Enniskillen Royal Boat Club will travel to Cork for the Irish National Rowing Championships with ambitions of success this weekend.
Recent years have seen the club enjoy huge success at the championships and they will be hoping to return to Fermanagh with more medals in tow.
Last year the club came home with a 15 gold medal haul as they continued to dominate the Junior rowing scene in Ireland and Head Coach Derek Holland is aiming for more success in 2018.
“Preparations have gone well,” he said. “We have had little racing because of the weather but we went to Cork Regatta three weeks ago and we did okay. 
“The Boys 8 lost to Shandon Boat Club who would be very strong but we will be more ready for it this weekend and we would expect to be very competitive. 
“The Girls 8 had a good win in Cork and if they hold their form then they will do quite well,” he stated.
In all Enniskillen RBC will have 53 boats racing over the weekend with 53 rowers making the trip to compete at the National Rowing Centre Inniscarra Lake, Cork and Holland feels that they have worked hard in preparation for the event.
“Our hopes would be high. We are going to try and do as well as we have done in recent years. They have done the work which will stand to them and certainly for the Boys 8 it is now about performing on the day,” he added.

Indeed, the Boys’ J18 8s are going in a fifth Irish title in a row when they take to the water on Friday afternoon and while Holland admits it would be a fine achievement, it is not something that has even been discussed.
“Our only focus is on the race and we haven’t even talked about it but it is something that has never been done before so it would be a good achievement. We are only looking though to the race,” he said.
With the J18-8 Girls looking in a good position to challenge for gold on Saturday and with strong J16, J15 and J14 crews, more medals can be expected in Cork.
Nathan Timoney and Odhran Donaghy will be strong contenders in the J18 pair Sunday afternoon  and both have been selected to row for Ireland in Coupe de La Jeunesse in two. weeks time 
Zoe McCutcheon and Caitlynn Fee also race in their J18 pair on Sunday. They also will represent Ireland at the Home International Regatta next weekend.
“We have 12 rowers who have been selected to race for Ireland during the summer and this is a big thing for the kids,” commented Holland.
The Irish National Rowing Championships is the first event in a Festival of Rowing in Cork which runs until July 29 and will include the Home International Regatta and Coupe de la Jeunesse.