SLIDESHOW: Castleconnell Boat Club honoured in Belgium

Castleconnell Boat Club travelled to the Ghent International regatta in Belgium recently, unaware that they were about to create a little piece of history.

The club waspresented with prestigious “The City of Ghent Trophy” which is awarded to the club finishing with the most points based on wins in events in the International Flemish Junior Rowing Championships.

The Ghent International Regatta is one of the biggest annual regattas in Europe bringing together athletes from all over Europe and the standards are exceptionally high. This year 70 clubs participated.

Castleconnell travelled to Belgium with just 19 athletes and came home with 3 golds, 9 silvers and 4 bronze medals over two days of gruelling competition.

Gold

Junior Men's Four (Ben Frohburg, James O'Donovan Conor Mulready, Damien Ryan)

Junior Woman's Pair (Saoirse Byrne, Norma Silke)

WB 2X (Clara O'Brien, Lauren O'Brien)

Silver

Junior Women's Quad (Lauren O'Brien, Niamh Kiely, Saoirse Byrnes, Norma Silke (In the Flemish Junior Rowing Championships)

Rory O'Neill – Silver in the Junior Men's 1X

Clara O’Brien – Silver in the WB 1X

MJ18 2X – Rory O'Neill and James Desmond

Junior Women's Quad (Lauren O'Brien, Niamh Kiely, Ciara Kiely, Roisin O'Connor (In the Ghent International Regatta)

WB 2X Clara O'Brien, Sarah Gilmore (Silver in the Flemish Rowing Championship)

MJ 2- Silver went to James O'Donovan & Conor Mulready

Bronze

Pa Silke – Bronze in MB 1X

Niamh Kiely – Bronze in the Woman's Junior 16 1X  

WJ18 2X – Lauren O'Brien, Niamh Kiely Bronze in the Flemish Junior Rowing Championships

MJ 2- Bronze to Damien Ryan and Ben Frohburg

Castleconnell BC were presented with their award by the Mayor of Ghent at a special banquet in the Medieval Castle in the Old City. In addition to the City of Ghent Trophy the club were also runners up in the award for the overall must successful club at the regatta only to be pipped by the prestigious Leander Club from London.

Over the last few years Castleconnell Boat Club has grown from strength to strength with over 130 active rmembers rowing and can now boast to have one of the finest facilities in the country. It has recently been designated as a centre of High Performance Development by Rowing Ireland, the only one in the country.

Castleconnell Boat Club runs summer camps throughout the summer starting on June 4th and details of these can be found on their website (castleconnellbc.ie), Facebook Page or Twitter.