After a horrific start to regatta season with Varsities and Lough Rynn being cancelled due to concerned weather conditions NUIG BC finally got regatta season underway with a trip to London! All crews, novice to senior made the trip to London to compete over the two day event. The regatta turned out to be a huge success for NUIG BC, coming home with 5 wins. First Win of the day came from the Women's Championship 4+ where a composite boat of Niamh Casey (Skibereen), Katie Shirlow (NUIG), Clara O'Brien (Castleconnell), Lisa Murphy (NUIG) and cox Rachel O'Leary (UCC) took gold and an all NUIG boat coming in with a close second place. A huge achievement taking the 1,2 in Women's Championship fours. The second win for NUIG BC came in the Men's Tier 3 4+ where they topped the times of all boats in the heats and took the gold in the final. Other creditable results came from Clíodhna Nolan who took silver in the Women's Championship 2x in a composite boat with Aoife Casey (UCC) against a strong double from GB.
Sunday brought NUIG BC more success, first race of the morning was the Men's Open TT, which saw the Men top the TT in Men's Tier 3 8's, they were then gained entry to the C/D semi final which saw a tough race between UCC, UCD and 4 crews the UK coming in in 4th position leaving them to the D final, being the only Tier 3 8 in the final the Mens' 8 had won Tier 3 8's entering the final. Next saw another win for the women in Women's Championship 4+, with another composite of Niamh Casey, Katie Shirlow, Sorcha O'Donnell (NUIG), Lisa Murphy and cox Aisling Humphries Griffiths (Oxford Brookes) and another second place for an all NUIG women's four, making it a 1,2 two days running, a fantastic achievement. Nearing the end of the day . we saw another composite of Jack Keating (Carlow), Ross Corrigan (Queens), David Breen (UCC), Brion O'Rourke (NUIG) and cox Josh Russell (NUIG) take home gold in the Men's Tier 2 4+ after a tough race with exeter.
A hugely successful all round, all crews are now focusing on this weekend with Varsities being rescheduled where we look to retain the Victor Ludorum for overall best university Best of luck to all NUIG crews racing!!