An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir May / June 2024 www.military.ie/magazine 20 | History In Sept 2020, myself, BQMS Dave Williams, CQMS Martyn Underhill and Pte Rob Diffley who row with Fermoy, Lee Valley and Shandon Rowing Clubs respectively decided to re-ignite rowing within the Defence Forces and launched a new Defence Forces Rowing Club. In a time post COVID where most workplaces were trying to get back to some much-needed normality, myself, Martyn and Rob were planning some Introduction to Rowing Camps in a bid to kick start rowing within the organisation. The history of rowing in the DF goes back as far as the 80's and 90's where two championships were won by the then named Defence Forces Rowing Association. However, during the early 2000s there was little rowing activity apart from races against the Gardaí which were a regular event in Islandbridge and this is where Rowing within the organisation more or less stopped and fell into decline. Developing the Defence Forces Rowing Club Anyone involved in Rowing will tell you that as a sport, Rowing is inherently expensive; not just in terms of clothing or memberships, but boats, oars, speed coaches, trailers, tool kits and tressils and all this was at the forefront of planning by myself, Martyn and Rob, with obvious questions on where would the funding come from, how do we start, where do we start, all playing an part in early obstacles. We decided that the first step was conducting analysis on what kit was available, where was it, who had ownership of it, and what would be needed going forward in order to kick start the club. This involved networking with our known civilian clubs and friends around the country as to where all the previous rowing club kit and equipment went to. It also involved us borrowing boat trailers from UCC and Lee Valley Rowing Club and driving to Tribesman in Galway, Commercial in Dublin and to Baldonnel to gather up what remaining kit and equipment was left, from here we had a starting point. By doing this we managed to track down three boats, two single sculls and one double scull and as such a foundation was laid, from here we could now at least put people in a boat and teach them to row. Later on that summer, in August 2020, the club held its first Introduction to Rowing Camp which was run from Fermoy Rowing. Due to the shortage of DF owned kit and equipment, the rationale was to lease boats and equipment from Fermoy as a taster to gauge Rowing appetite within the DF. This course offered 16 places for students across all Corps and Services from which a total of 9 members joined myself, Martyn and Rob. The initial phase for the club thereafter involved setting about more training days for those 9 new club members, focusing on getting as much water time as possible and improving their individual technique on the rowing machine to ensure we were off to a good solid start. It was not long before the positive word began to spread and through the use of social media and IKON we attracted more members over the coming months with our total strength now going from 12 to 23 members. This was a really positive start and we were delighted with the initial progress we had made as a club. The club's strategy entering 2021 was to expose our new members to as many recreational regattas as possible in order to build their confidence in boat handling and to provide more exposure to some race day events and regattas. This would mean having our rowers take charge of their boat, be responsible for it on the day of the race, but preceding the race, sticking to and completing daily and weekly training sessions on the ERG, Bike, and gym. Finally our athletes were ready and, in the spring of 2021, we selected members to travel to Graiguenamanagh in Kilkenny in April, Cappoquin in May, Ocean to City in Cork City in June and Fermoy Sprint Regatta in July to represent the Defence Forces. We had some excellent results in these events with the club picking up winners medals and top three places in all events. With this success in mind another Learn to Row Camp was run for another 16 individuals where we gained another 7 new rowers to our club from this camp bringing our total strength to now 30 members. Affiliation with Rowing Ireland The next logical step with these 30 members was to register with Rowing Ireland as an affiliated club, and this process takes some time. We were THE DEFENCE FORCES THE DEFENCE FORCES ROWING CLUB ROWING CLUB ARTICLE BY BQMS DAVE WILLIAMS PHOTOS BY BQMS DAVE WILLIAMS Winners of Senior 4 at Graiguenamanagh Rowing Regatta L-R PO Kara Foley (Cox), Sgt Shane Hennessy, Pte Danny Scanlon, Pte Tomas Barry, BQ Dave Williams Individual training sessions

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