The Boat Club at Portora Royal School notched up a number of winning performances at Neptune Head of the River at Blessington, Co. Wicklow at the weekend.

A total of 66 oarsmen and women set off in the early hours of last Saturday morning to compete in the annual event, which affords an opportunity for the Enniskillen rowers to see where they are compared to the other clubs in Ireland at this time of year.

This is prior to the long gruelling months of winter training in the gym due to the darker evenings.

Portora once again shone through as one of the bigger clubs. The conditions throughout the day were cold and a head wind made it tough for the group of young rowers. The race was done as a time trial, meaning each boat was set off individually.

The first race proved an impressive sight as 50 crews came down the lake; in the distance, glimpses of black and yellow could be seen as Portora worked hard. The boat club had six boats within this race and in particular the Portora women’s junior 16 eights stood out as three of them from Portora came down, one after the other - an unusual sight for one club to produce such numbers. The boys weren’t far behind with two strong men’s junior 16 eights and a junior 18 double who stepped up to the challenge of racing senior. The results were strong from the first race with the women’s junior 16 eight of Clarke, O’Hare, O’Dolan, Rix, Maguire, McCaffrey, Elliott and Kelly coxed by McClean dominating this category.

The boys also stepped up to the mark - despite technical problems with the boat - and won the men’s junior 16 eight with cox – Woodhouse and the crew of Keys, Kennedy, Armstrong, Blackwell-Smyth, Gebler, Johnston, Foster and Baker. Also within the first race credit should be given to the men’s double of Murray and Rix who put up a good fight as a young crew against the seniors coming seventh place and not far behind the winning time.

In the early afternoon, the rowers took to the water once again to have another go at racing with different combinations; different athletes were put into different boats and again another six boats were placed on the water.

The women’s and men’s J18 eight stood out in this race as they came charging down the river in the early stages of the race; both rowed impressively. Shortly after - looking slick - were the young junior 16 men’s quad of cox – Lydia Khew and crew of Johnston, Foster, Baker and Cartey showing that Portora can also row the smaller boats well.

Also some nice rowing and a promising future shone through for the young, more inexperienced men’s and women’s junior 16 eights.

Portora certainly maintained the standard within the race, winning the women’s junior 18 eight with cox McClean and crew Clarke, Glover, S O’Dolan, Beacom, Timoney, Gallagher, O McConville, and McShea. In addition, they also had the fastest intermediate time of the day. The boys were right up there with them winning the men’s junior 18 eight with cox Woodhouse and crew Rix, Kennedy, Murray, Blackwell Smyth, Armstrong, Irvine, Tom Mills and A Crawford. Finally the men’s quad also proved they had a good row on paper winning the men’s junior 16 quad with the crew of Johnston, Foster, Baker and Cartey coxed by Lydia Khew.

All round these results added up to a very successful day and Portora won every event it entered apart from the senior men’s double. The accomplishments demonstrated promising results for the rest of the year.