A small but determined group of oars people travelled to Inniscarra for the national rowing championships, which were held over the past weekend.

All eyes would be on the great Hilary Shinnick, who was attempting to write herself into the history books by becoming only the fourth person to win 3 junior single sculls championships in a row. Hilary was overwhelming favourite to achieve this, so much so that most of her national team-mates avoided competing against Hilary.

The championships opened on Friday 19th and Fermoy’s U14 boys quad were first on to the water, the crew of Colum Hurley, James Quirke, Adam Fox and Jamie McEvoy were after a terrific battle with Shandon Rowing Club, just beaten on the line. The umpire giving the verdict to Shandon by just 2 feet.

With hardly time to catch our breath Ted Pyne took to the water to contest the final of the U15 single sculls. Ted, while rowing brilliantly and showing the great potential that he has, had to give best to the sculler from our fierce rivals Cork Boat Club. With the morning session coming to a close it looked like it was going to be another of those days, where we would be close, but not quiet there. All was to change in the afternoon session when the girls took over.

The U14 girls singles got the afternoon session under way. Two of the Fermoy girls made it through to the final, Sarah Murphy and Anna O’Sullivan. Both started well and the field of six were evenly matched at half-way, with only a boat length covering all six. But then Anna who was contesting her first single sculls competition, powered her way into a two length lead with 300 meters to go.

The Fermoy crowd were ecstatic, as with every stroke Anna increased her lead to cross the line four lengths clear of the Lee Rowing Club sculler. As Anna was returning to the slip to rapturous applause, the U15 girls quad were making their way to the start for their final.

This quad of Selina Cotter, Katie Bartley, Aoife Coughlan, Amy Walsh and coxed by Aoife Quinn, were fresh from winning the All-Ireland Schools championships and were now trying to achieve the elusive double by adding the National title to their impressive win tally for the season. Many crews had managed to win one, but failed with the other. However, this crew were not going to be denied.

It was one of those races where everything just went right. The girls anticipated the umpire’s start and stormed out into a full boat length lead and under the urging of their cox, Aoife Quinn, they had a three length advantage by the half-way mark. Rowing at their very best the quad extended their lead to about 5 lengths by the finish. It was great to hear Fermoy being called twice over the loudspeaker to come forward for the presentation of prizes

Fermoy ended up on day one with 2 wins and 2 seconds.

DAY 2

Hilary makes history by winning her third national junior title in a row. Hilary made it all look so easy. She demolished her opposition in the semi-final, leaving nobody in any doubt that she was totally focused on the job at hand and was not distracted by her preparation for the upcoming World Junior championships, in which she will be competing in the double sculls. The final turned out to be a procession with the real battle trying to determine who would fill second place behind Hilary.

Three medals in the bag and next out was the flagship boat of the club, the U15 boys quad, who had only tasted defeat once this season. Hopes were high that they would add to the medal tally.

Getting off to great start they managed to gain a half length lead over the Commercial boat. But maybe the weight of expectation was too great, because with 500 meters to go the commercial crew had come through to regain the lead and despite the best efforts of the Fermoy crew, Commercial maintained a 2 length gap to the finish.

Another second for the club and two more seconds were to follow in the U14 singles sculls when both of the Hurley brothers, Colum and Shane, both had to give best, Shane to Cork Boat Club sculler and Colum to a Lee rower.

Tally at the end of day 3, 3 wins and 5 seconds

The club had only one crew out on the final day and that was the U14 girls quad. The girls had enjoyed considerable success during the season, winning all five of the regattas that they competed in, however, today they found one crew just too good. In a fantastic race involving Fermoy, Portora, Lee, Cork BC, Colaiste Ciarain and Carlow, Portora, Fermoy and Colaiste Ciarain made the best start.

Portora had the advantage of the outside lane while Fermoy had the disadvantage of lane 1. As the race developed Portora and Fermoy pulled away from the rest of the crews, pulling away by 5 lengths. In a driving finish it was the Portora crew that proved strongest, winning by a hard fought 2 lengths. The final tally for Fermoy was 3 wins and 6 seconds.

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