rowing ireland newsletter: october edition

Inside this Issue: High Performance Review Sports Nutrition Leonora Kennedy Profile

Para Rowing Feature Gordon Reid John Armstrong Early ID Trials

Rowing Ireland Newsletter O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 1

Ireland’s BM4– in their heat at the 2013 World Rowing U23 Championships

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

High

Performance

Round Up

3

Gordon Reid 6

John

Armstrong 7

Sports Nutri-

tion: Eating

for Training

8

Introducing

Para Rowing 10

October &

November

Calendar

15

Athlete Pro-

file: Leonora

Kennedy

16

Sponsors’

Page 18

Welcome to our third edition of the

Rowing Ireland e‐zine that continues

to grow and become a very important

source of information to our member‐

ship.

The office continues to be as busy as

ever even in the off season with sev‐

eral major projects underway. These

include Board Strategic Planning that

is nearly complete and will be avail‐

able on our website in the coming

weeks.

The Tracker upgrade to manage the

introduction of the new points system

is also well underway and there will

be enhanced online functionality of

the system including online pay‐

ments.

We hope the rains will arrive shortly

so the water level rises and we can re‐

attach the pontoons to the redevel‐

oped slips at the National Rowing

Centre.

I am also delighted to hear the posi‐

tive feedback from the first Strength

and Conditioning course run last

weekend and I am sure the expertise

learnt on this course will be imple‐

mented by all those who attended.

We are always interested in contribu‐

tors to our e‐zine so please contact

Amy who continues her marvelous

work at [email protected] .

Hamish Adams

CEO

Welcome P A G E 2

R O W I N G I R E L A N D N E W S L E T T E R

©Igor Meijer/FISA

mailto:%[email protected]�

V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 1 P A G E 3

High Performance Round Up

A large group of fifteen athletes repre‐

sented Ireland at the 2013 World Rowing

Under 23 Championships, in Linz, Austria in

July , most of whom were making their de‐

but at this level.

The standout performance of this regatta

was undoubtedly UCD’s Paul O’Donovan in

the Lightweight Single Scull. This was his

first year racing at this level, and he had

already finished sixth at the World Cup II

this season. At the U23 Championships, he

finished second in his Semifinal to progress

straight to the A Final. A hard‐fought race

saw him in the bronze medal position with

500m to go, but a huge sprint from the

New Zealand sculler in fourth place saw

him closing in on O'Donovan in the final

stages, but O’Donovan held him off to win

the bronze medal by 0.79 seconds.

NUIG BC athlete Lisa Dilleen, in her fourth

U23 Championships, was joined by new‐

comers Aifric Keogh (NUIG BC), Ailish Shee‐

han and Emily Tormey (both St Michael’s

RC) to compete in the Women’s Coxless

Four. The four progressed to the A Final,

after winning their repechage, and were in

a bronze medal position for the first three

quarters of the race. Steering problems

saw them hit a buoy in the closing stages

“It happened

to me before...I

just missed out

on a bronze

medal by a

third of a

second...I just

kind of kept it

going so that

wouldn’t

happen again”

-Paul

O’Donovan

and they finished in fourth place overall.

Also making her Under 23 Championship

debut was Skibbereen’s Denise Walsh in

the Women’s Lightweight Single Scull .

Through strong performances in her heat

and semifinal, she progressed to the A Fi‐

nal, where she finished sixth place overall.

The Men’s Coxless Four of Richard Bennett

(NUIG BC), Matthew Wray (Belfast BC),

Jonathan Mitchell (Belfast BC) and Robert

O’Callaghan (NUIG BC) finished third in the

B Final, placing them ninth overall.

In the Men’s Pair, Sean O’Connor and Fion‐

nan McQuillan‐Tolan, both of NUIG BC, fin‐

ished fourth in the B Final, placing them in

tenth place overall.

In the Men’s Lightweight Double Scull, Skib‐

bereen BC athletes Shane O’Driscoll and

Gary O’Donovan finished sixth in the B Final

of their event, 12th place overall.

Belfast BC athlete Adam Boreham faced a

strong entry of 27 scullers in the Men’s Sin‐

gle Scull, and he finished in 24th overall.

World Rowing

U23 Championships

©Detlev Seyb/ MyRowingPhoto.com

©Igor Meijer/FISA

Hilary Shinnick and Bridget Jacques

after winning their JW2x Repechage.

Ireland’s JW4x

competing in

the C Final of

their event in

Trakai,

Lithuania.

World Rowing Junior Championships Double Scull. They finished second in

their heat, sixth in their Quarterfinal

and fourth in their C/ D Semifinal.

They finished second in the D Final,

giving them a final placing of 20th

overall.

The experienced Junior Women’s

Double Scull of Hilary Shinnick

(Fermoy RC) and Bridget Jacques

(Belfast BC), who had both previously

competed in the 2012 Junior World

Championships, finished second in

their heat, first their rep and fourth in

the A/B Semifinal. A convincing win in

their B Final gave them a final placing

of 7th overall, out of 24 entries.

High Performance Round-Up P A G E 4

Ireland’s JM4x

launch for their heat


©James McInerney

©James McInerney

©James McInerney

A team of twelve junior athletes, the

largest number in recent years, repre‐

sented Ireland at the 2013 Champion‐

ships in Trakai, Lithuania from 7‐11

August 2013.

The Junior Men’s Quadruple scull of

Conor Carmody (Shannon BC), John

Mitchell (Lee RC), David O’Malley (St

Michael’s RC) and Paddy Hegarty

(Skibbereen RC) finished fourth in

their heat and third in their Rep, to

progress to the C Final, where they

finished sixth, placing them 18th

overall of 20 entries.

The recently formed Junior Women’s

Quadruple Scull of Bernadette Walsh

(Skibbereen RC), Fiona Murtagh

(Galway RC), Erin Barry (Bann RC) and

Jasmine English (Belfast BC) finished

fourth in their heat, fifth in their Rep,

third in the C/D Semifinal and fifth in

the C Final. This gave them a final

placing of 17th of 20 entries

The Shandon BC crew of Jack Casey

and Andy Harrington faced a huge

entry of 26 crews in the Junior Men’s

gle Scull, was a relatively experienced com‐

petitor in this event, having finished 11th at

the 2012 World Championships. This sea‐

son, competing in the same event, she fin‐

ished fourth at the European Champion‐

ships and fifth in the World Cup II at Eton

Dorney.

A third place finish in her heat meant she

had to contest the Repechage round of this

event. Unfortunately, a third place finish

(by 0.9 seconds) meant Lambe just missed

out on contesting the A/B Semifinals .

A commanding win in her C/ D Semifinal,

saw Lambe progress straight to the C Final,

where she finished a close second to the

Italian sculler Denise Zacco, giving her a fi‐

nal placing of 14th overall, out of 20 entries.

Two Irish crews were selected for the World

Rowing Senior Championships in Chungju,

South Korea, which took place from 25 Au‐

gust‐1 September 2013.

The Heavyweight Women’s Double Scull of

Monika Dukarska (Killorglin RC) and Leon‐

ora Kennedy (Portora BC) were having a

fantastic season for a brand new combina‐

tion, finishing sixth in their international

debut at the World Cup II in Eton Dorney,

after only a few weeks training together.

Both athletes were making their debut at

the World Rowing Senior Championships.

They faced 13 other crews in this Olympic‐

class event.

A fourth place finish in their opening heat

meant they had to contest a Repechage

round; where they finished in second place,

to book their place in the A/ B Semifinals.

In their Semifinal, they needed a top three

finish to progress to the A Final. Unfortu‐

nately, their fourth place finish mean they

had to settle for the B Final.

Their fourth place finish in the B Final gave

them an overall placing of 10th, out of 14

entries

UCD’s Claire Lambe, in the Lightweight Sin‐


World Rowing Championships 2013

Claire Lambe at the start of the LW1x Heat

“Overall the

World

Championships

has been an

excellent fight

to get in the

ranks in the

top class crews

in the world”

-Morten

Espersen

“It is important

that whatever we

learn and achieve

is made available

across Rowing

Ireland”

-Gordon Reid

Rowing is strong in Ireland but we have an opportunity to make things better. Rowing in Ulster is run differ‐ently and there are initiatives that can be tried which, if successful, can be adopted in the other three prov‐inces. Club development has not been given much attention in recent times due to a lack of resourcing within Rowing Ireland, and Coach development has been promoted through Coach Educa‐tion but could be taken to another level in terms of ongoing support for active coaches and those interested in coaching. As a participant, coach, administrator and now staff member within Rowing Ireland, I am able to work with Ulster Clubs to develop systems and re‐sources for Club & Coach Develop‐ment. It is important that whatever we learn and achieve is made avail‐able across Rowing Ireland, and the Board has asked Gerry Farrell to make sure this happens. I report to Hamish Adams, CEO, and the post I occupy is funded by Sport NI until March 2017. There is also a

Talent Coach post, funded on a similar basis, and the two of us will be work‐ing together. The RI Ulster Branch has had a de‐tailed study carried out where rowing standards were compared to world class best practice, and this has shown several areas for attention, including club quality measurement, and coach support systems, such as mentoring. So far I have met with several Clubs, and found a common need for more support for coaches, more effort to keep coaches active and informed, and more initiatives to make the sys‐tems for Talent Development and High Performance activity less iso‐lated from club activity, and what we call domestic rowing. There are funding and resourcing op‐portunities available at national, pro‐vincial and local levels, and I believe we should be doing more to make sure that all of these are used to the best of our ability to support rowing activity. This means looking outside our sport and learning from other sports and business ventures about better systems and methods. I am open to suggestions and com‐ments at any time and would wel‐

Coaches Corner P A G E 6


Gordon Reid Club & Coach Development Officer

John Armstrong Talent Development Officer

I was thrilled to be offered the oppor‐tunity to take on this role. Having learnt to row at Portora and then row‐ing for Queens and Lady Victoria Boat Clubs, I have spent all my rowing ca‐reer in N. Ireland, 25 years of it on the Lagan. It is a fantastic opportunity to come back and make a difference to the prospects of success for a new generation of aspiring athletes Since taking up coaching in 1997/98, I have coached at quite a few local clubs as well as working with performance athletes on an individual basis and

with national teams at different lev‐els. I hope my ‘local’ knowledge and understanding will put me in a posi‐tion to hear and act on the concerns that clubs have, and re‐engage the clubs and coaches to be involved in the development of their best ath‐letes, in the joint interests of the ath‐lete, the club and international teams. The Talent Development role is ulti‐mately about helping the best ath‐letes along a pathway to the point where they are technically, physically and psychologically strong enough to be part of a Senior crew competing at World Championships and Olympic →


arrange to meet with the key administra‐tion and coaching personnel in each club to listen to ways that my role can impact on their needs. We are fortunate in N. Ireland that we also have Gordon Reid as Club and Coach Devel‐opment Officer. Both Gordon and I overlap professionally in several ways, particularly around coach development, and we will be looking at options that are combined ef‐forts and can be used to create opportuni‐ties for coaches who want to be involved in their own development. It will take a month or so to find my feet in this role, but by 2017, I hope that Rowing in N.I. will have stronger clubs, more coaches, and more confident coaches, and more ath‐letes competing and winning at all levels.

Games. This may or may not include com‐peting at a high level as a Junior or U23 I believe there is not a ‘one size fits all’ ap‐proach to this. There are different path‐ways that can end up at the same point. Consideration need to be given to athlete choice, educational needs, starting point on the pathway, appropriate environment that meets the development needs of the ath‐lete at that particular time, to mention a few. My priorities at the moment are creating structure and support for those athletes already in the Development Program as well as putting in place the administration behind that structure and support. It is my intention to be in contact with all the clubs in N Ireland in the near future to

“I hope to...re‐

engage the

clubs and

coaches to be

involved in the

development of

their best

athletes”

‐John

Armstrong

Coaches Corner (cont.)

Early ID Trials 2013 The first round of trials to select Rowing Ireland’s High Performance teams for the 2014 season took place over the weekend of September 28‐29th at the National Row‐ing Centre. The trials saw over 200 Junior, Senior and Under 23 athletes compete sin‐gle sculls, pairs and doubles in 1900m time trials and 2000m finals over the two days. Saturday saw calm conditions for the morning’s time trials, developing into a strong head wind for the afternoon finals. The SMRC Men’s Pair were the fastest over‐all, while Sean O’Connor of NUIG was the fastest heavyweight single sculler. The fast‐est lightweight was Paul O’Donovan of UCD, with David O’Malley of SMRC the fastest Junior. NUIG BC were convincing winners in the Women’s Pair, while Monika Dukarska of Killorglin was the fastest heavyweight sculler. The fastest lightweight was Denise Walsh of Skibbereen, and the Junior Women’s Single was won by Cork BC’s Claire Beechinor. On Sunday the same format was repeated, but the finals were drawn according to boat speed, not category, which saw a mix of

Helen Walshe, W1x

Junior, Senior, Lightweight and Heavy‐weight athletes in each final . The Men’s Pair Final saw SMRC repeat their winning performance of the previous day, to win by 0.2 seconds over QUBBC. The Men’s Single Final was won by light‐weight Paul O’ Donovan, with his fellow UCD BC athlete Niall Kenny in second. The Women’s Pair Final was won by NUIG BC, over Cork BC in second place. The Women’s Single Final was won by Por‐tora BC’s Leonora Kennedy, over light‐weights Denise Walsh and Sinead Jennings, in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. In addition to the racing, sports psycholo‐gist Canice Kennedy gave the senior ath‐letes a lecture on the psychological aspects of sport, emphasising the importance of confidence in achieving peak performance.

©Kaspars Puspurs

“Carbohydrates

need to be

nutrient dense;

don’t focus on

white pastas or

jelly babies, rather

on unprocessed

starches and fruit

and vegetables”

-Catherine

Norton

This pie chart shows the recom‐mended macronutrient contribution to total energy for a non‐athletic population:

The recommendation for high per‐formance sport / those engaging in frequent high intensity training would be that the carbohydrate contribution increases to ~65%, with a lower fat contribution and a protein intake be‐tween 15 – 20%. So the breakdown of macronutrients should be different to the average Joe! In general, athletes have a higher re‐quirement for carbohydrates relative to other macronutrients. Carbohy‐drate should contribute most to total daily energy intake (in some cases in excess of 50% or even 60% dependent on training demands). What this means is consuming large portions of carbohydrates at each meal as well as in snacks between meals. Carbohy‐drates need to be nutrient dense; don’t focus on white pastas or jelly babies, rather on unprocessed starches and fruit and vegetables. A rower can calculate a carbohydrate target in grams, and use food tables or information on food labels to plan to meet this goal. Even better, a rower can see a Sports Dietician for advice to further narrow this target range according to his/her specific situation, and have an individualised meal plan fitted to their needs.

Sport Nutrition: Eating for Training P A G E 8


Catherine Norton Sports Nutritionist

Situation Recommended

Carbohydrate

Intake

Daily refuelling needs

for training programs

less than 60‐90mins

per day or low intensity

exercise

Daily intake of 5‐7g

per kg body mass.

Daily refuelling for

training programs

greater than 90‐120

min per day

Daily intake of 7‐10g

per kg body mass.

Daily refuelling for ath‐

letes undertaking ex‐

treme exercise pro‐

gram: 6‐8 hours per

day

Daily intake of 10‐

12+ g per kg body

mass.

Pre‐event meal Meal eaten 1‐4 hrs

pre‐competition 1‐

4g per kg body

mass.

Carbohydrate intake

during training sessions

and competition

events greater than 1

hour

1g per minute, or

60g per hour

Rapid Recovery after

training session or

multi event competi‐

tion, especially when

there is less than 8 hrs

until the next session

Intake of 1g per kg

body mass in the

first 30 min after

exercise, repeated

every 1‐2 hrs until

regular meal pat‐

terns are resumed

Following endurance training, carbo‐hydrates should be the focus of a re‐covery meal. However, in a training phase where the emphasis may be on increasing muscle mass, protein amounts and types should be given greater consideration in recovery.


might need to be combined and juggled to produce the same nutritional composition, or which might be too impractical to con‐sume directly before or during intense ex‐ercise. Sometimes the convenience factor is the selling point. Some rowers however use these products outside the conditions in which they are likely to achieve a direct sport nutrition goal (e.g.: eating sports bars as a snack). In these situations sports foods may simply be a more expensive version of food. Over‐consumption of any sports foods can lead to dietary imbalances as well as being an unnecessary burden on the wallet.

“Some rowers

struggle with

the sheer

volume of

food they

need to

consume to

meet their

training

demands”

-Catherine

Norton

Eating for Training (Cont.)

In the Next Issue...Eating for Competition and Don McLachlan’s Favourite Smoothie

The figure above, depicting the calorie con‐tent of the different macronutrients, out‐lines the importance for all athletes in maintaining a low fat intake. This is of par‐ticular importance for weight category sports. Sports Supplements Most athletes, par‐ticularly at amateur levels, should man‐age to meet their nutritional require‐ments through food, with little need for sports supplements. As the name sug‐gests, supplements are designed to sup‐plement an inade‐quate diet, and never to replace habitual food intakes. However, some rowers (particularly male heavy‐weights) struggle with the sheer volume of food they need to consume to meet their training demands. Frequent snacks and the use of compact, energy dense food or drinks such as juice, flavoured milk, jam, honey, sports bars and liquid meals are necessary to keep the volume of food man‐ageable. Some sports foods and dietary supplements play a role in providing a practical alterna‐tive to food (e.g.: sports drinks, gels and bars, and liquid meal supplements). Rowers may find these products valuable in helping them achieve their nutrition goals in a busy day or during an exercise session. They are an alternative to every day foods, which

Food to Avoid General healthy eating guidelines recom‐mend the avoidance of foods that are high in saturated fats, high in simple sugars or high in salt. Clearly this advice is even more important in an athletic diet. Following these rules of thumb you would be aiming to choose foods that have the above infor‐mation on their labelling (in green). Broadly speaking, avoiding processed foods, fried foods, baked goods, confectionary and carbonated drinks is required to follow this advice. I would recommend this for every day, but there are occasions where high sugars are necessary within a training schedule.

Ireland’s LTA4+ in

competition

John Armstrong Talent Development Officer

John Armstrong,

recently appointed Talent

Development Officer.

Rowing Ireland hope to

appoint a new national

Para Rowing Coach in the

next few weeks.

In general, people with what types of disabilities are suited to Para row‐ing? Almost anyone with a disability has the potential to get involved, but to get the most out of rowing I would suggest that a minimum requirement would be to the ability to transfer, with minimal assistance, from a wheelchair onto an ergometer seat or into a rowing boat. People with a greater degree of disability can be involved, but if they require lifting from a wheelchair into a boat/ergometer it would present a problem as no clubs have the facilities at pre‐sent. The use of at least one complete arm and above the elbow in the other arm would also be required. In Ire‐land we have had athletes with a vari‐ety of spinal injuries, visual impair‐ments, amputations, MS, Cerebral Palsy, to mention a few.

Could you give a general overview of the classification guidelines? There are 3 sports classes for athletes with a physical disability: LTA (leg, trunk and arms): for athletes who have the ability to effectively use the sliding seat. Rowers in this sport class compete in either a coxed four or a double scull. These are standard rowing boats and normally no special equipment is needed. Crews are mixed gender with equal numbers of male and female athletes. No more than half the crew may be classified with only a visual impairment. Possi‐ble disabilities might be: single lower limb or upper limb amputee, visual impairment, MS, lesser cases of Cere‐bral Palsy and fused ankles. TA (trunk and arms): for athletes who have full use of their trunk and have the ability to reach forward and lean back, with the movement coming from the hip joint, and return to the

upright position, and using this movement to add to the boat speed or ergometer out‐put. Rowers in this sport class compete in a double scull with fixed seats, with or without a back. They can also row in a single scull for training and some competitions. Crews are normally 1 male and 1 fe‐male athlete. The boats used in com‐petition are wider than a standard double but it is pos‐sible to adapt →

Introducing Para Rowing To Your Club P A G E 1 0


©John Armstrong

V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 1 P A G E 1 1

“LTA athletes

should be

integrated

with the

club’s able

bodied squads

as much as

possible”

-John

Armstrong

a standard training double for training pur‐poses. Possible disabilities could be: double lower limb amputees, lower spinal injuries, Spina Bifida and inability to bend one or both knees. AS (arms & shoulders): for athletes who do not have enough trunk function to use body swing from the hips to add to the boat speed. Rowers in this sport class compete in a single scull, with separate events for male and female competitors. The single scull has a fixed seat with back support. The rower has a chest strap that prevents forward movement of the trunk. The boats used in competition are wider than a standard sin‐gle and would use stability floats attached to the rigger. Possible disabilities could be: higher level spinal injury or very high bi‐lateral lower limb amputation. In order that a new athlete is training in the right sport class, it is advisable that an initial assessment is carried out early on. If there is doubt then training should commence in the higher functional sport class. It is better that some level of technical competency is achieved before a full classification is under‐taken as there is both a medical and techni‐cal assessment carried out as part of the classification process. In Ireland we have both a medical and a technical classifier qualified to undertake national classifica‐tion. What adaptations are required to accom‐modate rowers with disabilities? This would depend on the sport class of the athlete as mentioned earlier. For LTA ath‐

letes there should be no special adaptations required except for visually impaired ath‐letes. Care should be taken to keep pas‐sageways and access routes clear of low level obstacles that could be a trip hazard. Coaches may also need to adapt their com‐munication styles to be more descriptive rather than demonstrating technical points. LTA athletes should be integrated with the club’s able bodied squads as much as possi‐ble. For TA and AS rowers it is necessary to have access, at a minimum, to some fixed seats for the ergometers. These easily fix onto a standard ergometer, often without the need to remove the existing seat. Many TA rowers can use standard equipment with‐out any adaptation, just without using the sliding seat, or with taping or strapping →

©John Armstrong

©John Armstrong

“Often what

seems like an

insurmountable

difficulty can be

managed with a

little ingenuity”

-John

Armstrong

the seat into place. Alternatively, a tub or training double can be adapted to take a fixed seat by a competent boatman. This then makes it usable by TA or AS rowers. In general, the sports classes for rowers with less function, will require a greater degree of adaptation to boats and equipment. It is also worth keep‐ing in mind how accessible the boat‐house facilities (changing rooms, toi‐lets, showers) and the slips are to a wheelchair user. Work with potential rowers to see what is a deal breaker and what can be worked around in order to get a new athlete on the wa‐ter. Often what may seem an insur‐mountable difficulty can be managed with a little ingenuity.

When introducing newcomers to the sport, is it generally better to start with a group or focus on individual athletes? I would say it is definitely easier to work with small groups at the start and it is probably less daunting for the athlete if they are not the only Para Rower in a club. It will be better to have at least two people to help get a

single or double on the water. For initial sessions it can be helpful to put an experienced coach/rower in a dou‐ble with a new Para Athlete to help with balance and it can speed up the learning process. How many athletes are currently in‐volved in Para rowing in Ireland at club level/ international level? Have the numbers changed in recent years? Currently there are 3 athletes in a TA/AS development squad who are aim‐ing for International selection. There are 2 other TA/AS athletes who have had international experience in the past and are still involved in the sport. There are 3 LTA male athletes who could be part of an LTA panel if we can find female LTA athletes to make a crew. There are up to 10 other row‐ers rowing in various clubs across the country. This compares with very small beginning in 2007 with 3 ath‐letes rowing out of Castleconnell BC. There is still a big job to do with get‐ting the message out through our own media and through other disabil‐ity sports organisations that rowing can be a sport for people with a dis‐ability. I have had recent conversa‐tions where people have said they did not know that there was such thing as Para Rowing. What clubs in Ireland are currently catering for Para rowers? There are currently Para Rowers in three clubs in Dublin: Commercial, Neptune and Municipal; two clubs in Limerick: St Michael’s and Castlecon‐nell ; UCC in Cork, Tribesmen in Gal‐way, City of Derry, Clonmel and Of‐faly. Tribesmen operate in partner‐ship with Colaiste Iognaid, as the slip‐way there is wheelchair accessible. →

Para Rowing (Cont.) P A G E 1 2

Ireland’s LTA 4+ at the

2012 Paralympics


©John Armstrong

In recent years there have also been some Para Rowers in Fermoy RC. What support does Rowing Ireland offer for clubs introducing a Para rowing pro‐gramme to their club? I would encourage any club that has an in‐terest, or gets an enquiry from a potential Para Rower to contact Joe Cunningham or myself for any advice on equipment, rig‐ging, coaching or classification. Rowing Ire‐land owns a limited amount of Para Rowing equipment‐ three singles , one double, some oars and a quantity of seats. Most of this equipment is currently used by the de‐velopment group, but it is hoped that the number of boats available will increase over the next year. It is always worth enquiring to see if a boat could be loaned for the ini‐tial phases, prior to purchasing Para Single for the club. It is worth noting that the stan‐


“The standard

Para Single is

a great

training boat

for any

beginner and

it is an easy

job to fit both

slides for a

seat and a rail

for the fixed

seat alongside

each other to

make the boat

multi use”

_John

Armstrong

Tom Kelly in the ASM1x at the

World Cup II 2013 in Dorney

dard Para Single is a great training boat for any beginner and it is an easy job to fit both slides for a seat and a rail for the fixed seat alongside each other to make the boat multi use. Due to the shorter stroke length achievable by AS and TA rowers who are not using the slide, a much tighter span is needed and shorter than normal oars. Most rowers in these categories would scull with‐out an overlap of the handles. In terms of competition, what events are offered domestically to Para rowers? At the most recent Rowing Ireland AGM, approval was given for a mixed Para Singles event to be included in regatta prospec‐tuses. The first race under these rules took place at the Championship Regatta in Cork, as a non‐championship event. This event allows for competitive opportunities for Para Rowers to take place, while there are still relatively small numbers rowing. It is for both male and female AS and TA rowers and operates on a similar system to Mas‐ter’s events with a delayed start. A female AS rower has a scratch time and male AS, Female TA and male TA entrants start at specified intervals over a 1000 metre course. It can be run over shorter courses with relative adjustment to the start times. If entries are sufficient then the event →

LTA 4+ training in

Varese, Italy ©John Armstrong

©J. Durr/

row2k.com

Para Rowing (Cont.) P A G E 1 4

Ireland’s LTA 4+ racing at the

2011 World Championships


can be split into AS and TA and /or male and female categories. LTA ath‐letes should be competing as part of a suitable able bodied crew and this has been happening with LTA rowers com‐peting in HOR races and regattas dur‐ing this season. This initiative is a key part of making rowing attractive to potential athletes who are not inter‐ested or not at the required level to be part of the HP Para Rowing system. How do you attract potential athletes to the sport? To date, Castleconnell BC has been the only club to actively recruit Para Rowers. Most of the Para Rowers cur‐rently active in the sport have either become involved on their own initia‐tive or been recruited through the Paralympics Ireland ‘Paralions’ day. This event is held immediately post the Paralympic Games and is a multi‐sport ‘come and try’ day. Rowing has been successful in the past in recruit‐ing both club rowers and members of the National team through this event. One member of the LTA4+ in the Para‐lympics 2012 came from the 2008 Paralions event.

Rowing Ireland is currently planning initiatives to raise awareness of rowing as a sport that can be accessed by peo‐ple with a disability, through disability sport organisations and district sports partnerships. It is hoped that we can generate sufficient interest to host a number of ‘come and try’ days in clubs that are suitable, and interested in having

Para members. Keep an eye on the website for information in the near future. Finally, do you have any general ad‐vice for clubs looking to introduce a Para rowing programme in their club? In general, be open minded about what is possible; both in respect of what the club can offer, and what the athletes’ capabilities. In my experience, rowers with a dis‐ability want to be as independent as possible. Make them aware that help is available if needed, but don’t as‐sume that they need help. If you have Para Rowers in the club, be as inclu‐sive as possible, rather then separat‐ing them from the rest of the club, e.g. for erg sessions or weight train‐ing. Some adaptations may be neces‐sary. For LTA rowers, they will learn to row at the same pace as any new nov‐ice and face the same difficulties in mastering a technical point. For TA and AS rowers, the stroke is a much simpler movement and they can pro‐gress very quickly to a reasonable de‐gree of proficiency.

©John Armstrong

5 October

Tullamore Time Trial: Canal Offaly

6 October

Cork Sculling Ladder: Marina, Cork

12 October

Dublin Sculling Ladder: Islandbridge, Dublin

19 October

Skibbereen Head of the River: NRC, Cork


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October & November Rowing Calendar

2 November

Castleconnell Head of the River:

Castleconnell, Co. Limerick

9 November

Neptune Head of the River:

Blessington, Co. Wicklow

16 November

Bann Head of the River:

River Bann, Coleraine

23 November

Irish Indoor Rowing

Championships:

UL Arena, Limerick

30 November

Ulster and British Universities

Indoor Rowing Championships:

Queen’s University, Belfast

“My brother

Michael...showed

me that working

hard is necessary

to achieve your

goals”

Favourite Food

This could be a long list, but I'll keep it

short... Sweet: dark chocolate.

Savoury: lasagne, salad, fresh bread

and a glass of red wine.

Hobbies

Coffee drinking & socialising, eating

good food, reading, cooking, baking,

listening to music

Favourite Film

Good Will Hunting, Snatch, Lock Stock,

Finding Nemo, Anchorman, Brides‐

maids

Favourite TV Show

I don't really watch a huge amount

of TV, documentaries, or funny

shows like 'Father Ted' or current

affair comedies like 'The Last Leg'.

Three things you couldn’t live with‐

out:

My family

The internet

Fresh food.

If you could live anywhere in the

world, where would it be?

I'd have no fixed abode, maybe a

house in Galway or Connemara (or

Athlete Profile...Leonora Kennedy P A G E 1 6


both), one in Dublin city, and maybe

one in New Zealand or Australia (I'd

live there in Irish winters).

People you would most like to meet:

My three grandparents that I never

met. Glen Hansard would be pretty

cool, or Barack Obama.

What would you do if you won the

lottery?

Keep enough so that me, and my fam‐

ily could be “comfortable” in life, buy

a house etc. Give the rest away to

people who need it.

Favourite sport (other than rowing)

To watch: Rugby, or in an Olympic

year – the Olympics (every sport, es‐

pecially gymnastics), I enjoy swim‐

ming in open water/natural waters

(i.e. not swimming pools)

Originally from Enniskillen, Leonora Kennedy has competed internationally to a high level, winning a gold medal in BW8+ at 2009 U23 Championships, a gold medal in the W4‐ at the World University Championships 2010 and a bronze medal in the W8+ at the 2012 European Championships. This season she was a member of the Imperial BC crew that won the Women's Eights Head of the River in March. Rowing in a double with Monika Dukarska, she finished sixth at the World Cup II in Eton Dorney, and, in her first Senior World Championships, she finished 10th in the W2x. The Portora BC athlete is now based in Cork, where she divides her time be‐tween training and working as a research assistant.

Sportspeople you admire:

My brother Michael: when we were grow‐

ing up I remember my brother leaving the

house to go up to the local playing fields

with his beloved rugby ball to practice kick‐

ing conversions. He would spend hours up

there. Unknown to me at the time, it

showed me that working hard is necessary

to achieve your goals.

Mirka Knapkova: she’s relatively small for a

heavyweight female, but moves a boat in‐

credibly well.

Brian O'Driscoll: let's face it, he's a bit of a

legend on the rugby pitch.

Roger Federer: unbelievable tenacity and

grace on the tennis court.

Rob Heffernan: an incredible example of

perseverance and hard work.

Sporting event you would most like to at‐

tend

The Olympics

Other sports that you played

Any sport that was going, tennis, hockey,

netball, badminton, gymnastics, swimming,

rugby (I stopped when the tackling

started!).

How did you first get involved in rowing?

My whole family used to row: me and my

brothers were brought to regattas through‐

out our childhood, as my dad used to coach

at the local club. I used to play lots of

sports while I was at school, and was in lots

of teams, but couldn't wait until I started

rowing. Just because it had been such a

part of our lives growing up I suppose. We

were taught how to row in eights in the

Erne.


Leonora competing in the W2x at the World Championships 2013

“Ever tried,

ever failed, no

matter. Try

again, fail

again, fail

better.”

-Samuel

Beckett

Favourite thing

about rowing

Being outside

most of the time.

Least favourite

thing about

rowing

Being outside

most of the time.

Favourite training music

Whatever the latest music is on Monika's

iPod, or a playlist on my iPod which hasn’t

been updated in a long time!

Favourite boat to row in:

A pair or a really good eight.

Favourite inspirational quote

I'm not hugely into quotes, I was when I was

younger... But I do like this one. “Ever tried,

ever failed, no matter. Try again, fail again,

fail better.” Samuel Beckett

Best rowing memory

So many, one that stands out is winning

U23 gold medal, my parents were watching,

and my dad was crying. That was quite nice.

If you weren’t a rower what would you be

doing?

Maybe coaching rowers, or teaching.

The River Erne

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