Portora Boat Club Enniskillen Royal Grammar travelled to Coleraine on Saturday for their first competitive outing of the season at the Bann Head of the River and came away with nine race wins. 
The Boat Club used it as the perfect opportunity to field a number of mixed crews with many of the club’s newest recruits getting a taste of racing for the first time.
First down the 3,500m long course was the boy’s junior 18 eight. Made up largely from last years junior 16 eight and new comers James Green and Paul McCaffrey, the crew raced to fifth place overall. 
Next down the course was Ross Corrigan and Aaron Johnston in the boys junior 18 pair, taking the victory in their event over teammates Conor McLaughlin and Sean O’Hare-Smith, while the boys’ junior 15 raced strongly to complete what was many of their first race for the club since joining in September.
On the girl’s side, the girls’ junior 18 coxless quad added to the boys’ success beating their closest rivals from Belfast Rowing Club by seven seconds, while Mia-Jayne Elliot and Zoe McCutcheon beat team-mates Miriam Kelly and Aine McCreesh by 15 seconds in the girl’s junior 18 pairs. 
Last down the course for race one was the highly anticipated girls’ junior 16 eights with two entries from the boat club. Both crews, made up largely of girls in their second month of rowing, were evenly matched down the course as the crew of Kayleigh Bradley-West, Lana Bothwell, Maeve Donnelly, Katie Elliott, Sasha Moore, Nikki Kernaghan, Adrianna Hurst, Alice Parkinson and coxed by Sarah Dolan claimed the bragging rights on the day.
Race two saw many of the club’s senior members take to the water. It was the boys’ junior 18 four of James Foster, Odhran Donaghy, Peter Murphy, Conor McLaughlin and coxed by Rory Farragher who led both the club and the entire race down the course with a dominating row to claim the overall victory and fastest time of the day. Close behind were their female counterparts in the girls junior 16 quad. The crew of Zoe McCutcheon, Caitlynn fee, Victoria Wilson, Jessica Long and again coxed by Sarah Dolan who claimed a massive 80 second victory. Rory Gamble claimed victory in boys’ junior 15 single, beating all but one of those racing in the age grade above.
There were also a number of other notable performances. The boy’s junior coxless four finished third overall, while Abby Corry finished a close second in the girl’s junior 15 single in what was her first race in a single scull. Gerry Murphy rounded of a successful day in Coleraine with victory in the men’s master single to make a total of nine wins.