Rowing club is first from Donegal to attend Olympic level river rowing event

Loughros Point Rowing Club made history this weekend by being the first rowing club from Donegal to send a team to an Olympic level river rowing event.

Leah Gallagher, Amy Shovlin, Amy Molloy and Millie Lough rowed for the club at Lough Rynn Regatta on Saturday, July 24. Lough Rynn is home to one of only two Olympic length courses in Ireland; eight lanes across and 2,000 metres long, the other course being located at Lake Inniscarra at the National Rowing Centre in Cork.

A spokesperson for Loughros Point Rowing Club said: "The success of the girls and the milestone for the club couldn’t have come at a better time as the country watches and takes inspiration from the largest Irish rowing team ever to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

"Loughros Point’s very own Patrick Boomer trained and competed with all of the current Olympic athletes for several years. It was largely Patrick’s involvement with river rowing that inspired the club and the athletes to give the Olympic discipline a try. Patrick donated a river single to the club, which the youth members have made great use of in training to improve their skills, skills that can also be transferred into the coastal rowing disciplines. 

"The club has just acquired three new river singles as well as a quad, so it’s only a matter of time before we are involved in more such events. Who knows, we might see Loughros Point members representing Ireland in the Olympics in the years to come?"

In other news, this September Loughros Point Rowing Club will be taking part in 'Women in Sport' an initiative developed by Rowing Ireland which aims to increase the involvement of women in sport and address the gender imbalance in the sport by getting women of all ages involved in all aspects of rowing from coaching to rowing and volunteering. 

"Finally, we would like to remind readers of our upcoming event this Saturday, July 31," said the spokesperson. "This year Loughros Point Rowing club has been awarded the prestigious inaugural LPRC Masters Off-Shore Challenge rowing event. This event will draw huge prestige to the area as we begin our journey back to some semblance of normality."