Team Laura Lynn Ironman

Hi Folks

Some info on local Carrick man Donal Kennedy doing some fundraising for a very worthy charity. 

Have you ever taken a swim in the sea (2.4 miles)
or a nice long cycle on a hot summers day (112 miles )
or a jog (26.2 miles)
put this altogether and this is Ironman France, Nice !

On the 24th June 2012 i will join 2500 other people trying to complete this course in under 17 hours.
I have undertaken this challenge to raise funds for a very worthwhile charity 'The Children's Sunshine Home & LauraLynn House'

The Children's Sunshine Home & LauraLynn House charity is a very worthy cause and I would very much appreciate your support in helping me to raise funds for this charity. 

' Miles for Kids Smiles '
I'm aiming to collect 20 euro per mile ( 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle and a 26.2 mile run = 140.6 miles) 

Please read a few words about the charity that I have chosen to support below. You can donate using the "sponsor me now" button below via credit or debit card. You can be assured that your transaction on the mycharity.ie website is very secure. You will automatically receive an e-mail from me thanking you for your support, and acknowledging the amount of your donation. Any donation no matter how small is hugely appreciated. 

All donations will go directly to LauraLynn House.

Follow Team-LauraLynn's progress on the facebook page 
http://www.facebook.com/editprofile.php?sk=contact&success=1#!/profile.php?id=100003671231885 
or on twitter @ TeamLauraLynnIronman

If you are a company and wish to have your company logo advertised on the Team-LauraLynn gear then please email donal.kennedy@yahoo.com with your logo.

Many thanks in advance for your support,

Donal
Team-LauraLynn-Ironman-France

Club Draw

The club wishes to thank all those who supported our recent raffle in aid of the new extension on the boathouse. The draw was held on Bank Holiday Monday and congratulations go to winners James Brogan, Veronica Patton, Seamus Mallon and Michael Gunning. The club also wishes to thank the Landmark Hotel, Moonriver and Victoria Hall for their kind sponsorship of prizes.

BBQ

  Carrick RC also hosted a barbeque on Sunday 6th May last for junior members of the club. It was held to (belatedly) celebrate last year’s many successes from the junior groups notably performances from such standard bearers as Paul Little, Dylan Aherne, Liam Cox, Adrian Keaveney and Ciara Kelly. Ciara, currently studying in UCD was named Junior Oarsperson of the Year 2011 in recognition of her wins in the junior 18 scull at Queen’s Regatta, her role in Carrick’s winning junior 18 quad and her performance in the single scull and with Jenny Van Der Speck in the double scull at last year’s National Championships in Cork. We certainly hope that other juniors in the club can follow her excellent example. Thanks to Kieran Hynes for his generosity in sponsoring the event.

Hazel Cooney, Ciara Kelly, Caroline Kelly

Portadown Regatta Success

  Junior members of Carrick Rowing Club travelled North on Saturday 5th May for the annual Portadown Rowing Club regatta. Portadown RC suffered greatly during the Troubles but have recently renovated their facilities and are going from strength to strength. Carrick saw a number of fine performances on the day, but once again, the men’s junior double of Tom McCabe and Patrick Sweeney stood out with some brilliant rows to win their category outright. The lads beat crews from the strongholds of Northern rowing including Coleraine, Portora and home crews from Portadown to win the junior 15 double scull and set themselves up as a crew to beat this year.

Patrick Sweeney and Tom McCabe pictured with Tony after a thrilling victory in Portadown

Dara Hartigan and Thomas Earley also gave a strong performance in the men’s junior double sculls and Thomas in particular rowed well in his first competitive outing for the club. Tom, Patrick and Dara were joined by Conor Jordan for the men’s junior quad and were unlucky to be beaten by a strong Portora crew.

Dara Hartigan and Thomas Earley

Carrick Junior Ladies were also represented with Cloe Gibbons, Ella Brogan, Alice Kelly, Laureen Gannon and cox Eimear Fitzgerald winning their first heat but were beaten in the semi final by the crew from Coleraine. Eimear and Cloe also rowed in the junior 15 double as did Hazel Brehony and Jordyn Mulvey, both making competitive debuts for the club and both boats had great rows on the day.

Cloe Gibbons, Ella Brogan, Alice Kelly, Laureen Gannon and cox Eimear Fitzgerald

Queens Regatta 2012

Carrick on Shannon Rowing Club made the long journey to Castlewellan, Co. Down to compete at Queens University regatta on Saturday 29th April. This regatta is run on the Grand League format which entails crews being timed in heats and the six fastest crews making the A Final. First to race For Carrick R.C. was the women's Junior 18A double scull comprising Jenny Van Der Spek and Caroline Kelly. The proceeded to win their heat by a large margin and thus qualified for the A Final. Due to an error by the organisers they were put in the B Final which they won easily. This was just one mistake on an error ridden day with the regatta running over one and a half hours late. Next up was the women's Junior 16 double scull of Niamh Murray and Orna Gilhooley. The raced well and made the B Final and improved on their first race finishing third win their category. Due to the overrun of time it was decided by the Regatta Committee to time trial only the afternoon races which meant there were no finals. Kate McCabe in her first competitive outing in the women's junior 16 single scull had an incident packed race. Kate was leading by over two boat lengths when two boats making their way to the starting area collided with her. Despite this she finished second overall and has laid down a marker for the rest of the season. In the women's junior 18 single scull Jenny Van Der Spek raced well and next up in that event was Caroline Kelly. Caroline is an exciting talent and faced Sarah Allen from Bann Rowing Club in her race. Sarah Allen is the Irish Novice single sculls champion is part of the Irish national team and has represented Ireland over the last two years. In a thrilling race Caroline Kelly came from a length down to row through Sarah Allen in the last 200 metres to win by over a length. That result placed Caroline Kelly sixth overall which is great credit to her commitment.
So overall some great performances from our crews leaving a great appetite for their next outing at Dublin Metropolitan regatta in May.
The clubs junior 14's and 15's travel to Portadown Regatta next Saturday on foot of great results at Neptune Regatta. We wish them all the best.