The Erne Eights Head of the River 2026 is taking place this Saturday, 7th of March with the Men’s Race starting at 2pm.
The club has entered 8 crews in this years National Championships.
The Henley Four are all eligible to race at Intermediate level and are aiming to produce a good performance to take home a pot in the Inter Fours event which will be a straight final to be held at 12:30 on Friday morning. Their four rivals of NUIG, St. Micheals, UCC and Garda will dispute it heavily however.
They have also entered the Senior Coxless and Coxed Fours to be raced on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and hope to make a good account of themselves in these high quality events.
The MacColgain brothers are also down to race the Inter Pairs on Saturday afternoon with their final being the last race of the weekend. Crews from NUIG, Bann or Queen’s will prove stiff opposition for them.
Johnny Devitt will race for the Inter single sculls title in the most hotly-contested event at the weekend. A total of 26 scullers are entered in this event, the largest at the Championship. One of any number of scullers from Bantry, Lady Elizabeth, Skibbereen, Old Bones, Neptune, Garda , Commercial and UCD could produce a performance to win in this highly open event. The competitors will endure heats, semi-finals and a final on the Saturday morning.
The Novice Eight of Cox: Jim Lawless, Stroke: Eddie Mackle, 7: Eoin Christiansen, 6: Niall Davis, 5: Hugh Kearney, 4: Matt Minch, 3: Rob Grimes, 2: James Skelly, Bow: Glen Cunningham are amongst the four big contenders for the pot. Neptune, NUIG, UCC and UCD have all shown speed throughout the year to make them in contention for this event also. They are due to race a straight final on Friday afternoon at 6:30.
There are two Novice Fours also entered. The crew of Stroke: Ed Kearney, 3: Declan Curran, 2: Bryan O’Connell, Bow: Chris Collins will race on Saturday morning. They are up against a strong showing from the likes of NUIG, Neptune, UL and UCC. Another four of Eddie Mackle, Eoin Christiansen, Niall Davis and Hugh Kearney has entered however it is as yet undecided whether they will race.
The season finale is drawing near and final preparations have been made. Here’s hoping for a successful weekend of racing for UCD.