Portora rowers returned home from Blessington Lake in the Dublin Mountains with five victories last Saturday from the first serious event of the new season over a 4k course.

Over thirty senior rowers from the Boat club at Portora R.S. travelled to take part in the event with conditions in both divisions of the event were testing to say the least, with wind rain and low temperatures.

It was noticeable that the skill of our rowers allowed them to set fast times even if we were not rowing at high rates. Five events were won but it is important to record that the lessons learned by all rowers were very valuable and cannot be replicated on the Erne as it is the heat of competition on strange waters that brings on the crews.

Such a crew was the J18 4 with Irwin, Shirley, Huey, Woodhouse and the promising newcomer Corrigan - who has only been rowing for a few weeks.

Ewan Murray won the J18 single sculls with a polished performance and is now set to trial for the Irish team in the weeks ahead.

The J18 quad of Murray, Rix, Foster and Armstrong were well ahead and looked a class act - this was Foster’s first race at J18 and he has now set a marker for the season.

Ballantine and Foster won the J18 pairs, closely followed by Rix and the improving Gebler. The girls J18 quad with a crew of proven pedigree on board won well even beating some university eights as well.

This unit of Glover, McShea, Beacom and Elliott were smooth and together and appeared unhurried - a useful skill at any time of the year. Glover and Elliott raced again in the pair event and were victorious coming in ahead of a number of other crews including Beacom and Mulligan of Portora who also showed early season promise. The next outing for the club is at the Carrick on Shannon head on December 6.

Better weather would be welcome.