th February @ 3pm in the Clubrooms. Your presence would be much appreciated. Please see here for full details.

07/02/2005 - Club Dinner - The Club Dinner is booked for 9pm in Lemongrass with pre-dinner refreshments in the Oarsman from around 8pm (probably 6pm for Colm and Jay). We have all of upstairs booked from 9 so we should have plenty of room if anyone wants to bring any guests along.

07/02/2005 - Limerick - The Aftermath - Well Limerick is over for another year again and we had the usual batch of controversy and good racing. Late withdrawals by Mark B and Jason meant the Mens Inter 2x's never left the slip while a delay in the course being opened due to dense fog meant our super Womens Open 2x of Dymps and Elaine never got to make their debut. Pride of place goes to Ronan and the Mens Novice 2x of Colm and Ewan who both got second place in their respective events (even though Ronan is hotly contesting the result in the Novice 2x). Eren had a very good row in the Mens Junior 1x while the Mens Novice 4x+ of Shane, Colm, Ewan, Mark and Finlay also had a very good row (despite what the clock said). Shane and Colm also had a good spin the the Novice 2x despite the best efforts of a number of other crews to take them out of it. Dymps was happy enough with her spin but the effects of her hip op are probably showing a little at this stage of the year. However, it is very early in the season and fitness can only improve (not just mine). It was a few and well shaken bodies that made it into The Oarsman eventually on Saturday night for a few well deserved refreshments after a long and mucky day. Anyways, full results are on the Union website and I have uploaded photo's to the Photo Album of this website.

02/02/2005 - Boat Loading - Was speaking to Jason today (he's pulling the trailer), he says he'll be down the club around 7pm on Friday evening so if possible could all those available please be down around 6.30pm to get the boats de-rigged etc and they can be put up straight up then straight away when Jay arrives. Will need volunteers to do Ronans boat also (Elaine????).

02/02/2005 - List of Entries for Limerick - The full list of entries for Limerick can be found here or alternatively you can check out the IARU website

02/02/2005 - Registration Fee's - Jason informs me that the Club Affiliation Fee (€500.00) has been paid and at the same time he has sent off Registration Fee's for all active members in the club at the moment. These fee's are €50.00 per Senior oarsman and €20.00 per Junior Oarsman so he will be coming knocking on your door shortly for this money.......

01/02/2005 - Reminder re Dinner - Still haven't received many replies from people who intend going to the Club Dinner on Friday week (11th)........

01/02/2005 - Limerick - Limerick is on this week-end as we all know. Water levels seem to be returning to normal down there so looks like it is proceeding at this stage. Boats will be loaded Friday evening and I will be back later in the week (Thursday evening probably) with a time. Boats can be derigged in the meantime anyone who has a bit of spare time. The Des C, Barry O'R, Sam H, Keith & A, Dymps & Ronans are the boats that are travelling.

25/01/2005 - Limerick Head Entries - Limerick Head entries went in today and the event of course dependent on the water level going down over the next week and a bit. The follwoing went in - Mens Inter 2x (3 entries to be made up of Mark B, Jason & Conor), Womens Open 2x (Dymps & Elaine), Mens Nov 2x (Eren & Ronan), Mens Nov 2x (Shane & Colm), Mens 4x+ (Mark, Shane, Colm & Ewan, cox TBA), Mens Nov & Int 1x (Ronan), Mens J18 1x (Eren), Womens Open 1x (Dymps). Think thats it, may have missed one along the line though so apologies.

25/01/2005 - Head of the Charles - A quick reminder that we intend booking flights in the next week or so, so anyone else intending on travelling please let us know.

25/01/2005 - Waterways - The "Waterways" programme featuring a profile of the club is on tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 8pm on RTE 2 as far as I am aware.

25/01/2005 - Club Dinner - Club Dinner has now been officially confirmed for Friday 11th February in Lemongrass. I need to get a handle on numbers as I have to go back with a figure to them within the next week or so, so can anyone who intends going please contact me ASAP confirming if they are going and any guests they may have. I really need people to contact me on this to get a handle of the numbers so please do. It is not a closed event so if you know anyone else who would like to come along please invite them. Tickets will be approx €30.00-€35.00. There will be a special presentation made to Frances Cryan on the night marking the 25th anniversary of her finishing 7th in the Moscow Olympics and we will also be announcing our inaugural Club Athlete of the Year.

20/01/2005 - John Costelloe RIP - On behalf of the Club I would like to extend sympathy to the Costelloe family, Main Street on the death of John Costelloe. John was a member of the current club committee and was an active member of the club over many years. To his wife Rita and family we extend our deepest sympathies. May he rest in peace. As far as I am aware the removal will be tomorrow evening (Friday) with the funeral on Saturday morning.

20/01/2005 - Planned Meeting on Saturday - Due to the untimely death of John Costelloe the scheduled meeting of current rowers will not now take place on Saturday morning.

18/01/2005 - Meeting - We (our super 4) hope to get a spin in next Saturday morning at 8ish (alrights lads??) and I was hoping to have a little chat between us all (everyone who is currently actively rowing, not just the four) after at 10ish in the Clubhouse / Coffeys just to ascertain peoples wishes over the coming couple of months as regards competition, training etc. If people can make it please do (includes the ladies if they wish) and we can get a proper grip of what to expect in the next few weeks.

18/01/2005 - Help Needed!! - Something the club has lacked in monumental proportions in the past has been a cox and it is now getting to crisis point. If anybody knows anyone who would fancy coming along for a spin any of the week-end mornings and possibly travelling to Limerick etc please bring them down ASAP.

18/01/2005 - Limerick Head - I will be putting in the entries for Limerick Head this week-end so if there are any entries over and above the ordinary please let me know ASAP. At the moment entries are looking something along the lines of the following:- Mens Nov 4x / 4+, Mens Inter 4+, Mens Inter / Open 2x (Mark B & Jay), Mens Nov & Inter 1x (Ronan), Womens Inter 1x (Dymps), Womens Open 2x (Dymps & Elaine). Still a little unsure as to Erens's intentions (send me a text if you know by the week-end, if not I'll chat to you then) so there may be additions to the above and anything I have forgot from anyone please send me a text or something.

12/01/2005 - Next up... - Next major event for the diary will be Limerick Head on Saturday 5th Feb so crews will need to start getting back on the water again on a regular basis. I know it is not ideal at the moment with the weather and the high water levels but attempts will have to be made. The Mens Group tried in vain last week-end to get the 8am spins back on the water so we will have to regroup and try again for next week-end. I won't be around Saturday but will defo be available Sunday (earlier the better though).

12/01/2005 - Club Dinner - Club Dinner has been provisionally set for Friday 11th February (subject to agreement of the date with our Guest of Honour) and will take place in Lemongrass again. More details when I have them.....

12/01/2005 - Keeping an eye on things Down Under - For anyone who got to meet Imelda during her stay around the club over the Christmas period a girl from her Club down in New Zealand has given me the address of their Club Website (Hamilton RC) so we can keep an eye on here (Thanks for the mail Kimberly!).

12/01/2005 - Meeting last Sunday - Not alot to report, still no decision on a new scull, getting there slowly but surely. A good few votes now cast in the Club Athlete of the Year award, anyone still looking for a nomination for please contact me. Seems to be upwards of 8 or 9 people interested in travelling to Boston for the Head of the Charles in October so anyone else who is interested please let myself or Ewan know as we will be looking into flights etc shortly.

12/01/2005 - Waterways - Apologies but got my dates a little mixed up. The programme containing the interview with Frances won't be for another fortnight as far as I can make out so you'll have to wait another while yet.

05/01/2005 - Reminder - A reminder that there is a Committee Meeting the in the Clubrooms this Sunday at 12.30pm

05/01/2005 - Club Athlete of the Year 2004 - The first few votes have been cast in the inaugural Club Athlete of the Year. I will be placing the ballot box on the Clubhouse over the week-end (very high tech piece of machinery) and will be giving out the bulk of the nomination cards at the Committee Meeting on Sunday. Anyone who does not get one please contact me and I will get one to you. These are the only way that people can vote in it. There is a Perpetual Trophy for the winner and also an engraved medal which he / she gets to keep so well worth winning. It will be presented at the annual club dinner which will be held in early February. May get a few of the lazier ones in the club to get their rear ends in gear for the coming year.......

05/01/2005 - Tragic Story - Not the best story to be bringing you all but still worth reading this to remind ourselves of the dangers of the River .

05/01/2005 - Dick Warners "Waterways" - Came across this excellent programme on TV this evening by chance, didn't know they were showing it again. For anyone who hasn't seen it, the series was made in 1992 (I think? Keith will probaby be able to correct me?) and features Dick Warner travelling up through the Shannon aboard a barge and stopping off in the major towns / villages along the way. This evening they visited Athlone and its environs and travelled North up through Lough Ree. The reason I bring this to your attention is that in the next programme (next week, Wednesday 8pm RTE Two) if I am not mistaken they visit Carrick and do a profile of the Club including a chat with Frances Cryan about the Olympics. You also get the privilege of seeing a younger, slimmer version of the Brothers Kelly ploughing through the water in a four that was probably about 4 stone a man heavier than it should have been.

05/01/2005 - Head of the Charles 2005 - There are a few of us (Myself, Dympna, Ewan, Jay, possibly Elaine and a few other maybe's) intending on travelling to the Head of the Charles (Boston) on the week-end of the 22nd/23rd October later this year for a few days - probably Thursday to the Tuesday. The Head of the Charles is the largest rowing event in the World and the Club had a 4+ competing in 2001 (see me in pain and agony during it in the photo in the Clubrooms). While it is not definite on who will compete in it, it is still worth a trip over to see it - 300,000 people lining the three and a half mile Head course. If anyone is interested please let myself or Ewan know ASAP as we intend on looking into flights, etc within the next fortnight if possible. We hope to go the Hotel route in Boston as opposed to Hostel but again this is open to debate.

05/01/2005 - Winter Flu - Flu seems to the order of the day, good few people down and out at the mo including yours truly.......

29/12/2004 - Thursday night... - For anyone interested there will be a few of us in The Oarsman tomorrow night (Thursday) for a pre-New Years celebration.

29/12/2004 - Committee Meeting - The first Committee Meeting of the new year will take place Sunday 9th January @ 12.30pm in the Clubrooms. All asked to attend.

21/12/2004 - Christmas - Things around the club will probably be fairly quiet over the coming week or so. Having said that I am going to try and use the time down in Carrick to try and get back in a scull so no laughing or anything if you see me swimming for the shore in Boathouse Bay over the Christmas. Seeing last Saturday night turned out to be a bit of a non event there may be a couple of us in The Oarsman on Thursday night if anyone is interested in a glass of coke or two.

21/12/2004 - Sympathy - Deepest sympathies to Dympna and her family on the death of her Grandmother last Friday. The funeral took place in Aughavas on Sunday.

14/12/2004 - Christmas Drinks - For anyone who is around this week-end we will be meeting in The Oarsman on Saturday night for a glass of coke or two to celebrate Christmas, Ronans pending departure and Mark B's return from honeymoon still married. All welcome to join.

14/12/2004 - National Indoors - Well done to all four who competed at the Indoors last Saturday, everyone came away happy I think. PB's for Shane and Ewan (Ewan still disappointed just to miss out on breaking that elusive 7 minute barrier), an excellent fourth place finish for Elaine who was battling hard for the bronze medal only to lose out in the oush for the line and the surprise packet of the day Colm who managed to pull 6.58 despite taking his new approach to training for the past month i.e. NOT training. I have uploaded some photo's here. Apologies but some of them came out a little fuzzy.

14/12/2004 - New Equipment - Our new training scull has eventually arrived over from Germany along with four new sets of sculling blades (two sets for the club and one each for Dymps and Mark B.) Haven't seen the new training scull as of yet but I hear it is up to the job - you may even see me making my first tentative steps back into a scull in it......

14/12/2004 - Best of Luck.... - For those of you still unawares Ronan has decided to fly the coup and head off to Galway to pursue his career. He promises to remain in contact with the club and we wish him the best of luck in the new job which he starts just after Christmas.

08/12/2004 - National Indoors - Full details of this week-ends Indoors can be found here.

30/11/2004 - Club Awards Dinner - We will have our Annual Club Dinner as usual in late January / early February. This year we will be hoping to introduce an award for Club Athlete of the Year which will be voted by Club Members. I will be printing off some voting forms (all numbered so no room for cheating, but at the same time will be annonymous) and sending out to as many members as possible in the coming weeks. I will place a box in the Clubhouse to return them or else they may be given back to myself or Tony.

30/11/2004 - Christmas Get Together - It is hoped that there will be a Club get together in the run up to Christmas but dates etc are open for discussion. Last year we held a mini-head and we hope to hold the same again but whether this is before or after Christmas is open to debate still with alot of people busy in the run up to Christmas we may hold off until the early new year. As regards a night out before Christmas please feel free to suggest a night and we will see when most people are available.

30/11/2004 - Indoors - Entries for the National Indoor Rowing Championships (12th Dec in UCD) have now gone in. Only six will compete with Ronan and Dympna having to pull out due to illness / injury respectively - those competing will be Shane, Colm, Ewan, Eren, Noel and Elaine (Notice how I didn't put in the age categories - I value my life afterall).

30/11/2004 - Registration Hike - Got a letter yesterday from the Union stating that Registartion fee's for each rower will increase for the coming season. Seniors / Inters / Novices will have to pay €50.00 (up from €25.00) and Juniors will have to pay €20.00. At the moment the Club pays this out of our Annual Membership fee of €100 for rowing members and €50.00 for Junior rowing members so I think this practice will have to be re-assessed at the next AGM.

24/11/2004 - Indoors - The closing date for the National Indoor Rowing Championships is next Wednesday, 1st December with the event taking place on Sunday 12th December. If anyone wants to be eneter please e-mail me as soon as possible and I'll get an entry form. At the moment it looks like Ronan, Ewan, Colm, Shane, Eren, Dymps, Padraig and Elaine will be competing.

24/11/2004 - Get Well - Suppose I better wish herself get well or else face the possibility of a hiding. Dympna had her Hip Op last Monday in Galway and all went well. Hopefully she'll be back fighting fit on the water within a fortnight..

24/11/2004 - Congrats.... - to Mark B and Dee who were married last Friday in Fermoy with the reception being held in the Vienna Woods Hotel in Glanmire afterwards. Good day (& night) had by all - some were regretting how good it was though the day after, not mentioning any names.........

16/11/2004 - Another loss to the Bachelors Club - Best of luck to Club Captain Mark Butler who marries Dee Hickson in Fermoy this Friday. There is a small gang of us heading down from the Club on Friday to ensure that he gets the proper send off..

16/11/2004 - Neptune Head - No wins but a good day out by all I think. All travelling got a spin in at some stage during the day (including Dympna who was relegated to Cox of the Novice 4x after spraining her wrist earlier in the week). Top placed finisher goes to Ronan who was 5th in the Mens Inter 1x so well done to him. Also well done to Eren who finished 17th out of 31 in the same event in his first race for the Carrick colours. Considering he is still Junior it is a very good performance from him. The Mens Open 2x of Mark B and Jason finished 9th while the Mens Novice 4x finished 11th of 18 - not bad for their second ever spin together. The Womens Open 2x of Elaine & Grainne also had a good spin finishing 11th - not helped by the fact that they competed in the First Head in which times were slower than the Second Head. .

10/11/2004 - Boat Loading for Neptune - Boats for this week-end will be loaded at 6pm sharp on Friday evening at the clubhouse for the trip to Neptune on Saturday. It is important that as many bodies help with the loading as there will be a full trailer travelling up. If any crews get the opportunity to de-rig boats beforehand all the better..

08/11/2004 - Neptune Head Draw - Draw for Neptune Head on Saturday is now uploaded on Irishrowing.com.

01/11/2004 - Boat Sale - Due to the lack of space in the boathouse and the pending arrival (hopefully) of a couple of new boats we have reluctantly put the "Morohan" and "Jim Mulvey" up for sale. If anyone knows anyone interested in them they can be seen on Apollo Duck.

27/10/2004 - Neptune Head - Neptune Head takes place in Blessington on the 13th November and we will be travelling with crews. This is a Senior Head so there will be no Junior crews competing from Carrick. Pencilled in so far are the Mens Open 4x (Mark B, Jason, Conor and Liam Gleeson), Mens Open 2x (Mark B. & Jason), Mens Inter & Open 1x (Ronan), Mens Inter 1x (Eren), Womens Open & Inter 1x (Dympna), Womens Open 2x (Elaine & Grainne), Mens Novice 4x+ (Shane, Colm, Ewan & Mark).

27/10/2004 - River Traffic - In the past couple of days I have been in contact with both Waterways Ireland and The Inland Waterways Assoc of Ireland with regard to the general disregard of basic rules of the river by certain watercraft, namely private cruisers. I have been informed by Waterways Ireland that they are currently looking at the situation and have asked us to keep a record of any instances where crews have been washed out or endangered in any way including remembering the name of the boat if possible. I am going to put a log book in the boathouse shortly and these should be recorded in this including the date and a short note of what happened. I will then forward on details to Waterways Ireland at certain intervals. I still await a response from the IWAI.

27/10/2004 - Committee Meeting - A reminder that there will be a general Committee Meeting this Sunday at 12.30pm in the Clubrooms. All members are asked to attend.

21/10/2004 - Club Poll - For those who have an interest, I have added a little poll to the Club Visitors Book (see left hand menu) to gauge aims for the coming year (Yes, I have way too much time on my hands).

21/10/2004 - TRIBES TIME TRIAL CANCELLED - Just heard there this afternoon that the Time Trial has been cancelled due to the expected winds for the week-end. As always safety has to some first and trust me, the mouth of Lough Corrib is the last place you want to be on a miserable windy day. Haven't heard of any refixed date so can only assume by vibes being received that it will not be so Neptune Head on the 13th November s the next date to put in the diaries.

20/10/2004 - Ads on the Club Website - I am going to make a number of spots available on the Club Website for Business Advertisements (you may have seen some of these new spaces pop up on the site over the past few days). If anyone knows any business that wants to advertise on the site please e-mail me and I'll see what I can come up with. We won't be charging a fortune for this, something like an annual club membership fee or more if people are willing to pay for it to support the club. The ads can link direct into the Business' website if they have one or they can supply the business logo to put up on the site.

20/10/2004 - Club 5 Year Strategic Plan - I have uploaded a copy of the proposed Club Strategic Plan here. This is the document that will be presented to the Committee for adoption at the next Committee Meeting so it should be considered carefully over the coming week and a half. I have also sent a number of copies out by post to those who I thought may not have web access. Most of you will have seen the bulk of it in some form or another already and there have only been some very minor changes to it along with a slightly snazzier lay out. It is a large enough file so may take a little while to download. If anyone has any views / comments please e-mail me.

20/10/2004 - Committee Meeting - The next Committee Meeting will take place Sunday 31st October at 12.30pm, all members are asked to attend.

18/10/2004 - Tribes Time Trial - The draw / timetable for the Tribes Time Trial this Saturday is available here. Again, anyone interested in coming along to support is encouraged to do so, there should be at least 5 cars going down so there should be spare room available.

14/10/2004 - Boathouse Extension - Most of you will know no doubt at this stage that space is at a premium in the Boathouse now for storage. Over the past few Committee Meetings we have been discussing the posibility of either building a new Sculling Shed over by the Canoe Club or extending the current Club House. At the moment the extension of the current Clubhouse is the flavour of the month and with this in mind our resident architect Mr. Dunne has kindly done up some drawings of what he envisages - View 1, View 2 ,View 3 - I think they are all self explanatory (note on View 1 - where it says New Boathouse, that actually is the current Boathouse as the extension is based on the original drawings for the present structure) and again we would say that we are very much in the early stages of what we will actually do for the much needed space. If anyone has any views / comments please e-mail me and I will do my best to bring them up at the next meeting.

12/10/2004 - Club Lotto - A reminder that the Club Lotto is still ongoing. The jackpot is increasing as each month goes by without a winner so members are asked to sell as many tickets as possible before each draw with this in mind. Next draw is due the first Sunday of November and tickets are available from Jason if you have ran out.

12/10/2004 - Mini Camp - Depending on weather there will be a mini training camp in Carrick this week-end. There will be a couple of scullers up from Galway and Dublin so it will be a good opportunity for some pacing. Will post more details once I have them or contact myself, Jason or Dympna closer to the time.

12/10/2004 - Club Gear - Still no sign of the club gear which was ordered recently but hoping to have it by next week - will keep you updated.

12/10/2004 - Tribes Time Trial - Tribes Time Trial takes place Saturday week (23rd October) in Galway. This is always one of the biggest events on the calendar and Carrick have entered the following crews:- Mens Open 4x (Mark B, Jason, Ronan and Liam Gleeson LEBC), Mens Open 2x (Mark B & Jason), Womens Open 1x (Dympna), Mens Junior 1x (Eren), Mens Junior 1x (Padraig), Womens Open 2x (Elaine & Grainne), Mens Novice 1x (Damian) and Mens U23 Lwt 1x (Ronan). The race that Ronan will compete in will be a National Squad Trial. Dympna may also compete as part of a Carrick / Tribes Composite Open 4x depending on an injury of one of the Tribes girls. As always as much support as possible would be appreciated so if anyone is available to travel down please do so. First Head will be at 12.00pm.

30/09/2004 - Lotto Tickets - Anyone who is available to sell the Club Lotto tickets tomorrow night (Friday) is asked to meet in the Oarsman at around 8.30pm.

27/09/2004 - Photo's - Got a few photo's from an anonymous source (thanks Louise) last week from Regatta week-end. Photo 1, Photo 2 ,Photo 3. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

27/09/2004 - Interesting Booklet - Found this interesting booklet from the Canadian Rowing Federation on the basics of learning how to row from day one right up to preparing and competing in your first race. Its a large enough .pdf file so may take a while to download but well worth a look.

23/09/2004 - National Indoors - The National Indoors are now scheduled for the 12th December in UCD. I know there are a few people training for this so at least you have month extra now than earlier expected.

23/09/2004 - Club Gear - A batch of club gear has been ordered for those who gave me orders and should be here in the next three weeks.

23/09/2004 - Quick Update - Apologies for my no show for the past couple of weeks, up to my tonsils in work and training (less of the latter though). We had planned to go to the Dublin Sculling Ladder but I don't know how this is looking at the moment as a few people have already said they can't make it. Defo on the calendar is Tribes Time Trial in Galway on Sat 23rd October. Don't know all of who will be travelling yet but there will definitely be a contingent of the usual suspects. It will also double up as a National Squad Trial for scullers so Ronan and Dympna will be racing in these. There seems to be a squad session pencilled in for the day after also. As regards staying in Galway that night it is always a good night so anyone who can stay down should. Myself and the ball and chain have booked in to the Ibis (cheap, cheerful and close to the town centre) so anyone else planning on staying down should look into it sooner rather than later as it is a bank-holiday week-end and will be busy. We will also travel to Neptune Head in Blessington on the 13th November.

07/09/2004 - Committee Meeting - The next Committee Meeting will be Sunday 19th September at 12.30pm in the Clubrooms. All Club members are asked to attend as the Draft of our 5 Year Development Plan will be up for adoption.

07/09/2004 - Reminder re Club Gear - A reminder that I will be putting in an order to Powerhouse Clothing next week for some Carrick Rowing Gear so if anyone wants to be included in the order please e-mail me with what you want (Splashtops, one-pieces, long-sleeves, short-sleeves, leggings, etc). Their website contains all the gear they have on sale so will give you an idea of what you can get. If possible send all orders via me and will hopefully save on postage, etc.

07/09/2004 - New Boathouse? - It was agreed at the last meeting to look into the possibility of building a new boathouse as additional space was now urgently required. This has been ongoing for the past couple of weeks and a number of alternative options have been devised. Again these will be up for discussion at the next meeting.

07/09/2004 - 5 Year Strategic Plan - We are now in the advanced stages of finalising this document so hopefully we will have a draft copy ready for adoption at the next Committee Meeting (Sunday 19th Sept). If anyone has any submissions or ideas for the document please e-mail me, otherwise please attend the next meeting which will be vitally important.

30/08/2004 - Club Gear - I am going to be putting in an order to Powerhouse Clothing shortly for some Carrick Rowing Gear so if anyone wants to be included in the order please e-mail me with what you want (Splashtops, one-pieces, long-sleeves, short-sleeves, leggings, etc). Their website contains all the gear they have on sale so will give you an idea of what you can get. If possible send all orders via me and will hopefully save on postage, etc.

30/08/2004 - Interesting Piece From Our Regatta.... - Gabriel informs me that among the visitors to Carrick Regatta was Alfred Acheson from Lough Arrow. Alfred rowed in the Fours for Athlone BC in the early 1930's at Carrick Regatta. As this was just after the drowning tragedy in the Club there was a big effort to help keep the club and regatta survive. His brother Alex worked for TP Flynn at the time. His brothers Basil and Cyril also rowed in the pleasures boats.

23/08/2004 - Yesterdays Committee Meeting - The turnout may have been small but yesterdays Committee Meeting seen some very important decisions made with regards to the future of Carrick RC. Over the next three weeks an outline 5 Year Strategic Plan will be formulated by Mark K, Jason, Shane, Mark B, Rene and Tony and will hopefully be ready for presentation at the next committee meeting in a months time. This plan will guide the direction of the club over the coming years and will hopefully aid us in securing funding in the form of grants and sponsorship in that period. This will be a very important document and the next committee meeting when we put it up for adoption will be one of the most important we will ever hold. Another important movement forward which was discussed yesterday was the possible demolition of the Canoe Clubhouse and the building of a new Sculling Shed in its place. The design of this will have to be worked out in the coming weeks but we would hope to get this moving sooner rather than later. This will provide accomodation for up to 10 extra boats which is badly needed as the Boathouse is currently stretched to capacity and there will also be room for Canoe storage also. Jason also proposed that we look into the possibility of buying a Coxless 4 / 4x and it was agreed to have a look and see what was out there. We also discussed the securing of the grounds and Tony is looking into the cost of railing the back wall and it is also envisaged that once the new sculling shed is built it would secure the Canoe Club side of the grounds. Finally, for any club athletes who hope to compete competitively next season, we will be holding a meeting within the next fortnight to discuss goals and training programmes. More details as I get them and I will also keep you updated on all the above also.

16/08/2004 - The coming months.... - For those of you of a competitive nature I have put together a brief guide of what to aim for over the coming winter months (no its not all doom and gloom).Click here for the outline list of events. Main priorities will be Tribes Time Trial in late October and the Indoors in early Novemeber. Those planning on doing the indoors should have one eye on this when outlining your training for the coming months and anyone who wants help in putting together a plan contact me or Mark B and we'll come up with something.

16/08/2004 - Committee Meeting - First Committee Meeting post Regatta takes place this Sunday at 12.30pm in the Clubrooms. Again we would ask for a full respresentation here as there are a number of things to be discussed including fencing off the grounds, purchase of a new launch and the Clubs soon to be written 5 Year Strategic Plan. This 5 Year Plan will be of vital importance for the club as we look to grow in the coming years and build on what has begun to happen in the club over the last year so we would ask as many people as possible to attend.

09/08/2004 - More Regatta Photo's..... - I have added a few more photo's to the Photo Album from our Regatta this year (Thanks Marika)

05/08/2004 - Regatta Photo's - First batch of Photo's from our Regatta last week-end now uploaded to the Photo Album. If anyone else has any other photo's and wants to send them to me to put up on the website please do.

04/08/2004 - 2004 Season - With the 2004 Season now effectively over I have compiled a little collage of photo's from throughout the year into one big photo. Click here to see it and if anyone wants a copy contact me and I'll get one done up for you. Size can be either A4 or A3 depending on how big you want it. A4 will cost around €10.00 and A3 €15.00 and no its not a moneymaking scam for me, anything over and above the cost of getting the photo's done I will buy in Lotto tickets under the clubs name.

02/08/2004 - 2004 Regatta - Well its all over for another year and will probably go down as our most successful Regatta yet. Thanks to all those who entered and competed and also a special thanks to those who helped out on the day. I'll have more on the Regatta in the coming days including photo's but for the time being here are the results.

25/07/2004 - Regatta Details - Full details of Entries and Timetable now updated to the Sprints 2004 Section of the Website

15/07/2004 - Club Lotto - Jason has asked that anyone who has sold any tickets for the Club Lotto to bring the ticket slips and money along to the club on Sunday morning at 12.30pm. It is important that we sell as many tickets as possible and the first draw will be on Regatta Day.

15/07/2004 - The Coming Week.... - Things start to get busy in the coming days with regard to the hosting of our own Regatta. We are going to have a general gathering in the Clubrooms at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon to to discuss where we are at present so anyone who can make this is asked to come along. There will then be a very important Committee Meeting next Wednesday night (21st July) at 8.30pm and this will include the Regatta Draw. Every club member is asked to attend this meeting if possible.

12/07/2004 - National Championships - Well Ronan was our only representative in Cork at the week-end after Dympna had to unfortunately withdraw due to illness. Ronan had a great week-ends racing eventually finishing fifth in the final of the Mens Novice Scull - the event with the largest entry at the Championships with thirty scullers entered. Ronan battled his way through his quarter final and semi final and rowed very well in the final sticking with the leaders most of the way just to miss out in the final push to the line. On Saturday he also competed in the Inter sculls where he was very unlucky to finish in fourth place in his quarter final with three to go through to the semi's. In what was probably the closest race of the championships four scullers battled it out over the final 500 metres of the race with a little more than half a boat length separating them with Ronan unlucky to clip a buoy with 100 metres to go which put paid to him qualifying through to the next round - two seconds separating the first four finishers. All in all it was great racing by Ronan and he should move on from this with high aspirations for next year. Although Dympna was disappointed not to compete she did get involved by being race umpire for four hours on Saturday afternoon while Mark B also got involved as a race aligner on Friday afternoon. I on the other hand took the easy option and acted as general "walk arounder and see whats happening" guy for the week-end. Special thanks go to Shane & Ali who provided transport for Ronan and his boat for the week-end. Lets hope next year we go on from this and have a few more boats entered. Next up its the big one - Carrick Regatta!!!!

04/07/2004 - Club Lotto - Today seen the launch of the new Club Lotto. This fundraising initiative is aimed at buying a new safety launch for the club. Draws will be held on a monthly basis with the first draw taking place on the day of our Regatta (Sunday August 1st). Tickets cost €2.00 per month but you can take the option of buying up to five months in advance also. Pick four numbers out of 20 and see if you can win the first draw which is guaranteed to be €500. All club members are asked to take a bundle of tickets and sell as many as possible. For details contact Mark K, Jason or Tony.

28/06/2004 - Important Meeting - With the Regatta just over a month away there will be an important general club meeting this Sunday afternoon at 12.30pm (enough time to recover from Leitrims victory over Dublin) in the Clubrooms. This meeting is open to every man, woman and child who has an interest in the succesful running of our Regatta this year so if anyone knows anyone else who would like to help out please bring them along. We would ask that everyone (Jason & Mark B exempt due to prior commitments) make an extra special effort to come to this meeting as there will be alot of small (& big) jobs to be allocated and we need everybodys help.

24/06/2004 - Galway Regatta - Photo's from Galway Regatta now uploaded to the Photo Album

22/06/2004 - Athlone / Galway Regattas - Athlone Regatta took place last Saturday and Ronan was our sole representative. He was unlucky to go out in the first round of the Novice Sculls while later in the day he won his semi of the Inter Sculls and went on to come fourth in the final. At Galway Regatta on Sunday Mark B and Jason won the final of the Mens Open Double Sculls against Commercial RC. Others to perform well were Mark B & Colm Mac in the Mens Vet Doubles where they had fought their way into second place coming towards the line only to catch a crab and slip back to third just crossing the line. The Mens Junior 16 Double Scull of Padraig & Paul also done very well, leading their semi past half way against City of Derry only for the petrol tank to run dry over the last couple of hundred metres eventually losing out by a length. Ronan finished second in the Mens Inter Sculls.

16/06/2004 - Shannon Row - Last week-end we played host to a group of 8 Welsh Men as they undertook the first two legs in their quest to row the Shannon from North to South for Charity. Click here to see them set out on the second leg from Carrick to Lanesborough.

16/06/2004 - Galway / Athlone Regattas - Galway and Athlone Regattas take place this Saturday and Sunday respectively. Ronan will be our lone representative at Athlone seeing Dymps is still out sick while we shall have a larger contingent travelling to Galway on Sunday

06/06/2004 - Metro Regatta - Metro Regatta turned out to be a mini-disaster in the end. With Dympna out sick and problems with the trailer we didn't make the trip at all. All energies and focus are now aimed at Athlone and Galway in a fortnights time where we should have a large entry travelling both days.

06/06/2004 - Sprints - Preliminary details of the Sprint Championships are now available on this site. For the list of events see the left hand column.

28/05/2004 - Congrats - Congrats & best wishes to Shane & Ali who get married in Rome today. May they have many years of happiness together.

25/05/2004 - Committee Meeting - There will be an important Committee Meeting taking place this Sunday afternoon at 12.30pm in the Clubrooms. With the Regatta only two months away it is vitally important that all members attend.

25/05/2004 - Metro Regatta - Metro takes place on Saturday week in Blessington. Dympna (Nov & Inter), Ronan (Nov & Inter) and Padraig (J16) are due to compete.

25/05/2004 - General Update - Well, two weeks of a gap in news to make up - not alot in the way of news to report I'm afraid, people still training away in the background; The Paddy Harvey has a new interesting design on its bow, innovative as Colm would say; TV3 came saw and conquered, good publicity for the club it has to be said with Ronan getting some start practice and Dympna's boat getting the once over for the TV cameras.

06/05/2004 - Club on TV - Short notice I know but TV3 are broadcasting live from Boathouse Bay tomorrow morning (Friday) on thier breakfast programme. They will be visiting the club and there will be a number of crews taking to the water so if anyone is around at this late stage they will be broadcasting at around 8am.

06/05/2004 - Photo's - Photo's from Queens & Portadown now uploaded to the photo album.

05/05/2004 - Notice - I have been asked to remind some of the members that if possible Senior members are to be left to do their training in peace in the evenings. As we are approaching some of the bigger regatta's of the season concentration for people training is vitally important so a quiet and peaceful training environment is called for.

05/05/2004 - Portadown Regatta - No, I haven't left the planet or anything, just up to my tonsils at work. Anyways a small group of us made the trip North to Portadown last Saturday with Dympna winning the final of the Novice Sculls and a surprise second place for Elaine. we had two J16 Doubles also but they will need alot more waterwork before they start making a big impact on the scene.

26/04/2004 - Portadown Regatta - Portadown Regatta takes place this Saturday and we travel with a depleted squad due to external committments. Dympna competes in the Novice Sculls where Elaine will also make her racing debut. There are also two Junior 16 Double Sculls entered. Draw and travels arrangements to follow shortly when I get them

20/04/2004 - Queens Regatta - Another good day for the club at Queens Regatta in Castlewellan last Saturday and it was oh so agonisingly close to being much better. Dympna continued her good run of late by winning the Novice Sculls convincingly. Ronan had a good win in the first round of the Mens Novice Sculls but was beaten into second place in the final, no bad achievement at the same time considering there were 17 starters. After the final of the Novice Sculls he had to race back up to the start for the final of the Lightweight Sculls but the exertions of the Novice race took their toll and he eventually went on to finish fifth. Padraig had a great race in the Junior 15 single by coming second to RBAI in the final so well done to him. Padraig and Paul also competed in the Junior 16 double sculls but were unlucky not to qualify out of their semi. Jason and Mark put in a great finish over the final 400m of the Inter double sculls to finish in second place behind Commercial while an arm injury to Colm put paid to his and Shanes progress out of the semi of the Novice double sculls despite leading Waterford at the half way mark. I will have some photo's uploaded shortly.

13/04/2004 - Committee Meeting - There will be a general committee meeting this Sunday afternoon at 12.30pm. Notices have gone in the post from Dublin but in view of the postal backlogs there may be a slight delay in receiving these.

13/04/2004 - Queens Regatta - We travel North to Castlewellan, Co. Down this week-end with a fairly large contingent as we compete at Queens Regatta. It will be an early start for those travelling and there should be a few spare seats in cars if anyone wants to come along and support. Click here to see the list of entries and timetable for racing (COS is shortcode for Carrick on the list of entries)

13/04/2004 - Congrats - Another member of the Bachelors Club is about to take his leave of us after Mark B announced his engagement to Dee at the week-end. At least we have Shane to pass on all the words of wisdom to him as he enjoys his final few months of freedom.

13/04/2004 - Lawn Benches - Well after much talk it has finally begun, we have started to take the two benches out from the club lawn in view of the ongoing underage drinking and anti social behaviour that was taking place on the lawn in recent times. It is a huge pity that it has come to this but something had to be done. If this does not work we may have to look into the possibility of closing the grounds altogether to the general public which we do not want to have to do.

13/04/2004 - Notice re Scull Rack - I have been asked to remind people to be extra careful when taking sculls / doubles down from the racks and replacing them as there have been a number of scratches noticed on a couple of the newer boats and it is only a matter of time before holes start appearing. It is vital that the utmost care is taken when moving the boats around the clubhouse.

07/04/2004 - National Championships - I am currently looking into the possibility of renting a house / apartment for the week in the lead up to the National Championships in Cork (9th/10th July). At the moment it looks like Dympna, Ronan, Tony and myself will be down in Cork from the Tuesday to the Sunday so anyone else who is thinking of going down to Cork for some / all of the week please contact me and I'll see what I can come up with. At the moment I am looking into a couple of five / six bedroom houses so the more we have the cheaper it will be. This is what Ronan & Dympna will have been training for all year so anyone who can go down to Cork and support them would be more than welcome.

07/04/2004 - Neptune & Commercial Photo's - Photo's from last week-end in Dublin now uploaded to the Photo Album

05/04/2004 - Neptune / Commercial Regatta's - One win and a couple of close finishes are the highlights from the week-end. Dympna had a good win yesterday at Commercial Regatta in the final of the Novice Sculls while she also had a very good race in the Inter Sculls losing out narrowly to former training partner Liz van Nulck from Commercial RC. Ronan won his first round of the Novice Sculls at Neptune Regatta against Mark Scully from UCDBC on Saturday, but was unlucky to go out by a length in the semi final to the eventual winner Quain from Commercial RC. Dympna was also unlucky in her first round heat going out by a length to Jane Fisher from Thames RC. Padraig and Paul made their competive debuts for the club with Padraig losing by three lengths in the first round of the J16 Sculls while they also lost by three lengths to St Josephs in the first round of the J16 Double Sculls.

29/03/2004 - Neptune / Commercial Regatta's - Neptune and Commercial Regatta's will take place this coming week-end in Islandbridge, Dublin. Ronan, Dympna, Paul & Padraig will compete in Neptune on Sunday while Dympna will stay on in Dublin and compete in Commercial Regatta on Sunday. The draw for the regatta's are as follow's:- Neptune Regatta & Commercial Regatta. Again, anyone who is available to come along and support is encouraged to do so.

29/03/2004 - Finance Meeting - Our attempt at holding a finance meeting failed miserably on Sunday morning so it looks like we are going to have to leave it to committee meetings to sort out our finances. Our Treasurer has informed me that he has already received a good few membership fee's for the coming year so anyone yet to pay is asked to do so as soon as possible.

22/03/2004 - Union AGM - Mark K and Dympna will attend the IARU AGM which takes place this Saturday in Parkwest, Dublin

22/03/2004 - Membership Fee's - First and only reminder that Club Membership Fee's are now due. The amount is €100.00 for Senior rowing members and €50.00 for Junior / non-rowing members. Cheque's may be made payable to Carrick RC and may be given to Jason (preferably), Mark B, Mark K or Tony. These Fee's are due in the month post our AGM so we would ask that all members please make paymenst as soon as possible as we have had a number of large bills to pay recently (most noteably our Insurance). See below for details re our Finance Sub-Committee.

22/03/2004 - Finance Committee - At the last General Committee Meeting we talked of setting up a Finance Committee in order to address the ever deepening hole in the club finances. As of yet there have been no members appointed to this sub-committee so with this in mind a few of us are planning to meet in the Clubrooms this Sunday afternoon at 12.30pm to see if we can come up with a few ideas. This meeting will be open to all club members and will be of an informal nature. It is the plan that we would meet every fortnight or so for the coming two months to come up with fundraising ideas. We would ask that any club member who has any ideas or willing to help would come along and it should not take any more than half an hour.

22/03/2004 - The Coming Weeks - Well Regatta Season fast approaches now. Entries for Neptune and Commercial Regatta's have gone in today and our entries are limited due to a range of circumstances. Anyways, in Neptune Regatta (Sat 3rd April) Ronan will go in the Mens Novice Sculls while Dympna will go in the Womens Novice Sculls. If the programme permits they will also compete in Intermediate also. Then we will have Padraig and Pail making their first outing for Carrick when they compete in the Junior 16 Double Sculls while Padraig will also compete in the Mens Junior 16 Sculls. Then in Commercial Regatta the following day our only representative will be Dympna who will compete in the Novice and Inter Sculls. Next up after these Regattas will be Queens Regatta which will be held in Castlewellan on the 17th April and we will have a much larger entry for this event.

22/03/2004 - Weather - Wet, windy, miserable, I could go on, enough said.....

18/03/2004 - Tribes Head Photo's - Photo's from last week-end in Galway now uploaded to the Photo Album

16/03/2004 - Tribes Head 2004 - Yes, I am still alive, apologies for the delay in checking in but I have been up the walls to put it mildly. Anyways, a good day out in Galway it has to be said by all accounts (despite the miserable weather!). Ronan took his first win of the season by winning the Novice Sculls over UCC RC. Ronans time in the Novice Sculls also would have won him the Inter Sculls and he was the third fastest sculler on the day overall so well done Ronan. Dympna so very nearly had the perfect day also, losing out on the Womens Novice Singles by a mere two seconds over Fermoy RC. Two crews interfering with her on the way down the course was all that stood between her and victory. Mark & Jason had a good row in the Mens Open Double by finishing fourth. Dympna & Jutta finished sixth in the Womens Open Double with fatigue playing a big part in their row. Shane and Colm found the conditions difficult to contend with as did alot of other crews but still managed to put in a good row. Full results can be found at www.tribeshead.com. Full photo coverage of the event can be found at www.TheWaterEdge.com. I will also post some additional photos of Carrick crews shortly. Two other Carrick men also competed on the day with Colm Finnerty stroking the Garda Mens Novice Eight to victory while Kieran McGovern was the bow man in the Garda Mens Inter Eight.

08/03/2004 - Tribes Head - Entries have been sent and draw is now available as follows - Head 1 (11am), Head 2 (2pm), Head 3 (4.15pm). Full details of the event can be found at www.tribeshead.com

08/03/2004 - New Arrivals (Part Two) - A rather congested boat house greeted the members arriving for the AGM yesterday as our three new boats were on display. After the arrival of Ronans new scull last week-end it was the turn of Dympna and Ewans new boats after an early morning trek up to Dublin to collect them. Hopefully they will now have the ability to go on to bigger and better things in the coming season.

08/03/2004 - AGM - A busy week-end all round so we'll start with the AGM. No major controversies to report, election of officers went through smoothly for a change. Two things come to mind as regards the near future (i) it has been decided to remove the two lawn benches in view of the large increase in underage drinking taking place there at night and (ii) the club finances are in need of urgent repair so a meeting of the finance committee will be taking place in the very near future. Click here to see who has been given the task of looking after you for the coming year

01/03/2004 - Tribes Head Entries - Attached is a list of Carrick entries for Tribes Head of the River which will take place on Saturday 13th March in Galway. This is probably the biggest event in Irish Rowing and we will be looking for a couple of good performances on the day. We also welcome back Pat G to the Carrick colours after stint abroad. Anyone available to travel down and support the crews are asked to come along and there should be plenty of lifts available for those stuck.

29/02/2004 - Reminder - Don't forget - the AGM is on this Sunday at 3pm in the Clubrooms. All members are asked to attend.

29/02/2004 - Important Notice Re Club Gear - Those of you who were in receipt of new gear over the past couple of weeks and want the club crest embroidered onto it, you are asked to leave it in a bag on the Clubroom table (key in the usual spot)with your name written on the bag. The splashtops will be the main item involved here and the crest will be embroidered on the left breast. It is important that these are left in before Wednesday evening as Tony will bring them all to Sligo on Thursday to get them done and back before Galway Head.

29/02/2004 - New Boat - For those of you who have not been in the club house in a couple of days you will not have seen our new arrival. Part one of three new boats has arrived into the club as Ronan has taken receipt of his new Hudson single. Tony was a bit mistified wondering if it was an aeroplane or a scull but after seeing it on the water yesterday I think all will agree it is one of the best looking boats seen on the North Shannon in a long while. Dympnas and Ewans new boats are due to arrive within the next fortnight.

23/02/2004 - Newry Head - Not 100% sure what the story with Newry Head is yet. It looks as if we may not travel now but as entries do not close until Sunday evening we will leave it another couple of days before making a final decision. One way or the other we will definitely travel to the Tribesmen Head of the River on Saturday 13th of March with a strong entry. A few of us are planning on staying down in Galway for the night so if you want to stay down get accomodation sorted ASAP as it is one of the biggest nights in Irish Rowing and accomodation will be thin on the ground.

23/02/2004 - Registrations - For those not already registered and planning on competing for the club in the coming year you are asked to get a passport sized photograph and fill in a Union Registration Form (I will leave some in the club at the week-end) as soon as possible. For those registered last year and who gave a photo I will not need one from yourselves. The Registration fee is €25.00 for Senior members and this will be paid for out of your Membership fee's which are due (Strictly) in the month following the AGM. New Junior members are asked to get a copy of their Birth Certificate also.

23/02/2004 - Club AGM - The Annual General Meeting of Carrick on Shannon Rowing Club will take place at 3.00pm on Sunday 7th March in the Clubrooms. All members past and present are invited to attend.

19/02/2004 - Newry Head - We have made a provisional decision to head to Newry Head on the 6th March. The race night that was scheduled for the night before has now been postponed until after the AGM as we felt we had not put enough work into it yet to get the maximum benefit. The Newry entry will be small as Colm / Shane / Mark B are unable to travel so it looks like Dymps will go in the single, Ronan will go in the single and Ronan & Jason will go in the Open Double.

16/02/2004 - Limerick Head - A good day out in Limerick on Saturday it has to be said especially when you come away with a win. Well done to Jason and Mark B who were winners of the Mens Inter Doubles. They also placed well in the Mens Open Doubles. Well done also to Dymps who has two good rows in the Womens Novice Sculls finishing a very close third. Two crews making their on the water debuts also put in good performances. The Mens Novice Four of Jason, Mark K, Shane, Colm and Dymps (Cox) started off very well but a mixture of tiredness and lack of race experience maybe caught them out a little in the final 500 metres but they still put in a respectable display. Well done also to Shane and Colm who had two good rows in the Mens Novice Doubles. They improve with every trip they have on the water and will definitely put in a good performance come Galway Head. The results can be found here and I have uploaded the photos to the Photo Album

11/02/2004 - Limerick Head - Weather is looking o.k. for Saturday from what I can see. We will be loading the boats at around 6.00pm on Friday evening so everyone travelling is asked to be down to give a hand. Jason is pulling the trailer and we will want to be leaving around 5.30 / 6.00 am on Saturday morning so be ready for an early one. From what I can gather I will drive and so will Jason, Mark B and Ewan (in his brand new Jeep) so there should be plenty of room if anyone wants to come along for the day. Timing begins at 9.00am and finishes at 3.00pm so we should get to watch the second half of the match at least. Will bring you any updates as I get them.

09/02/2004 - Members Database - With the AGM fast approaching the club needs to build a database of members / prospective members along with phone numbers and e-mail addresses. This is something we have never really had before and is handy from the Secretarys point of view for distribution of any notices, etc. Although I have probably 80% of members details can you please e-mail me them again so I can build up a list. Can I also ask committee members whether they would prefer Meeting Notices to be sent via e-mail or remain getting the card via normal post. Hopefully if I can get a number of these notices sent via e-mail it will make a minor cutback to our postage expenses during the year. Thanks

09/02/2004 - New Visitors Book - Check out our new and improved Visitors Book on the left hand menu of your screen. It has alot more options and may be a little confusing at the start but you can include all forms of attachments etc if anyone has any photo's etc they would like to share with the rest of the world.

04/02/2004 - The Coming Weeks.... - After alot of thought and ringing around we have decided to go ahead with our planned trip to the rescheduled Limerick Head. Due to commitments it means that two of oarspeople will not be able to travel and the witdrawal of two crews but we will still go to Limerick with a fairly large and strong entry. A decision has not yet been made re Lagan Scullers Head but it will be made this week-end.

03/02/2004 - Des Smith R.I.P. - The club extends its deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the late Des Smith, Elphin Road, Carrick who died yesterday. Des would have been known to many members of the club as he compiled and edited the clubs only foray into the publishing world "The History of Carrick on Shannon RC" to mark our 150th anniversary. May he rest in peace.

02/02/2004 - General Notice - Well done to everyone who sat erg tests this week - a couple of (good) surprises it has to be said, at least it shows that all the winter training is starting to pay off. Ronan now holds the distiction of the fastest ever 5k in the club if I'm not mistaken so at least the rest of us have something to aim for now!! At the moment we are still unsure about Limerick Head or Lagan Scullers Head but a decision will be made in the next day or two once all crews have been asked about their availability. A piece of good news also - I got a mail to day to say that the gear had been posted today so I should have it available this week-end to hand out to everyone.

31/01/2004 - Notice Re Limerick Head - Limerick Head has been postponed for two weeks (Feb 14th) due to adverse weather that is expected for the day. At the moment it looks as if one or two of crews may not be able to travel to the re-orgainsed event so we may look into the possibility of going to Lagan Scullers Head in Belfast the following Saturday. More details when I have them.

26/01/2004 - Limerick Head Draw - Full list of entries for this week-ends St. Michaels Head of the River in Limerick. We will be travelling with a strong contingent and would be hoping for at least one win on the day. Seats available in cars if anyone wants to come along for the day

26/01/2004 - Club Dinner Photo's - Well I think it is safe to say that our first Club Dinner in a few years was a great success. Here are a few photo's from the night. PS - Congrats to all the crews that managed to make it out on the water the following morning, even if they were feeling a little under the weather.....

19/01/2004 - St. Michaels Head 2004 - Carrick entries for this years Limerick Head of the River which will take place on Saturday, January 31st. Again, any club members not competing are encouraged to come along and support your fellow clubmates. We will be hoping for at least one win on the day.

19/01/2004 - Club Dinner - Don't forget - the Club Dinner is on this Friday night in the new Lemongrass Restaurant next door. All memebers and friends are encouraged to attend. Tickets are €30.00 each and can be got by leaving your name with either Tony, Mark Butler or Mark Kelly. Seating will begin at 7pm (approx) and there will be a "warm up" in the Oarsman from 6pm.

06/01/2004 - Limerick Head - After the Christmas break we should all be back in fighting mode again especially with Limerick Head just around the corner (Sat 31st January). Crews will need to get organised and on the water on a more regular basis once again. The Mens Novice Four should be aiming to keep their Saturday and Sunday morning spins on the go while we should also be entering a Mens Open 2x, Womens Open 2x, Mens & Womens 1x and hopefully a Womens Novice Quad and Double. It is vitally important that these crews are on the water as much as possible over the coming weeks.

06/01/2004 - Annual Club Dinner - The Annual Club Dinner will take place on Friday 23rd January (time yet to be confirmed) in the new Lemongrass Restaurant. All club members and partners / friends are invited to attend and we will also be inviting a number of guests along on the night aswell. Anyone intending on going should give their names and number of tickets required to either of the Mark's or Tony. It promises to be a great night.

06/01/2004 - Committee Meeting - The next committee meeting is scheduled for Sunday 18th January @ 12.30pm so all committee members are asked to pencil this in their diaries. Final touches for the Club Dinner and Limerick Head will be top of the agenda among other issues.

16/12/2003 - Best Wishes Elaine - Best wishes to Elaine after her accident at the week-end. Hope its not too long before we see you back in action around the club again.

15/12/2003 - Club Dinner - Keep Friday the 23rd January free in your calendars as the Club Dinner is provisionally set for that date. It will take place in our new neighbours Lemongrass Restaurant and all members and partners are welcome to attend. An update on tickets will follow once details have been finalised.

15/12/2003 - Turkey Run - A great day had by all yesterday with Captain Butlers crew being the victors in controversial circumstances. After a hint of a false start and "agressive" steering Team Butler won out by two lengths over the Vets while Team Tinsley seemed to enjoy the scenery a little too much seeing they spent most of the race in the reeds. After a few sociable Irish Coffees in the club house it was off to The Oarsman where a late night was had by all.

10/12/2003 - How we compare - For those of you who have "issues" with type of music some people play on the stereo upstairs on the Erg while you are training I found this article which some of you may find funny. Who owns that Britney Spears CD thats always in the stereo anyways?? I bet Ronan is a closet fan.........

01/12/2003 - National Indoors - Photo's from the National Indoors now uploaded

30/11/2003 - National Indoors - Well done to Shane and Colm who both put in excellent performances at the National Indoor Championships in UCD today. Shane was competing in the 40-49 category and pulled a PB of 7.14 mins to finish in the middle of the field in his category. Colm, in his first ever competition (on or off the water) pulled a very impressive 6.53mins to finish in 7th place (out of 20) in the Mens 30-39 category. This was just outside Colms PB of 6.48mins and was a great start to his Carrick RC career! I'll have a full set of results and photo's later in the week.

30/11/2003 - Committee Meeting - Important Committee Meeting next Sunday (7th December) @12.30pm - all members asked to attend as there will be a number of important issues up for discussion.

26/11/2003 - National Indoors - Race schedule for the National Indoors now attached

24/11/2003 - National Indoors - Best of luck to Shane & Colm who compete at the National Indoor Championships in UCD this Sunday. All those weeks of hard training can finally be put to the ultimate test lads! Again, any club members who are free are encouraged to travel and support their clubmates.

24/11/2003 - Update on Christmas Racing - Due to the number of people working on Saturdays in the run up to Christmas it has been decided to change our Christmas racing and get together to Sunday 14th December. It promises to be a great day and all are welcome to attend. There may be a warm up "session" the night before also.......

24/11/2003 - NUI,Galway Head - For any of you that missed it here is the online report from the Leitrim Observer about Carricks participation at the NUI, Galway Head of the River recently.

17/11/2003 - Club E-mail Address - Any club member who wants their own Club e-mail address (xyz@carrickrowingclub.com) contact me and I'll set it up for you

17/11/2003 - Christmas Racing - Everyone is asked to keep Saturday 13th December free in their diaries as this is the day we hope to run the Clubs mini-regatta / head. The format of the event is still to be decided but their are plenty of ideas out there. It guarantees to be a great day (and night) and there will be prizes for the winning crews

12/11/2003 - Rowing Gear - Splashtops, longsleves, one pieces and leggings have been ordered for those who have asked for them so far. These probably won't be arriving until late December / early January (in time for Limerick Head) so if anyone else wants to order anything, nows the time. Contact me if anybody wants anything else - splashtops are working out around €79.00 each and one-pieces are around €50.00. We are getting them off Powerhouse Clothing so I can guarantee that they are of a very good quality. For those that have ordered I'll be knocking on your doors shortly for the money!!

12/11/2003 - Well done Kieran - Good photo on Row2k.com of Carricks Kieran McGovern rowing in the 2 seat (2nd from the top) of the Garda Eight that rowed the Head of the Charles recently. The Guards had a great row finishing in fifteenth place overall in the Club Eights.

12/11/2003 - 2003 / 2004 Calendar - Outline of the 2004 / 2004 event calendar now uploaded to the website - I have also updated the Links section of the website

05/11/2003 - New Umpires - Congrats to Jason and Dympna on being awarded full licences and also to Mark B, Mark K, Ronan and Shane on being awarded provisional licences at the recent Umpires Seminar that was held in Carrick.

03/11/2003 - Committee Meeting - A committee meeting was held yesterday morning in the clubrooms. Among things up for discussion were the purchase of a new single scull which is now badly needed and the purchase of a new launch. As with anything these days they are going to cost alot of money so fundraising / sponsorhip ideas would be greatly appreciated. It was also decided to run a mini Head of the River for club members which would be followed by a night out some time in the run up to Christmas so stay tuned for more info on that. There was a very successful umpires seminar and exam held in the club on Friday evening, seven people sat the exam and results are eagerly awaited by those who sat it

30/10/2003 - NUI, Galway Head of the River Photo's - Photo's from last week-end now up loaded in the Photo Album

26/10/2003 - NUI, Galway Head of the River - Read about a very successful days racing in Galway yesterday for the club

21/10/2003 - NUI, Galway Head of the River - Draw for the NUI, Galway Head of the River now available

18/10/2003 - Committee Meeting - Next Committee Meeting is scheduled for 12.30pm on the 2nd November in the Clubrooms. Matters arising will include our recent bill for insurance for the coming year which will be using up alot of our current finances and we will also hopefully be able to look back at a successful NUI, Galway Head of the River which takes place next Saturday. From what I am being told there seem to be a few supporters travelling over so anyone else thinking of travelling please come along and support your fellow club members.

08/10/2003 - NUI, Galway Head of the River - The NUI, Galway Head of the River will take place on Saturday the 25th October. Carrick will be represented by four crews and will be one of our strongest entries in a number of years. This is one of the top events on the Irish Rowing calendar with crews from all over Ireland and Great Britain competing. Both Dympna Smyth and Ronan Tinsley will be looking to be in the top three in the Womens and Mens Novice Sculls respectively. This may be a little beyond Ronan at this early stage in the season as he is just coming back from a fractured elbow. Mark Butler and Jason Kelly make their competitive debut as a Double when the compete the in the Mens Open Double Sculls. Word from the two lads is that they are going well and will be looking for a good performance on the day. Dympna will team up with Jutta Greve from NUIG to row in the Womens Open Double Sculls and they will also be hoping to put in a good performance. As we are starting into the new racing season we would hope that some of the non-competing members of the club who are available would come along on the day and support our crews as they race over the tough 3 mile course. Anyone wishing to come along and support should contact either of the Marks, Jason or Tony to see if there will be lifts available.

08/10/2003 - Umpires Exam - The Connacht Umpires Exam will take place in Carrick on Friday 31st October 2003 at 7.30. Chairman of the IARU Umpires Committee, Kieran Kerr, will be present. At the moment there are seven definites sitting the exam so hopefully we will have a number of registered umpires in the club for the coming few years.

25/09/2003 - Umpires Exam - We have been given preliminary notice that an Umpires exam for the Connacht Region will take place in Carrick on the 31st of October (subject to confirmation). Every club is expected to have three qualified umpires and it is expected so far that Mark B., Mark K., John L., Jason K. & Ronan T. will sit the exam. Anyone else who is interested please contact me. Any of the above who want copies of the current IARU Rule Book please contact mealso.

24/09/2003 - Open Day - The Club is holding an Open Day from 11am this Saturday for all prospective new members. If you know of anyone interested in taking up the sport please tell them come along and see how they get on. Also help will be needed on the day so if you are available........

08/09/2003 - Training Section - New addition to the website is the Training Section - we want to use this section to bring a bit more organisation to what we do on the water at the week-ends so keep an eye on it as it will be updated at regular intervals

08/09/2003 - World Championships 2003 - Photo's from this years World Rowing Championships which were held last week-end in Milan, Italy

15/08/2003 - Regatta Photo's - Selected photo's from this years regatta now available

12/08/2003 - J D Keenan RIP - It is with great sadness that we hear of the death of former Club Captain John Desmond Keenan in Dublin. Although not seen around the club in recent years he will be sadly missed by all who knew him. May he rest in peace.

05/08/2003 - Results - Results of the finals of the Lemongrass National Sprint Championships of Ireland 2003 now available - photo's to follow shortly

31/07/2003 - Boat Naming Ceremony - Last Wednesday night the club named our two newest boats in honour of two the great men of the club who passed away in recent times - Sam Holt & Paddy Harvey - pictorial coverage of the event now available here

26/07/2003 - Regatta Draw - Check out the Sprints Page for full details of the draw, timetable and entries - its gonna be a big one!

26/07/2003 - We had a great night out last Wednesday night with the naming of our two new boats, full pictorial coverage to follow shortly

12/07/2003 - Carrick Rowing Club goes to Henley - Photo's page now updated with photo's from our recent "factfinding" trip over to Henley Royal Regatta

30/06/2003 - Boat Naming Ceremony - It was decided at yesterdays committee meeting that our two new boats would be named in honour of two of the clubs longest serving and most dedicated members - Sammy Holt and Paddy Harvey - both of whom have died recently. Sammy needs no introduction to any member in the club while Paddy Harvey was the last surviving member of the 1933 tragedy (see Club History). The Boat Naming Ceremony will take place the evening of the draw for our forthcoming Regatta, Wednesday, 23rd July. More details will follow once they come to hand.

23/06/2003 - Committee Meeting this Sunday - Please note that there is an important committee meeting this Sunday @ 12.30pm in the Clubrooms and all members are asked to attend

23/06/2003 - Athlone Regatta 2003 - Results from Athlone Regatta, 21st June 2003

23/06/2003 - National Championships 2003 - Prospectus for the National Championships (2000m)

22/06/2003 - Lemongrass National Sprint Championships of Ireland 2003 - Preliminary details of the Lemongrass Sprints 2003 announced

20/05/2003 - Photo's Page updated - Check out the photo's page for some new additions.....

18/05/2003 - Limerick Regatta 2003 - No Carrick entries at this years Limerick Regatta due to exams but here you will find attached a complete set of the results for the day. - Photo's of the event to follow shortly........

08/05/2003 - Connaught Schools Championship Regatta 2003 Results - Full results of Connaught Schools Championships Regatta now available

06/05/2003 - Committee Meeting this Sunday - Please note that there is an important committee meeting this Sunday @ 12.30pm in the Clubrooms and all members are asked to attend

05/05/2003 - Connaught Schools Regatta 2003 - Well done to our two crews that competed today in Lanesborough - wins in both events - the J16 & J18 2x - Well done to Grainne Cox, Bernie Carty, Claire Gorman and a special mention to Claires partner in the double, Lily Delamata, competing in her first ever Regatta and winning also so congrats to all four girls!

04/05/2003 - Portadown Regatta 2003 - Well done to all who competed in Portadown Regatta yesterday - Grainne Cox was Second in the Womens Junior 18 1x behind a sculler from Neptune RC while our Womens Junior 16 Double fought back well after an crash to lose out narrowly. Mark Butler lost out in the Second Round of the Mens Novice 1x to the eventual winner from Portora

01/05/2003 - Connaught Schools Championship Regatta 2003 - The Connaught Schools Championship Regatta takes place this Bank Holiday Monday and they are being hosted this year by our near neighbours Lough Ree RC in Lanesborough

29/04/2003 - Trinity Regatta 2003 Photo's - Check out the Photo's Page for action from last week-ends Trinity Regatta

26/04/2003 - Portadown Regatta 2003 - Portadown Regatta takes place this Saturday (3rd May) and see's our biggest entry at a regatta so far this season with the following crews taking part:- WJ16 2x, MN 1x (Butler), WN 1x (Moran), WJ18 2x, WJ18 1x (Cox) & WN2x. This will be the first regatta for a number of the girls so we wish them the best of luck!

Trinity Regatta 2003 - Draw for Trinity Regatta 2003 now live - Ronan gets a bright and early start when he competes in the Novice Sculls at 8.38am against Athlunkard while just over an hour later he races Belfast Rowing Club in the first round of the Inter Sculls - best of luck Ronan

Richard Parr Interview - An interesting interview with Irish rowings new High Performance Director - Read all about the man who is charged with bringing Irish rowing into the Big League

Next Up! - Next up for Carrick RC is Trinity Regatta on th 26th of April - Ronan Tinsley competes in the Novice and Inter Sculls

Queens Regatta 2003 Update - Well done to Ronan Tinsley who finished Second in the Novice Sculls at Queens Regatta today (12th March) More to follow.....

Tribes Head 2003 - Two crews travel to Tribes Head 2003

Sprints 2003 Update - Lemongrass to Sponsor the 2003 National Sprint Championships

Sam Holt (1952 - 2003) RIP - Carrick Rowing Club loses one of its greatest ever servants

We go Live! - Carrick RC's New and Improved Website goes live!