It has proved to be a beneficial couple of days for Portora Boat Club as they won a number of medals at the Irish Indoor Championships in Limerick and on Monday night received provincial recognition for their winning of the Men’s Junior 18 8 at the Irish Championships last year when they were named Young Team of the Year at the Belfast Telegraph Sports awards.

Coach Derek Holland was delighted with the weekend efforts.

“The indoors went very well for the boys and the girls , it was the first time that we have atteded the event in five years, so all our rowers were new to the arena and the pressure of the event, especaily racing in front of 1,500 spectators,” explained Derek.

He added: “We were very confident going into the event that we were going to pick up the Top Junior results as the training has been going very well since September. We were really pleased also with the new rowers especially the Junior 14 and Junior 15 who performed extremely well. To come away with three gold medals, five silver medals and two bronze medals was a fantastic achievement for all the team.” It all augurs well for the summer then.

The coach added: “The outdoor season is shaping up very well, we will hold back with what we think might be our our stronger crews for a while so that everyone gets a good opportunity to impress the coaches during some of the Head of the Rivers races coming up. The athletes know their targets and are training away consistently to achieve there best performances later in the season.” Derek was also delighted with the award in Belfast on Monday night.

“We were all very proud to be acknowledged nationally for all the hard work that all the athletes and the coaching staff have put put into the sport over the last number of years. To come away winners on Monday really did cap off what was a great season in 2014, both for the boys and also for the girls squad who achieved the same results as the boys, expect finishing one place short in the Junior eight in Cork with a silver medal.” Portora sent 60 rowers to Limerick which was an important part of selection for junior rowers looking to gain a place in the Irish team for racing in the summer.

The University of Limerick sports hall had been transformed into an arena with 50 rowing machines all connected to large screens to display live racing. The dry air in the arena was not ideal for fast times but many Portora rowers still managed to set personal best times.

First up was the men’s J14 squad who raced over a distance of four minutes. Robbie Mills put in a great effort to finish in eighth position against some much larger opposition. On the girl’s side Zoe McCutcheon after only five months of rowing put in an excellent performance to win a silver medal, proving she has a very bright future ahead in the sport.

Alicia Clarke and Maria O’Doherty demonstrated their potential by finishing fifth and sixth respectively. Trudie McComb also put in a fine performance finishing fifth in the girl’s J13 three minute race.

The junior 15 squads race over a slightly longer five minutes distance. Tom Chaffey put in a strong performance to rank in fifth place while Caitlin Fee led home the Portora girls in her category finishing eighth. For many of the above this was the first time they had experienced a race like this and everyone showed great mental strength to come through such tough testing.

The J16 –J18 categories are all raced over 2000m and all of the top juniors in Ireland were present in search of Irish team selection. Mia Jayne Eliiott was in a three way tie in the girl’s J16 category as two much larger rowers pushed her hard to the line. Mia claimed a silver medal in a time of 7.32.4 which was a four second personal best and just 0.5 of a second off the gold medal.

In the boys J16 category Portora dominated with Aaron Johnston taking the gold in 6.44 and Ross Corrigan silver in 6.46. Ross only started rowing five months ago and demonstrated his potential by beating boys who have been rowing for several years. Callum Baker placed seventh and Connor Mclaughlin Borlace ninth in the same category.

Barney Rix knew he was the man to beat in the J18 men’s category having pulled a Portora Boat Club record time of 6.18 before Christmas.

A period of illness over Christmas set his training back but he still had enough in the tank to win the gold medal in a time of 6.25. Sam Armstrong and Euan Gebler also featured in the top 20 with Ryan Ballantine putting in a strong performance on a bike test due to a shoulder injury. Elizabeth Clarke put in personal best performance in the J18 girl’s race winning the silver medal in 7.21. Emma Glover finished eighth with 7.33 and Lydia Mulligan, Carrie McShea and Sophie O’Dolan all place in the top 20.

Leonora Kennedy was part of the Irish rowing team for the past two years and is again looking to gain selection on the team with her sights very much focused on the Rio Olympics next year. She pulled 7.00 finishing in an excellent bronze medal position.

Gerry Murphy also put in a fine performance finishing second in the men’s 50+ Lighweight.

The afternoon racing saw Zoe McCutcheon pick up another medal, winning bronze in the J14 girl’s 500 metre sprint race. The girls senior relay team of Elizabeth Clarke, Emma Glover, Lydia Mulligan and Mia Jayne Elliott brought home the final gold medal of the day by holding off several teams for Cork as well as two other Portora teams.

The Boat Club now turns its attention back to the water racing with the Lagan Head in Belfast on Saturday, February 7.