It seemed that spring finally arrived in Ireland at the weekend as the Boat Club at Portora Royal School enjoyed a day of sunshine as they competed at the Neptune Regatta in Dublin. With 77 athletes from the club competing, it was clear to the other competitors that Portora could be a major force to be reckoned with this season.

With Portora's first races starting at 9am in the morning and the last final not until after 6pm that evening, it was a long day for all involved, but a number of wins and second place finishes throughout the day kept spirits within the club high.

The men's junior four, of Ewan Murray, Karl Anderson, Tom Mills, Alistair Crawford and coxed by Michael Woodhouse opened the proceedings for the Boat Club. Against a tough Neptune outfit, the boys put in a strong performance to tire out the Dublin club, and they were a full two lengths clear of the other crew by the time they had crossed the finish line.

The girl's Junior 16 quad, of Emma Glover, Chloe Finlayson, Elizabeth Clarke, Orla McConville and coxed by Chloe McClean were to fall victim to a tight race schedule. With easy wins in two heats, they progressed to the final with high hopes. However, with less than ten minutes of recovery time between the semi and the final, fatigue set in and they were beaten into second place, albeit only by a length and a half, by a fresher Carlow crew. This will surely give them something to work towards as they prepare to meet the Carlow crew again at the Skibereen Regatta next weekend.

No doubt their strong performance inspired the younger athletes, for many of which, this was their first regatta. The three girls Junior 14 quads and the three boys Junior 14 quads put in good races which highlighted the hard work that they have been putting into training in recent weeks is certainly paying off.

The boy's Junior 16 8, made up of Barney Rix, Ben Irwin, Josh Kennedy, Ryan Ballintine, Sam Armstrong, Conor Blackwell-Smyth, Chris Irvine, Conor Keys and coxed by Evan McClean topped their category with a very convincing win over Bann BC. Leading from the start in the final, the boys never dropped the pace and continued to pull away as they came down the course, powered on by the cheers of over 50 of their fellow team mates on the banks.

As soon as the race finished, four of the boys hopped straight from the eight and into a quad to head back to the start line to race the final of the boy's Junior 15 quads. In one of the tightest races of the day, they were neck and neck with their Bann rivals down the length of the course.

As they came into the last 100 metres, it seemed the eights final had taken it out of the boys as they begin to drop behind, but with some words of encouragement from cox, Michael Woodhouse, and no doubt buoyed on by the cheers of all those watching on the banks, the boys put on one last push. They came from almost a length behind with 20 metres to go, to nose ahead as they crossed the line. So tight was the finish that only one buzzer was sounded as the crews crossed the line. The crew was very able stroked by Ben Irwin, and he was backed up by Josh Kennedy, Conor Blackwell-Smyth and Conor Keys.

With a win for the girls Junior 16 eight and the boys Intermediate four, it was a successful weekend of racing for the club and has given plenty of positive results as the athletes prepare to head to Cork this weekend to compete in the National School's Regatta on Saturday, and Skibereen Regatta on Sunday.