Rowing builds character, and yesterday at Neptune Regatta our rowers were put through the emotional highs and lows of sport. They came through as exceptional
young people of whom I am immensely proud. The nineteen boys and girls who stayed over in Dublin on Friday night behaved impeccably and without
hesitation I will take on future trips away. They were joined by a further ten young athletes who again represented the school with honour.
In summary this was not to be our day…, we clearly left Lady Luck in the Applegreen pit stop on the way down. The junior 15 boys (3 in their first
regatta), fought valiantly to lose by very a small margin to a crew from Blackrock College. Their days racing was over before 9am. The fifteen
girls 8 restored optimism by easily defeating a Carlow crew, they met the eventual winners Enniskillen in the next heat and rowed a great race
to lose by a boat length.
The junior 16 girls quad, one of the favourites for this event, got held in a large group of boats heading to the start and were disqualified
for arriving two minutes late. This group of girls showed amazing resilience to bounce back from this disappointment and compete in the junior
16 eight. They were joined by 4 younger girls and produced stellar performances by beating a Galway crew and then in a hugely exciting race lost
out to an Athlone crew by just under a boat length.
Lady Luck kept dealing misery, the junior 14 boys quad in their first ever race, literally blew away an Enniskillen quad, winning by hundreds of meters
unfortunately rowed too close to a lane buoy and were disqualified. The junior 15 girls quad in a local derby race against Bann caught a crab (technical
term for the oar catching too deep under the water) and so ended their title chances. The junior men’s club quad whilst leading a race by over
three lengths had a momentary lapse in concentration and struck the bank severely damaging the boat.
What a day! More tears than laughter. However, everyone took the huge disappointment and embraced it with team spirit and good grace. It was a lesson
in dealing with disappointment and defeat and they passed with flying colours. They will come back tougher and stronger.
Finally to all the parents who travelled to support and ultimately pick up the pieces, it was greatly appreciated.
