Over 50 rowers from Portora Boat Club made a successful trip to the Lagan on Saturday. In perfect conditions, the men's Junior 15 and Junior 16 crews won handsomely, leaving the Belfast schools well in their wake.
The Junior 15 crew was particularly impressive with James Byrne in control in the cox's seat. This is a difficult river to navigate and the important smaller members of the crew are often forgotten.
Cormac McLaughlin was equally impressive with his Junior 16 crew. In the Junior 16 event, Portora had ten crews in the race and in the 'B' crew the Humphreys family had a brother and sister in the same crew due to a last minute illness. Rebecca performed with distinction and then rowed again in the afternoon girls' race.
There was an unusual event in that a mixed double scull race was on offer. Gerry Murphy and Karen Cromie (who competed for Great Britain in the 2006 World Adaptive Rowing Championships) won in great style, beating not only the other mixed doubles but 20 other crews, some of which had four rowers in them! Karen is a courageous, young athlete with limited use of her legs but is a gritty racer and has her sights set on an important event in 2008!
The Portora girls finally showed some serious promise and missed out on the Junior 15. Scully went by three seconds to an experienced Bann crew. In the middle of the tough course, they held together well and now know what it takes to win.
The Junior 18 eight - although a year or two young, only lost to Methodist College by one second. Ciara St Ledger steered well and will learn from the six bridges and sharp bends that they had to negotiate.
The Portora boys J18 eight found an older Methodist College crew too hot to handle but have given coach Derek Holland some food for thought for combination in the months ahead.
J16 Eight team: Cox - C McLaughlin, Stroke - J Burns, 7 - S Prentice, 6 - J Arnold, 5 - G Irwin, 4 - J Houston, 3 - A Little, 2 - G Shields, Bow - G Donaldson
J15 Eight team: Cox - J Byrne, Stroke - M Coalter, 7 - S Prentice, 6 - J Houston, 5 - J Arnold, 4 - M Monteith, 3 - M Humphreys, 2 - J Blair, Bow - J Smyth.
