Hi all,

As a club, we have a decision to make, and as a committee, we’ve decided to put that decision over to you guys. Basically, for the first time ever, there are two rival ‘All Ireland’ rowing championships this year. One is being held in Wexford, run by the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation (ICRF) , and one is being held in Cork, run by Rowing Ireland Coastal Rowing (RICR). We need to decide which one we will attend and to start making preparations.

There are pros and cons to each, as set out below. Please take the time to read them, and then cast your vote at this poll . If you are looking to participate, be sure to have your availability updated at our Regatta Availability Page

A broad principle to remember is that while the committee promises support to all East Coast Regattas, that all other races need to be organised and executed by the crews and rowers attending.

Background

As set out in this members update and this chairperson’s quarterly update, there is something of a rift in rowing politics at a national level. As a committee, we’ve been trying to walk the line somewhat between the ICRF and RICR. Previously, ICRF had loosly reported in to Rowing Ireland, but there was a parting of ways, and several clubs asked RI to set up RICR as effectively a replacement for the IRCF. The upshot of this is that both ‘factions’ are proposing to host national competitions on the same weekend in August – 17th/18th/19th.

The events and races

Both events (ICRF, RICR) will follow the format of previous All Irelands, in that most races will be in the ‘one design’ category of fibreglass boats, where we are traditionally at a disadvantage as many of our rival clubs use these boats in their local regattas.

In previous years we have had one of these boats on loan to practice in, but we have none for 2018 at this time. The committee expects that this task would fall to those members who put themselves forward for racing the one design boats.

There are also limited races available for the skiffs, where they are put in with other comparable traditional boats, but not across as many categories. We generally enter in both ‘one design’ and skiff races, and last year in the welsh longboat category too. The ICRF have put on a lot of skiff races to attract east coast clubs, wile RICR have put on a more limited race card, combined with other boat classes. It remains to be seen whether there will be enough entrants to hold these races.

The provisional lineups and/or race orders are available here for the ICRF in Wexford and here for the RICR in Cork.

The venues

The Wexford venue is Wexford Harbour, a tidal estuary, due east of the Ferrybank Hotel. Rachel, Chris, and Ger attended the venue over the winter and spoke with the organisers. There is a lot of work needed to bring the venue up to standard, including levelling of rocky ground, the building of a slip, and the installation of pontoons. Recent assurances are that the necessary permissions are in place, although it will be a big task.

The Cork venue is at Rowing Ireland HQ on Iniscarra Lake, around a half hour drive west of Cork city centre. This venue regularly plays host to ‘river rowing’ regattas. Although it is a lake, the past 4 ICRF All Irelands have also been held on lakes, in Kerry and Donegal.

Travel and Accommodation

Initial enquiries show that accommodation would be tough to find in Wexford Town, although due to proximity (1hr45 drive), a day trip or day trips might be the way to go. Accomodation in Cork should be easier as it’s 10 times the size of Wexford.

Who’s going where?

After an initial text-around this week, it looks like our 4 sister clubs in Ringsend and North Dublin are going to Wexford, and everyone else is either not going to either or is undecided. Nobody from the East Coast is going to Cork. It’s likely that the Cork event will be dominated by clubs from Cork, Donegal, Antrim, and Wexford, and if we were to go to Cork with the skiffs, we’d be competing against Slaney Cots and Kerry 4-oars rather than other skiffs. In any case, it is likely to be a smaller number of clubs at each event as compared with what we’re used to.

Political considerations

While most of us have no interest in the political machinations of all this, they are an unavoidable factor. The ICRF have run the All Irelands for the past 27 years, and have traditionally been seen as the national body for coastal rowing. They deal only with coastal rowing, as opposed to RI whose main focus is river rowing.

On the flip side, many are unhappy with their governance and communications, and look to RI as being a more professional alternative for a National Governing Body, who have the capacity to move the sport forward.

There are ‘mediation’ talks scheduled, but it’s widely accepted that within a year or two, the situation will resolve itself one way or another. While we remain affiliated to both organisations, the event that we intend will likely be read as a statement of sorts.

So that’s it. Again, please cast your vote at this poll, and if you are looking to participate, be sure to have your availability updated at our Regatta Availability Page