Portora Boat Club travelled to Cork on Friday to compete at the first Grand League Regatta of 2014.

The Grand League sees all crews compete against each other and then get split into finals according to speed. This can see junior rowers competing against much older University students.

The club had great success in the 8s categories winning all four of the junior rowing 8s categories.

The Boy’s J16 8 had an excellent race and went on to win their entire division beating all novice 8s as well.

The Boy’s J18 8 and 4 both had strong wins against competition from Cork Boat Club and Presentation College Cork respectfully.

The Girl’s squad matched the boy’s success and place first and second in the J16 girls 8 race, a great achievement highlighting the depth of squad Portora has at this age level.

The J18 girls won their category in the heat beating Skibbereen Boat Club and tested their speed against the senior women’s 8s in the final.

Other notable wins from the weekend saw the J16 4 power to victory more than 40seconds ahead of their closest rivals.

Several members of this crew jumped straight into the J15 quad and remarkably cruised to victory in this race also, just 40 minutes after their last exhausting race. Dearbhla Dillon and Michael O’Dolan both finished second in their girl’s and boy’s J14 1x race which is excellent for their first time racing the single scull.

Callum Baker also finished a decent second place in his J15 1x race, again in his first time racing the single scull.

Next up for the Boat Club is Trinity Regatta in Dublin this coming Saturday where the J14-J16 Squad will test their speed in the run up to club selection trials for the Irish Championship Squad.