The girls of Colaiste Iognaid enjoyed 100 per cent success at Sunday’s Irish Schools Rowing Regatta at O’Briens Bridge, Co Clare.
The Jes girls claimed a cleansweep of all four events they entered, becoming All Ireland champions in the Junior 16 eight and four, and the Junior 15 eight and four - a remarkable achievement.
Now one of the premier events on the junior rowing calendar, this year’s regatta attracted a record entry of 407 crews from 71 schools from all parts of the country, including some powerful schools from Northern Ireland.
The Jes girls set the tone in the first final of the day with a big win for the J15 8+, followed by a win for the talented J16 4+ crew. In the afternoon the J15 4+ were impressive in coming from behind for victory, while the day was rounded off in spectacular fashion with a success for the J16 8+ crew over some strong opposition from northern schools.
The victorious crews were: J16 8+ (Meabh Newman, Imogen Silke, Rachel Trench, Grace Egan, Sarah Curtis, Molly Curtis, Eimear Sheridan, Laoise NiGhriofa (stk ) and Conor O’Sullivan (cox ) ); J16 4+ (Meabh Newman, Laoise NiGhriofa, Eimear Sheridan and Grace Egan (stk ) and David Young (cox ) ); J15 8+ (Holly McHugh, Anna O’Donoghue, Ruth Griffin, Roisin Gavin, Hannah Power, Anna Coyne, Ruby Murphy, Caolieann Nic Dhonncha (stk ) and Conor O’Sullivan (cox ) ); J15 4+ (Ruth Griffin, Carley Mannion, Ruby Murphy, Caoileann Nic Dhonncha (stk ) and Aoibhinn McPhillips (cox ).
There was also success for the boys from the Bish, winning both the junior 16 and junior 15 boys’ eights. The Jes boys claimed second in the junior eight
The winners of the Victor Ludorum (Winner of the Games ) was St Joseph’s College Galway. Second place was Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, and third place was Colaiste Iognaid.
