DULBC News 2010 ©

DU

LB

C News...

Welcome to the all new Dublin University Ladies Boat Club newsletter. Whether you

are alumni, current rowers, parents or friends of DULBC we hope you will enjoy read-

ing about what we have been up to over the past year and all that is in store for the

2010-11 season. We would also greatly appreciate your feedback. If there is anything

you would like to contribute to, or read about in future editions don‘t hesitate - get in

touch! Useful DULBC contact details can be found on the back page.

Victory in the Intermediate 8+ at the National

Championships was one of the highlights of

last season

marking only the

third national 8s

pennant won by the club. The crew, which

included three generations of DULBC

Captains, took an early lead and held off the

second place Portora crew to a length, both

crews comfortably ahead of UCD and NUIG.

This impressive performance by a fairly young

crew is an indication of the talent, dedication

and determina-

tion evident

t h r o u g h o u t

DULBC. It is also testament to the enormous

investment of time and effort volunteered by

all of the club‘s fantastic coaches without

whom none of the season‘s victories would

have been remotely possible.

National Champions 2010

DULBC News October 2010

Back row: Franky Sheridan, Sinead Roger, Emma Jacob, Susannah Cass, Rebecca Deasy, Caoimhe Proud-

Murphy, Andrew Coleman. Front row: Caitlin Carr Condon, Siofra Bennett, Iseult Finn, Rachel Nazarin.

Continued inside...

If I all I wanted to do was win medals I’d find something I could play on my own. The real experience comes from spending time working together as a team.

Having just entered my sixth rowing season, my third with DULBC, I can

definitely attest to the fact that real reward in rowing comes from being

part of a crew and club in which the members thrive in each others compa-

ny, and push each other to reach their potential in every aspect of life. Last

year in DULBC we learnt that we could train, and race hard but most importantly we

learnt that training and racing is easy when you are surrounded by your closest

friends and having the time of your life.

My name is Iseult Finn and I‘m the current Captain of DULBC. I am so lucky to be

Captain of such a talented group of athletes. The members of DULBC are not just

dedicated rowers but also accomplished students who in their spare time between

training, studying and socialising run one of the most vibrant and successful sports

club in Trinity. The rate of growth and development in DULBC is phenomenal. In the

last two years we have seen an explosion in our number of active members, we are

DULBC News 2010 ©

A View from the Bike Andrew Coleman - Head Coach

increasingly successful at regattas and have built a

club which can compete at every level from Novice

to International. We are currently managing our

biggest ever budget and are increasing our fund-

raising efforts to try match our increasing expendi-

ture. This dynamic expansion is a testament to the

endless hours of hard work invested in the club by

coaches, alumni, staff members, parents, friends

and athletes. It really is an honour to be Captain of

a club that so many people shown such a commit-

ment to.

At the same time being Captain of DULBC can be

as daunting a task as it is rewarding (as I‘m sure

some of you reading this will know). Occasionally,

when the problems, injuries and mishaps mount

up, and I am pacing in club rooms wondering how

we are supposed to fix it all, I remind myself that

many committees have been here before us and

there will be many more after us, and I am just one

in a long line of enthusiastic, but slightly crazed

DULBC Captains. That is one of the best things

about DULBC - that for what is actually quite a

brief period, this club becomes the most important

thing in our lives and then when we‘ve finished do-

ing everything we can to make the club even bet-

ter, we pass it on, and it becomes someone else‘s

life, a different committees task and another

squad‘s ambition. Every crew though leaves their

own legacy, starting or continuing different tradi-

tions and in different ways, we have all contributed

to the way the club is today.

Today the club is looking forward to a bright 2010-

11 season. We have set our aims high, hoping to

build on last year‘s successes. Six of the girls who

won the Intermediate Eight National Championship

are returning to row again this year. Joining this

solid senior crew in training are the returning Inter-

mediate crew which has been strengthened by

Fresher‘s with rowing experience and by last year‘s

novices, some of whom have already broken sta-

tus. Having this many experienced rowers in the

club is a real asset and it is also brilliant to have so

many able volunteers to help out with the new Nov-

ices. We had a huge number of sign ups this year

and ‗club circuits‘ on Tuesday evenings is really an

impressive sight. Between our various races and

social events the next nine months look set to be

really busy for all of the crews. I think if we stay

focused and enjoy our training as well as our ‗pot

luck‘ dinners and nights out, we will be able to

reach any of the goals we set ourselves.

Last year was brilliant and I‘m happy we get to up-

date everyone with our wonderful first ever news-

letter. I look forward to many more editions and am

definitely excited to see what DULBC does next.

Continued from cover...

In 2007 the fateful knock at my door….. The ques-

tion….. ―Will you coach?‖ ―OK. If you do what I

ask‖. It has been that way for the last four years –

sometimes a blind faith but it seems to be working.

Needless to say we have all made mistakes along

the way but you learn from them and make your-

self better because of it.

The Corcoran Cup was won in 2009, after six

straight losses, and then retained in 2010. Other

clubs are now nervous about lining up against

DULBC, from Novice to Senior. In 2010 there

have been wins at all levels and Irish representa-

tion at the Home International as well as at World

Championship Level. Why has this happened?

Success breeds Success! DULBC were fortunate

to attract a couple of junior rowers, Iseult Finn and

Sarah Dolan, in 2009 and they helped to bring a

fairly inexperienced crew forward. In 2010 there

were four more experienced recruits; three juniors

and a Cambridge Blue. This year there are again

two more and there is already an interest from peo-

ple currently making their University choices. A

standard has been set.

Another reason, and arguably more important, why

Continued on page 4

DULBC News 2010 ©

2009 - 2010 Race Results Competition Events Results

Lagan Head S8+

I4+

N8+

1st: Fastest Women’s Crew Pennant

2nd

2nd, 5th, 7th

Colours Races vs. UCD Corrcoran Cup

Moorehead Cup

‘Goonette Cup’

Trinity

UCD

Trinity

London Women’s Head Elite (Overseas) 40th, 87th

Dublin Head I8+

N8+

2nd

4th, 5th, 9th

University Championships S8+

S2x

I8+

N8+

N4+

2nd

1st

2nd

3rd

2nd, 4th

Skibereen Regatta S8+

I4+

I1x

N8+

N4+

1st

3rd

3rd, 6th

2nd, 5th

1st, 2nd

Trinity Regatta S8+

S4+

I4+

N8+

N4+

Lost final to Commercial

Won

Lost semi-final to Commercial A

Won

Won and 2nd

Queen’s University

Boatraces

Senior

Novice

Won by 2 1/2 lengths

Lost by 4 1/2 lengths

Dublin Metropolitan Regatta S8+

S2-

ILW1x

N8+

N4+

U23 2-

2nd

5th

5th

Row over

1st, 4th

1st, 3rd

Henley Women’s Regatta S8+ Lost to Newcastle University (finalists) by a canvas.

Athlone Regatta N8+

N4+

2nd

1st

National Championships S8+

I8+

N8+

N4+

4th

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

3rd

3rd

Carrick Sprints

N8+ 1st

DULBC News 2010 ©

From Novice to National Champion

Continued from page 2 DULBC has achieved so much is due to the novice

group which has gone from strength to strength. At

the time of writing there are almost 80 attending

training and this week (start

18th Oct) another 8 have joined

up due to their friends dragging

them along - most of the time

not kicking, but sometimes

screaming! They provide the

characters and light entertain-

ment throughout the year and

the future Senior and Intermedi-

ate crews are reliant on devel-

oping these raw recruits into

seasoned rowers. From the

2010 intake there are still 11

rowing and competing for seats

in the Senior VIII and they have

taken their standards from the

more experienced members. Again, success breeds

(the want for) Success!

Behind the scenes there is now a coaching panel

shown later in this newsletter. I, and the rest of the

coaches, do not get rewarded for our time. It is hard

work but the true rewards come in watching DULBC

crews win races or at least achieve results that we

have faith in but they do not believe they can.

However…. a word of caution in all the optimism

and backslapping: DULBC is now competing with

Professional Clubs in terms of the way that they

fundraise, attract and pay athletes in the form of

scholarships and pay their

coaching staff: DUBC, Queens,

UCD, Newcastle, Cambridge,

Durham as well as any crew from

the USA, all of whom the Senior

VIII may meet in Women‘s Hen-

ley (except DUBC!). All have at

least one professional coach. To

this end there is a Strategic Plan

being drawn up to include the

past members of DULBC and

how their experiences can help

the future of the Club. The crews

of 2011 are ambitious in what

they want to win and they need

your support. Please turn up to

any event if you can. Above all, the future genera-

tions will need your support as well, so if a letter or

e-mail crosses your path please do not ignore it but

remember what you gained from Rowing for Trinity

and what a struggle it could sometimes be. Re-

spond and help the club grow from strength to

strength.

See you on the tow path!

Andrew

Emma Jacob, DULBC 2006-2010

The amount of people, places,

stories and laughter that comes

flooding back when I think of

DULBC is impressive and is an

indication of how much this club

means to me. I have only been

gone from the club for a few

months now and was lucky

enough to have had the best end

of my fours years in DULBC: a

seat in the intermediate 8+ that

won the National Championships

in July. It had been a long build

up to that moment…

My novice year, beginning back in

2006, was a wonderful introduc-

tion to rowing. I fell for Kat

Sheane‘s powers of persuasion in

Fresher‘s Week that went some-

thing along the lines of ‗you‘re tall,

you should row‘. What a small

decision, to row and not to contin-

ue to play hockey, but what a

huge difference it made to my ex-

perience of Trinity. For me,

DULBC and my time at Trinity are

inextricably linked, and I couldn‘t

have one without the other. Our

novice group were not particularly

successful but I am sure we

would all count the winning of

Colours that year as our highlight.

Within that original novice group I

can name some of the best

friends that I‘ve ever made, whom

I have subsequently shared hous-

es and adventures with. Novice

year was brilliant: we learnt how

to pull on an erg, run in the rain,

and pull on the water (albeit with-

out much finesse) under the guid-

ance of Rachel Liu and Anthony

Lyons. I was hooked: friendships,

competition, fitness, the desire to

row the elusive perfect stroke in

time with seven other people…

Our novice four had great fun

training for champs, coached by

Big Steve- we were his first

DULBC coaching guinea pigs.

That year the intermediate girls

won the intermediate 8+ event at

the National Championships. At

the time I did not really under-

stand the significance of what

those girls had done, but after

three years of trying myself, and

now with a national pot of my own

Last minute coaching advice for Irish

International Sarah Dolan in Duisburg.

DULBC News 2010 ©

standing shining on a shelf in my

room, I absolutely do.

Second year I spent learning the

ropes having been put in the

deep end as the only novice in a

senior boat made up of the cham-

pionship winners of the previous

year. Aine and Kat were inspira-

tions on the erg. I learnt a lot that

year, absorbing Andrew‘s coach-

ing, but also learnt about the im-

portance of having a cox, and

how disheartening it can be to

never quite do yourself justice as

a crew on the water. There were

a few high points such as winning

senior events at Commercial and

Trinity regattas, followed by a dis-

appointing championships- the

last for many girls on the crew,

not least our visiting American

Colleen, who had become one of

us.

The club gave me the privilege of

being captain during my third

year at Trinity. I absolutely loved

it and had the most amazing

year. The freedom and luxury of

living in the Rubrics was coupled

with the intensity of always being

on call. We were lucky to really

gel as a group- we worked hard,

played hard and had an incredibly

successful year. We won Colours

for the first time in six years and

won the Bank of Ireland trophy at

the University Championships for

the first time in a decade for be-

ing the best female university

crew in Ireland. We did ourselves

proud at London Head of the Riv-

er and won Queens regatta in a

4+ and Trinity regatta in the 4+

and the senior 8+. As you all

know there is nothing like being

on the water when it works and

the boat sings. This hap-

pened numerous times

during this year, most

memorably at Colours

and during the senior 8+

University Championship

race. This year I felt it too

in the month leading up

to champs.

Fourth year, final year,

saw me taking a few

months out to focus on

my finals. The wonderfully addic-

tive nature of the sport meant that

I could not stay away. After an

injury I was lucky

enough to be able to

train myself up to an ad-

equate level of fitness to

trial for the intermediate

8+ boat for the champi-

onships this summer. It

was a shock to be seat

raced into the three seat

and as a result my first

race of the year was the

intermediate 8+ straight

final. My time with this crew full of

strength and experience holds so

many memories: the hours in

Blessington, the car journeys full

of laughter, the nerves beginning

to build, battling the conditions in

Blesso in preparation, the race

visualisations… stark contrast to

the sculling I had been doing by

myself in Islandbridge. Being in

this 8+ was some of my happiest

times on the water, but also the

most stressful, with a huge desire

to do myself, the girls, the club

and Andrew proud. The race itself

I will never forget: the warm up,

the rough conditions, the age that

passed on the start before the

official said go, passing the 1750

and knowing that we were com-

fortably ahead and were going to

do it. I shed many tears after the

senior race the following day as

we paddled our final few strokes

to the slip, as the realisation hit

me that that would be the last

time I would probably ever sit in a

boat for DULBC.

DULBC will always be a part of

who I am, I have never felt so at-

tached to a club before. There is

just something about it, as I am

sure you will all agree. An atmos-

phere, a lot of personalities, the

drive to train hard and race hard

– ‗pull hard, pull together‘ – and

have a great time while doing it.

Senior Colours 2009

Novice Colours 2007

Henley 2009

DULBC News 2010 ©

The Colours Races Caitlin Condon DULBC had an encouraging start to their season at Lagan Head of the River where the senior eight took home the prize for Fastest Women‘s Crew. Soon the focus centered on Colours where the ad-justment from endurance head racing to shorter regatta-style racing so early in the season posed a challenge for the crew. Howev-er, the girls were eager to con-front UCD on the traditional 2.3km Colours course from O‘Connell Bridge to James‘ Gate Brewery. DULBC seniors had not won on this course in seven years—they knew they had something to prove.

Colours provided the novices with their first taste of side by side racing. Although the Sally Moorehead Trophy may not have been retained this year, as the sea-son progressed, the promising novice crews soon became able to utilize their strength and gain more racing experience. This year also marked the first time that a second women‘s novice crew had the opportunity to face off against UCD in Colours. This development is a reflection of the growing popularity of women‘s rowing in Ireland. The ―Goonette‖ crew had an impressive win over UCD beating them by several lengths of open water.

The senior crew was comprised of Sarah Dolan (stroke), Iseult Finn, Susannah Cass, Caoimhe Proud-Murphy, Rebecca Deasy, Siofra Bennet, Niamh Murphy, Caitlin Condon (bow), and coxed by captain Rachel Nazarin. Although it was

a young crew, it did not lack in experience; six of the girls raced in Colours the previous year where they had recaptured the Corcoran Cup after an interminable UCD winning streak.

The senior women‘s race began in the midst of controversy. Two key UCD rowers had allegedly enrolled in part-time, 12-week, ―Adult Ed-ucation‖ courses so as to be able to produce cop-ies of UCD student cards to the race organizers as proof of enrollment. They were not eligible to row in University Championships later in the year un-

der the same credentials. Be that as it may, on the starting blocks everything was irrelevant but the race at hand. Although DULBC led off the start, the powerful UCD crew rapidly gained and then sustained a boat length lead over DULBC. However, throughout the multiple bends and bridges marking up the course, DULBC stayed with UCD and did not let them stretch their lead into open water. DULBC was calm and

collected throughout the entire race; they never doubted that they were going to win. Within the last 400m, DULBC made a powerful push and closed in on UCD. As DULBC came up even, UCD cracked under the pressure, and in a dramatic fashion their rower in the 3-seat caught a crab (missed a stoke), which dragged the UCD boat to a standstill. By the time the UCD crew had recom-posed, DULBC had passed the finish line. Trinity‘s win proved that they had the physical endurance and mental stamina to withstand the pressure of such an important race. As Liam Gorman of the Irish Times wrote: ―Trinity‘s women stole the show with a dramatic demonstration of how patience and persistence can yield big rewards.‖

Trinity retained the Corcoran Cup

Women’s Head The Senior and Inter eights flew to London five

days after the Colours races to compete in the

Women‘s Eights Head of the River Race. This race

is rowed over the grueling 7.2km reverse Oxford-

Cambridge Boat Race course. The Inter 8‘s perfor-

mance stands as a testament to DULBC‘s depth

as they finished an impressive 87th out of 300

crews after only being able to practice once in their

final line up. Due to injuries, the crew led by

Rachael O‘Byrne O‘Reilly (stroke), Naomi O‘Sulli-

van, Sinead Rodger, Catherine Taaffe, Blaire Mul-

vey, Rebecca Dowling (bow) and Claire Acton

(cox) were left two rowers short. Thankfully,

DULBC veterans: Breda Horan and Annelies

Pletsers were willing to step in as exceptional sub-

stitutes. The senior crew finished 40th and im-

proved on their performance from last year‘s Head

of the River by 20 seconds although they will be

working hard to improve this further in 2011.

DULBC would like to extend warm thanks to Trinity

Trust & Association and the Kat Miller Fund for

their valued generosity and support of our competi-

tion at international races and regattas.

Trinity take to the Thames with 300 eights for the

Women‘s Head of the River.

DULBC News 2010 ©

Novice Colours From the Back of the Boat

Carina Girvan - Novice cox 2009 - 2010 Thinking back on Colours I find myself remember-ing the events before and after the race most clear-ly. I was elated to be told that I would be coxing the ladies novice boat and quickly realised that I would be learning an awful lot in a very short space of time. Our first trip over the weir had everyone excited and trying to figure out quite how to get both boat a crew down. All was soon revealed and this began a week of intensive training for Col-ours. That week I lost all focus in my studies listen-ing to coxing audios and on my bike rehearsing the race start when the lights turned green. On the wa-ter each day the crew developed into a cohesive boat whilst my own obsession with learning and improving as a cox was beginning to leave me sleep deprived and dreaming of 20 stroke piec-es. However with a day off tired bodies and minds

had an opportunity to recover. The morning of the race arrived. Tension was in the air around the novices but with the success of the novice B boat in the morning race above the weir, our spirits were raised and we began to focus on our task ahead. Arriving on the stake boat and waiting for UCD the noise from supporters above echoed off the walls and the tension in the boat rose. After giv-ing reminders of what the coaches had told us all I asked the crew to close their eyes and focus on their breathing, taking three steady and controlled collective boat breaths. Soon enough we were called to attention and on the 'g' of 'go' we were gone. Throughout the race we hung off the stern of UCD, making small gains only to be pushed away. The pain on the face of each girl in the boat could only rivalled by the look of determination on the next stroke. At the end of the race the sense of loss was palpable. Although we lost the race that day we gained a sense of focus and strong determination to train harder and more effectively than we had before.... after a fantastic night out!

Henley Women’s Regatta Sinead Rodger Having trained hard all season, on 17th June,

DULBC‘s Senior crew boarded a plane bound for

London, and the much anticipated Henley Wom-

en‘s Regatta. We were apprehensive but eager to

see how we would fare against other crews from

outside Ireland.

With racing not starting until Saturday, we

had the opportunity to get some training in on the

course on Friday. This proved to be invaluable as

we had the chance to train with the Drexel crew,

who went on to win the Elite 8 event. We learned a

lot about our racing abilities in this session and

were ready to put it to practice in racing the follow-

ing day. That evening all crews were invited to an

evening in the Rowing Museum where we sported

our matching outfits and had a chance to see the

lineage of the sport to which we devote so much

time. After much enjoyment we returned home for

an early night before the big race the next day.

We were up early Saturday morning for one

last spin boat before the race. Back in the house

we had time to relax as we waited to hear who we

would be racing: Newcastle University. We knew

that it wasn‘t long now until we would be sitting on

the start line and nerves began to set in.

We arrived at the course with our games faces

on, pumped and ready to go; rowing to the start in

our matching DULBC kit we knew we had done

everything that we could have to prepare. We were

ready to represent Trinity College Dublin. When the

umpire said the inevitable words ―Attention, Go‖

both crews exploded out of the blocks. It was New-

castle who would have the early lead but we al-

ways had them in our sights and kept fighting for it.

With 3/4 length down and 700 metres to go we

knew that we had to make our move. It was a dog

fight to the end with both crews giving everything

that they could, DULBC advancing with every

stroke. Unfortunately it was Newcastle‘s bow that

crossed the finish line first, just a canvas ahead of

DULBC. While tears were to follow, we knew that

we had given it our all, and raced at a level that we

had striven for all year.

We spent the following day at the course,

watching the racing and supporting the other Irish

crews that still remained in the competition. Once

racing had finished we had one last row on the

course before loading up the trailer to return home.

On Monday, before heading to the airport, we visit-

ed Dorney Lake, where the 2012 Olympic Games

will be held.

While DULBC were not victorious at Henley

Women‘s Regatta, we knew that we had put our-

selves in a good position for going into the National

Championships and Henley in future years.

DULBC News 2010 ©

Alison O’Keeffe - Novice 2009-10 Novice rowing was one hell of an experience. It‘s fairly safe to say that we didn‘t know what we were getting ourselves into and safer to say that we all had our lives turned upside down by the sport of rowing. But we would admit in a flash that it was an exhilarating, rewarding and intensely gratifying way to spend a whole lot of time. Isobel Wilson,

regular 2 seat in our A boat claims that ―My first year in college has been the best year of my life to date and rowing contributed enormously to the fantastic time I had‖ which sums up the attitude of the 09/10 novice crew. We were a very eager and enthusiastic bunch, with 140 sign ups and 60+ people regularly turning up to training. By January and the start of the racing season we had more than three eights worth of people willing and able to race.

Our Winter ‗training camp‘ was planned for Blessington lake but resigned to Islandbridge be-cause of the unprecedented cold weather. Those few days saw us row our way through snow fall

and icy temperatures but always with smiles our faces and the occasional boat v. boat snow-ball fight. We would start at 8 am and take an hour break mid-morning, to eat and warm up but it was a regular occurrence that an hour in the boat-house would do little or nothing to warm up cold toes and fingers. So we just had to press on. The training camp marked the start of our shift towards being ‗real‘ rowers, with longer and more frequent training in the run up towards the racing season. The hard work did nothing to hinder our high spir-

its, in fact, the harder we worked, the more we fell in love with the sport which started to occupy

our lives. I can personally say that rowing has altered my life significantly. Coming from an athletic back-ground, I was very familiar with the experience of sport, training and hard work, but the latter took on

a whole new meaning last year. But so did the words ‗friendship, ‗bonding,‘ ‗relaxation‘ and ‗rest‘! I could never have imagined the bond that is

formed between people putting there bodies on the line together and for each other. It‘s impossible not to feel something special towards someone when you‘re quite simply relying entirely on their ability to not give up, and vice versa. And as for relaxation and rest, it is so much more rewarding when you know you‘ve really earned it. Alison Walsh said she enjoyed ―The days when you‘re so tired you can only think of food and once that‘s sorted, thinking is too hard so you just don‘t.‖ I told you we were an enthusiastic bunch! But our enthu-siasm was not wasted. We progressed steadily throughout the year thanks to the exceptionally hard work of our coaches Andrew Coleman, Connla Edwards and Franky Sheridan. L a g a n Head was our first competitive endeavor and our A boat came second only to a very experienced Queens crew, which was good news to our ears.

The Novice Experience

In the sun at Lagan Head

Novice fun at Christmas Commons

Training on

Blesso‘.

On the start at Queen‘s.

DULBC News 2010 ©

Then came the Colours race against UCD which was a fantastic event, but unfortunately we lost out on the coveted trophy. Dublin Head followed and before we knew it University Cham-pionships was upon us. It took place on Saturday the 10th of April, and Skibereen Regatta followed on the 11th. That weekend we met with mixed fortunes, including the first medal of our group; Keira Buttanshaw won a gold with three second year novices in a coxed four, and one of the first year novice boats came second. Two other fours

raced across the weekend but illness and tech-nical difficulties kept us away from the medals. Two first year novice eights took part in each event as well, and although we raced well we fell

short of the top prizes. Nonetheless an ex-tremely enjoyable and somewhat successful weekend was had.

As the college year drew to a close, the racing season kept picking up momentum and throughout the months of May, June and July we spent our days training and our weekends racing

under the exceptional guidance of our new racing coach, Steve Lowe. The medals fi-nally started appear-ing with a win in the eight and the four at Trinity Regatta (two very important wins over UCD) and golds in the four at Athlone and Metro. With med-als come status points with 4 novices breaking status to become inters. The Queen‘s University Boatrace was another big event in the early Summer, but unfortunately the competition was too stiff on the day to clinch success. The main focus of our attention was National Champion-ships, which was to be held on the 16th of July in the National Rowing Centre in Cork. As it drew nearer, the awareness of our efforts and achieve-ments from the start of October up until that point were clear in our minds and we knew that the right race could secure for us our ultimate dream: to be National Champions. However, it was not to be. We all knew that we had raced well and although our times would have won gold on many other occasions, neither the eight nor the four could reach that elusive podium. Which only means one thing: we‘re just going to have to train harder to reach it this year!

All things considered, our year of novice rowing exceeded all kinds of expectations. But probably the most surprising and unlikely thing which happened in us all was the great at-tachment and affection that we developed for what is essentially very hard work, achieved

through the medium of enduring friendship and respect.

Victorious

f o u r s a t

A t h l o n e ,

Skibereen

Regattas.

Trinity Regatta with Connla and Steve.

Pink & black attack!

Regatta fashion at Queens.

DULBC News 2010 ©

Putting the ‘fun’ in Fundraising Rebecca Dowling, DULBC Treasurer 2009-2010

The 2009-10 season was an

important and successful one in

generating new income for the

club via an extensive fundraising

drive. Club membership hit a

record 162 last year, which put

an huge strain on the already

insufficient funds allocated from

the college. Led by our ever

passionate captain Rachel

Nazarin, the club took on the

challenge of raising €5,000. This

task was made easier with the

help of the new outgoing bunch

of novices who took on each

fundraiser with a wealth of

enthusiasm time after time.

In our bid to raise as much as

possible, there was an addition

of two new fundraising events to

our calendar. The first of these, a

table quiz he ld in the

packed Pavilion bar on a dark

night in November, generated

over €500. This, along with a few

days of ‗bag packing‘ in The

Nutgrove shopping centre,

proved pivotal in keeping the club

afloat. The bag packing was a

true success with €1,875 collect-

ed, but wasn‘t without hard work,

big smiles and hours spent count-

ing every last cent.

Traditional DULBC annual events

continue to play a huge role in

funding the everyday running of

the club, from buying footplates

and shoes to rigger gates and

washers. The Halloween Massa-

cre was a huge hit not

only amongst Trinity rowers but

also many others on the bank.

Neptune Rowing Club was kind

enough to host us for the

evening‘s fancy-dress party and

after all expenses were covered

we raised a massive €1,200.

Better things were still to come

though and on a bright Friday in

May we took to Grafton Street in

our pink and black lycra for our

annual Ergathon. Twelve

solid hours spent bucket shaking

and erging proved essential in

our attempt to reach the overall

€5,000 mark. Despite the tough

times the recession has brought,

the people of Dublin remain as

generous as ever. Save The

Children, being our nominated

charity for the event received a

proportion of the incredible

€1,900 total raised.

A final boost came in an edible

form with a very successful bake

sale at Trinity Regatta. The cakes

and biscuits donated by DULBC

members went down a treat and

we hope that this will make a

regular addition to regatta day.

The fundraising efforts through-

out the 2009-10 season have

without a doubt played a part in

the club‘s huge success on the

water in both novice and interme-

diate level. We exceeded our

initial target by collecting a total

of just over €5,500. The commit-

tee would like to make huge

thank you to all members of

DULBC, both past and present,

parents and friends that contribut-

ed in any way to the club‘s

efforts. As ever all support is

much appreciated.

Calling all Alumni!

Caoimhe Proud-Murphy - Alumni Officer As DULBC enters its 35th year of existence, we are

aiming to strengthen our Alumni Database. If any

Alumni would be interested in helping update the

current Alumni database or even let us know the

names of your crew mates for the years you rowed,

please contact me (proudmuc@tcd.ie). We have

some great plans for the upcoming year, and would

love to tell you about them and meet all ex DULBC

rowers to share our stories.

In keeping with the times, we have also set up

a Facebook page: search for us under ‗DULBC‘ and

please do join! There are some great photos online

of the current members and it is a great way to keep

up with what we are currently training for and the

general mood in the DULBC camp.

Saturday 29th January has been provisionally

booked for our Alumni Dinner, at the Russel Court

Hotel in Dublin. Please save this date in your diary!

Trinity Regatta, will take place on 16th April.

This year it is going to be run by both DUBC &

DULBC, who would have thought! As you may know

there is a lovely lunch in the long room, the past two

years we have had a table for the DULBC parents

and we would now like to extend this invite to our

Alumni. It is a great day out and there have been

some great races in recent years with our long time

rivals UCD. We will contact you about this nearer

the time and look forward to seeing you there!

DULBC News 2010 ©

News from Mars

DUBC Update Captain 2009-2010: Ali Floyd Captain 2010-2011: Charlie Landale

The men‘s club had an interesting year both on, in

and off the water. Memorable events included the

Novice men achieving the near impossible feat of

capsizing their 8 in training . It clearly did them no

harm however when a few months later they went

on to win the Dan Quinn Shield and Goonan Cup in

the Colours races. Sadly the young(ish) senior 8

with DULBC‘s own Steve Lowe on board did not

win the Gannon Cup on that

occasion. The year saw

victories in the intermediate

4, novice pair and novice

single at the University

Championships and the

intermediate 4 at Dublin

Metropolitan Regatta for

DUBC who also competed

at Marlow Regatta and were

represented in the Home

Internationals by Patrick

Jacques in the U23 light-

weight scull.

Off the water DUBC

completed a very successful

restructuring and recruit-

ment drive for their alumni

club: Lady Elizabeth Boat

Club. The support they have

received through member-

ship and generous dona-

tions to ‗Lizzie‘ has allowed

them to take the exciting

step of employing a full time

Development Coach, Neal

Byrne, to oversee talent ID

in their novice squad. This

renewed enthusiasm has

been an inspiration to us

and we hope that our own

alumni, under the name of

Anna Liffey Boat Club might

soon become as active and

involved with the life of

DULBC as Lady Elizabeth BC. We hope that these

newsletters will play an important role in keeping

old members up to date and providing a platform for

them to share their memories and experiences with

current rowers. In the meantime we congratulate

DUBC on the efforts they have made and look for-

ward to working with them and all of our alumni in

the organization of this year‘s Trinity Regatta.

DUBC have already made a great start to the new

season, winning the Steve Casey Cup for fastest

team in the Dublin sculling ladder for the first time in

their club history. We wish DUBC the best of luck

for the upcoming Neptune Head and the rest of the

season and look forward to celebrating many

victories together over the year.

DULBC News 2010 ©

Meet the DULBC Coaches... Andrew Coleman. Boathouse Superintendent and Senior Coach

Andrew began rowing at school having decided that rugby was just a bit too

muddy. He went on to study at Trinity and rowed in the senior 8, gaining a

hat-trick of Colours victories in 1997, 1998 and during his Captaincy of

DUBC in 1999. Proving that there is life after Trinity, Andrew then went on to

row for Neptune RC and Lady Elizabeth BC . He has also competed on the

international scene representing Ireland in World Cup regattas including in

the lightweight 2- at the Hazelwinkel World Cup 1998, the lightweight 4- at

the 2005 Eton World Cup and winning a silver medal in the lightweight 8 at

the Lucerne World Cup in 2005. Judging from the pub‘s worth of tankards on

his shelf he‘s won a fair few other things too but he‘s too modest to mention

them! Andrew began coaching DULBC in 2007 and also coaches Sarah Do-

lan and a number of other members of the Irish squad in his ‗spare‘ time.

We‘re not sure how he does it all...

Franky Sheridan. Intermediate Coach

In 1986 at the age of 8 years old Franky started coxing in Neptune RC. When he

turned 11 he put his hands to rowing (―I was too big for the Coxes seat‖). In 1994

he was selected for the Junior Irish National Squad to compete at the "Home In-

ternationals" and the moved up to the ―Coupe De La Jeunesse" squad in 1995

and 1996 when he won 2 Gold Medals and 1 Bronze. Whilst still a Junior he also

competed in the Neptune senior 8 which came an epic 9th in London Head. In

1997 Franky won the Intermediate Pair's National Championship and Home In-

ternational Senior 8's title. In 1998 he got injured to allow some other people to

win something for a change and helped out coaching a men‘s novice 4… to

National victory! In 1999 he reached the quarter final at Henley Royal Regatta. In

2000 he competed in Belgium with the Irish under 23 squad and in 2001 he won

the senior 8 National Championship. In 2002 he made it to the semi-final at Hen-

ley. In 2003 he joined Andrew at Lady Elizabeth BC reaching a Henley final in

2005. Franky began coaching at Neptune in 2007 and in 2010 finally put the

makeup on, crossed the river and began assisting Andrew coaching DULBC…

to a National Championship victory!

The Boss

Connla Edwards. Novice Coach

Connla also hopped the river in

2010 to join DULBC from

Commerical Rowing Club to

coach the Novice squad.

Connla started in Commercial

at 13 years old as a cox and

soon started rowing. He has

won two National Champion-

ships and has represented

Ireland in the Home Internation-

als on three occasions, twice in the lightweight four and

once in the lightweight double with many other regatta

wins in between. Despite his rowing successes we

suspect that he‘d much rather be known for his truly ex-

ceptional puns. Which are sometimes even funny.

Joker Hugh Carvil. Novice Coach

Hugh is the latest addition to the DULBC

coaching family. Having coached with Franky

whilst at Neptune it wasn‘t too hard to

persuade him to swap green and black for the

far more fetching pink and black of DULBC

and the challenge of 80+ excited novice

rowers. We‘re looking forward to getting to

know him this year!

Mr Neptune

Coppers?

DULBC News 2010 ©

Big Steve Steve Lowe. Novice Coach 2008-10

Steve was President of Reading University Boat Club and rowed with Andrew

and Franky at Lady Elizabeth when he came to Dublin. He has coached

DULBC novices for the past few years and as an MBA student in Trinity 2009 -

2010, donned the stripy zephyr of DUBC himself racing in the senior Colours 8.

This year he says he‘s getting a proper job but we hope he‘ll pay us a visit from

time to time.

DULBC 2009 - 2010

DULBC and the 2010 Intermediate National Champions, proudly sponsored by FXB Steak and Seafood Restaurant

at Ryan’s of Parkgate Street .

DULBC News 2010 ©

Home Internationals Rebecca Deasy

On a nail-biting finish, at the Metro Regatta back in

June, both Siofra Bennett and I made it to the

Home International Regatta to represent Ireland

against England, Scotland and Wales. This year it

was held in Ireland at the National Rowing Centre

near Cork.

On the Monday following DULBC‘s amazing cham-

pionship win and the celebrations that came with it,

we started a gruelling training regime out in Innis-

cara. Martin Kilbane was assigned our coach for

the week. Under his direction both Siofra and I

were placed in positions in the boat that we never

thought we could possibly row in. I was reluctantly

put in stroke while Siofra was made to steer the

boat from the three seat. What would Andrew

think?! What chance had we at all?!!

In the four, with my sister and her pairs partner, we

struggled and struggled. After the long days of zig-

zagging across the lake, the unsettled rhythms and

not to mention the sisterly quarrels, we finally got it

to go. At the regatta we placed third in this U23

coxless four category.

We also competed in the senior eight after only one

training session in the boat. We finished fourth.

Despite the results it was an amazing event to be

part of and we thoroughly enjoyed it. To complete

the week and day‘s racing, a banquet was held in

the Oriel House Hotel for all competitors. Awards

were presented; photos were taken and like any

other rowing night out mayhem ensued.

Siofra and Rebecca receive their medals for the Metro Regatta U23 pair from Alan Ludlow of Neptune RC.

Rebecca (stroke) and Siofra (3) in the U23 coxless four at the Home International Regatta.

DULBC International One of the great things about rowing in Ireland is the friendliness of this

small and close-knit community. However, particularly in women‘s senior

rowing, the very small number of competitive crews can be disheartening.

Each year DULBC travel to a number of international competitions in

order to compete in bigger events at the highest level. Last year this

included two crews entering the Women‘s Eight‘s Head of the River race

in London and the senior crew travelling to Henley Women‘s Regatta. Whilst we will be attending both

events again in 2011 we also hope to take a larger squad to London Metropolitan Regatta which will be

held on Dorney Lake, venue for the 2012 Olympic rowing.

Whilst DULBC as a whole aim to compete amongst the top Irish and European Universities, individuals

within the club are always encouraged to take their rowing careers to new heights and trial and compete

for Ireland in international events. Last year we were delighted to be represented in the Home International

regatta by Siofra Bennett and Rebecca Deasy and in a number of international regattas including the

under 23 World Championships by lightweight Sarah Dolan. Sarah is a Trinity sports scholar and

combines rowing at Trinity with her national squad training for Rowing Ireland.

The standard of rowing at DULBC continues to rise under the skill and dedication of our coaches and we

look forward to reporting more international success stories in the near future.

DULBC News 2010 ©

World Rowing

Sarah Dolan My goal of getting onto the senior

Irish squad started when I came

to Trinity in 2008. I finally reached

that goal in April 2010 after the

final Irish Trials when I was

selected to go to Wedau

International regatta in both an

U23 double and a senior scull. I

was so grateful to be selected,

but the Regatta was on a couple

of days after my exams finished! I

was a bit apprehensive about

how it would go, but it was great

experience. The course was

nothing like one you would see in

Ireland. It even had a warm up

lake. This just made it all the

more nerve racking, one of my

biggest fears was that I was

going to go all that way and come

last by miles. I learned very

quickly that the international

stage is fast, very fast! Which

seems obvious but you dont

realise how fast until you are left

for dust after the start! Although

the pace was fast I was really

happy with some of my results

there. I really enjoyed my first

international regatta but I did not

enjoy the delay that happened

after it. We got stuck there for 2

extra days because of the ash

cloud!

After Duisburg I moved down to

Cork for the summer to train with

the rest of the squad. Although

boring at times I loved being

down there and training

everyday. I then got selected to

go in a double to the first World

Cup in Bled. Lake Bled is the

most beautiful place I have ever

seen and it was amazing to row

on. But the World Cups are a big

step up from Duisburg as I

quickly learned. This Regatta

showed me that I would have to

get alot faster if I was going to be

able to compete with World

champions.

After Bled it was back to Cork to

train for the 3rd World Cup and

the big one: the U23 World

Championships. We were training

harder than ever to do well in the

U23s as this was our age group -

no excuses. We were racing in

Lucerne before the U23s so we

headed to Switzerland. Lucerne

is also an amazing course. I was

more nervous in there than I was

in any of the other Regattas

because we had put in so much

more training and we were

expecting more of ourselves.

Again the pace was very fast and

the C final was the best we could

do. We had to put it behind us

quickly too because we were off

on a training camp in the Swiss

national rowing centre until the

U23s. We worked on everything

that we had learned when we

were on camp. But we also had

some fun as it was really hot and

sunny, which was not so fun to

row in but was great for

swimming in!

When our camp was done we

headed to Belarus. Belarus was

also a great course with great

facilities. The U23s was a bigger

event than any of the other

Regattas, it even had an opening

cermony, which was brillant and

alot bigger than I thought a

rowing opening cermony would

be. Our first heat in the U23s

didn‘t look too bad on paper so

we knew we would just have to

row our best and we would get

through. Which we did in 2nd

place. This gave us a day off the

next day as we didnt have to

compete in a rep. A whole day to

get very nervous. Our aim was to

get to the A final and after we

saw the draw for the Semi-final

we knew this was going to be

very difficult as we were drawn

against the current champions.

To get through we knew we

would have to row the best we

had ever rowed. But sitting on the

start the nerves got the better of

us and we didnt row as well as

we had hoped.

The B final was a really tough

race. There were three boats all

side by side for the whole race;

Ireland, Spain and the USA. We

all finished within a second and a

half of each other, with Ireland

coming 2nd. Losing by so little is

always hard but we raced our

ha r des t s o we we r en ‘ t

dissappointed with it.

I loved every moment of my time

competing for Ireland and would

to do it all again next year.

2007 Junior W8+ National Champion

Novice W8+ National Champion

Home International winner Junior

W4x

2009 Inter 8+ University Champion

Senior 8+ University Champion

Senior 2x University Champion

Colours winner

2010 Colours Winner

Senior 2x University Champion

Wedau International Regatta,

Duisburg: 6th BWL2x

World Cup 1: Bled Slovenia: 21st

WL2x

World Cup 3: Lucerne, Switzer-

land: 18th WL2x

Under 23 World Championships :

Brest, Belarus: 8th WL2x

Sarah Dolan and Sheila Clavin com-pete for Ireland in the Women's Light-weight 2x at the Rowing World Cup in Bled, Slovenia. (Photo: John Gichigi)

DULBC News 2010 ©

2010-11 Calendar A selection of important dates for your

diary - more to come in future editions!

Thank you! DULBC are immensely grateful for all

the help and support we receive from

so many people every year, especially

DUCAC for our funding and all our

parents, we're sorry we can‘t mention

you all here but rest assured you

mean the world to us!

A few special mentions from 2009-10:

Mr & Mrs Finn and Mr & Mrs Carr Condon

for new cox-boxes.

Guy Coleman, Elaine and Vic Cass and

Anne Blanchard for Women‘s Head ac-

commodation in London.

Elaine, Tom & Susannah Coleman and

friends for accommodation at Henley

Women‘s Regatta.

The Trinity Trust for money towards a

new trailer.

The Proud-Murphy family for an amazing

picnic in Henley.

The Kat Millar Fund for supporting our

international competitions.

FXB Restaurants for their continuing

sponsorship.

Neville Maxwell and Brendan Farrell for

fantastic guest coaching.

Dublin University Ladies Boat Club, Trinity Boathouse, War Memorial Park, Dublin 8

Captain: Iseult Finn ifinn@tcd.ie

Head Coach: Andrew Coleman ampcoleman@gmail.com

Vice-Captain: Caitlin Carr Condon condoncc@tcd.ie

Secretary: Rebecca Dowling rdowlin@tcd.ie

Treasurer: Sinead Rodger sinead_r250@hotmail.com

Alumni Officer: Caoimhe Proud-Murphy proudmuc@tcd.ie

Newsletter: Susannah Cass dulbcnews@gmail.com

06/11/2010 Neptune Head, Blessington

18/11/2010 The Trinity Boat Ball, Clontarf Castle Hotel

19/12/2010 Parents & Friends mulled wine & mince pies at Trinity Boathouse

29/01/2011 DULBC Alumni Dinner, Russel Court Hotel

05/03/2011 Dublin Head, Liffey

19/03/2011 Women‘s Eights Head, London

26/03/2011 Lagan Head, Belfast

02/04/2011 Neptune Regatta, Islandbridge

09/04/2011 University and Schools Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork

10/04/2011 Skibereen Regatta, NRC Cork

16/04/2011 Trinity Regatta and Luncheon, Islandbridge

28/05/2011 Dublin Metropolitan Regatta, Blessington

1719/06/2011 Henley Women‘s Regatta, Henley

14-17/07/2011 Irish National Rowing Championships, NRC Cork

Picnicking with parents in Henley.