Posted On | 19th Feb 2025 |
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Posted By | Kayak |
Author | Isobel Reidy |
Location | University of Limerick |
This year’s Kayaking Intervarsity’s Competition took place from the 7th-9th of February, on home turf! Hosted by the UL Kayak Club this event was a long time in the making, after hours of preparation, some hard manual labor and many late nights, the Varsities Planning Committee were ready to host the 350 paddlers that were quickly descending on Limerick. With competitors coming from 13 colleges and universities, including the notable return of QUB, ATU Mayo and Shackleton, everyone was set for a busy weekend.
Day one took place on CastleConnell, with the Whitewater Competition Registration taking place at 6am to allow for the lengthy shuttle and inevitable faff of trying to herd everyone into position. With 4 competitors from each college, and teams of safety boaters milling around at the get on, this was quite an impressive feat. However, everything was set and ready to start on time at 9am, with the UL Whitewater team, John Flynn, Calvin McDonnell, Isobel Reidy and Kirsten Hand-Howard first up. The course saw racers beginning on the S-Bend section of the river, catch 3 upstream gates and touch a banner before proceeding downstream, through the rapids at Castle Wall and a straight sprint to the finish.
After the last paddler had finished up, there was a brief moment of chaos as everyone scrambled to get boats on roofs and into trailers before shuttling to the end of the river and the start of the BoaterX course. BoaterX, for those who don’t know, is a head-to-head event with paddlers competing in heats of 4 in order to progress to the next round and avoid being knocked out. With the event due to start at the much more reasonable time of 12:30, many colleges brought spectators to support their paddlers in this event.
The course this year involved sliding off a ramp, constructed specifically for the event, ferry gliding across the river to catch an upstream gate, proceeding downstream to catch a second gate, immediately ferrying back across the river and catching a third gate before a finish line sprint. Typically if there is any carnage, this is the event it will happen at so definitely not one to miss!
With 6 UL paddlers competing, Beibhinn Bulter, Lily Michaud, Eve Mahon, Cathal Ward, Kevin O’Connor and Aaron Thompson, and all 6 making it out of their first heat, the atmosphere was electric. In the end we had three paddlers make it through to the finals, with Kevin and Lily narrowly missing out in their semifinals. It was tense off the blocks, but after two very competitive finals, Beibhinn and Eve came second and third respectively, and Aaron placed second. A great start to the weekend for the UL Team!
Day 2 began bright and early at the UL Boathouse, with boats being unloaded from trailers by the dozen. With over 300 people competing across 8 disciplines, it is definitely the most chaotic event in terms of registration. UL had paddlers compete across 30 disciplines, with many of our paddlers placing in the top 3 in their category. Notable achievements include Lily Michaud and John Flynn finished first in the HP categories for the third year running, and Isobel Reidy, placing first in Women’s GP earning her the Aisling O’Connor Memorial Trophy for the third year in a row.
After a quick ice-cream break after the Long-Distance Event, we were straight into Freestyle. Teams of 6 paddlers compete, with two 45 second rides each, to impress the judges with their “fancy tricks”. The UL team, consisting of John Flynn, Kevin O’Connor, Rory Kearney, Beibhinn Butler, Lily Michaud and Kirsten Hand-Howard, were the 6th team to compete. Battling the frigid temperatures and nerves, they were able to secure high points all round.
Day 3 saw us at the UL Sports Arena, where the final event, polo, was set to begin at 8:45. With UL’s first game kicking off at 10:15, the team played admirably well pushing through the exhaustion from the weekend. With 8-0 to UL against Atu Mayo and 2-1 to UL against DCU, we were through to the quarter finals. Nerves were high going into the game, facing down UCD who had beaten us last year to take the 3rd place position, we knew it would be a difficult game. Our team, Paul Hamilton, Kevin O’Connor, Calvin McDonnell, John Flynn, Aaron Thompson, Isobel Reidy, Kirsten Hand-Howard, Holly Ogilvie, Eve Mahon and Heather Barnett, gave it their all but in the end UCD beat us 4-1.
After a high intensity weekend, an exhausted but happy UL team headed to the Kemmy Business School for the Awards Ceremony…………………………………… WE WON!!! UL finished first overall drawing with UCC on points but winning Overall on Events. What a way to wrap up the weekend, our first overall win since 2019. #1inarow!!!!
Achievements of note:
• UL Whitewater Team placed 1st Overall: John Flynn (1st in Men’s), Calvin McDonnell (5th in Men’s), Isobel Reidy (1st in Women’s), Kirsten Hand-Howard (2nd in Women’s)
• UL BoaterX placed 1st Overall: Beibhinn Butler (2nd in Women’s), Eve Mahon (3rd in Women’s), Lily Michaud, Aaron Thompson (3rd in Men’s), Kevin O'Connor, Cathal Ward
• UL Freestyle Team placed 1st Overall: Beibhinn Butler (2nd in Women’s), Lily Michaud, Kirsten Hand-Howard, Rory Kearney (2nd in Men’s), John Flynn, Kevin O'Connor
• UL Polo team placed joint 5th: Isobel Reidy, Eve Mahon, Holly Ogilvie, Kirsten Hand-Howard, Heather Barnett, John Flynn, Calvin McDonnell, Kevin O'Connor, Paul Hamilton, Aaron Thompson
• UL placed second overall in Long Distance: John Flynn (1st in Men’s HP), Lily Michaud (1st in Women’s HP), Eve Mahon (1st in Sea Kayak W), Ana Swanson (3rd in Sea Kayak W), Aaron Thompson (1st in Men’s GP Comp), Aysha Griffin (2nd in Women’s GP Comp), Kirsten Hand-Howard (3rd in Women’s GP Comp), Kevin O'Connor (2nd in Men’s GP), Isobel Reidy (1st in Women’s GP)
• Male Paddler of the Year, Colm Johnson Memorial Cup: John Flynn
• Women’s GP Winner, Aisling O'Connor Memorial Cup for the 3rd Year in a row: Isobel Reidy
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