Donegal Bay Rowing Club are again entering the fray of International Coastal Rowing Competition. Beach Sprints Coastal Rowing is set to become an Olympic sport in the Games in Los Angeles in 2028. Before that in next year in Bali in Indonesia the Beach Sprint Games will host a beach sprinting category, as will the Youth Olympic Games and The Commonwealth Games in 2026.
Méabh McNamara and Grace Matserson, two Abbey Vocational School Students and Donegal Bay Rowing Club Clg athletes will represent Ireland this weekend in the World Beach Sprints Finals in Sandersfoot, Wales starting on Friday. The two girls started rowing with Donegal Bay Rowing Club which runs an annual rowing taster program with Donegal Sports Partnership called “Row Donegal” within the fitness suite of the Abbey Vocational School which boasts 15 Erg rowing machines and a teacher Mr Maguire who is a Rowing Ireland Level One qualified coach.
The girls can be seen training most evenings on the Bay at the pier, on Lough Eske, or in the school Gym, under the club supervision and coaching. The club are lucky to have the assistance of Patrick Brady himself a rower of some pedigree who has volunteered his time to coach the competitive rowers within the club on rowing technique and mindset.
In previous years the club has been fortunate to have seniors of the caliber of Luke Keaney, Rosy Temple and Paddy McGylnn winning national titles and qualifying to represent Ireland in Europe and World Championships. Their experience coupled with an extraordinary work and training ethic has been an outstanding exemplar and motivation to both junior and senior members of the club.
That ruthless desire to win on the water instilled with the psyche of Donegal Town Boat Club teams in the traditional Skiff racing circuit in the past, is evidently still very much alive and kicking within the junior and senior ranks. Meabh and Grace are on a mission. They are not heading to Wales to make up the numbers by any means. They are the only Donegal Athletes to have qualified at the Irish Beach Sprints Championship by winning Gold in two categories, Double Women Scull and Single Womens Scull. They may be the youngest competitors in their category Grace is 15 and Meabh is 17, but what they lack in age they more than make up for in work ethic and determination.
Coaches Patrick Brady, Luke Keaney, Seamus Maguire, Richard Nesbitt and club chair Jimmy Meehan have all praised the girls professional and committed approach and mindset going into next week’s qualifiers and finals. Seamus Maguire has stated “When you have young athletes who believe in the process, are committed every night to do what is asked of them and constantly seek incremental improvements in every element of their approach, coaching becomes very easy. From a club perspective we have many junior athletes who have been rowing as long and are as skilled as the girls, which for me as a coach is very exciting. We also have similar aged athletes that can challenge within this category. Their desire to reach the panicle of the sport will determine their path, but they can do it”.
Luke Keaney will be representing Donegal Bay RC and competing with his doubles partner David Hussy from Portmagee El Nino RC in the Club Endurance event which has many Irish club crews attending and competing. Luke and David have years experience competing on the International Stage. Both athletes have helped the girls immensely as they prepare for International competition.
In 2023 Donegal Bay Rowing Club Clg will celebrate 50 years of dominance within coastal rowing in Donegal. Chairperson Jimmy Meehan stated “We are very proud of the club we have developed over the years. We have always lead the way in Donegal, we were the first to get a One Design, the first club to start Offshore Rowing in Donegal, the first club to start indoor erg training, the first club to develop into river rowing, the first to host back to back coastal championships in Donegal, the first club to partner with schools rowing. We are very proud of what we have achieved thus far and for what is to come! We wish all our athletes in the club, within Donegal and all representing Ireland the very best in Wales and the European Championships in San Sebastian later this month. We are also now opening up for new members to join the club prior to the start of the new season”.
Anyone interested in joining the club should complete an application on www.donegalbayrc.ie
