Flesk Valley Rowing Club

Thank you to everyone who supported our flag day in Killarney today.

Thanks to all our volunteer collectors.

🎉🥳And that's a wrap! Flesk Valley end of season 2026 junior party complete!

It was loud, it was colourful, there was even a little rowing and it was a lot of fun!

Well done to all of our underage members on a great year of rowing and embracing the madness on Friday night!

Thanks to everyone who helped to make the evening such a success. Especially the staff of the Racecourse Café, and all the coaches who kept the refreshments flowing and maintained law and order ..… Breda, Caoimhe, Paul, Kieran, John, Colm, Tadhg and Donal.

Finally, thanks to all the parents of the junior members for their support throughout the year.

Hope to see you all again in 2027!

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The Valley veteran men were on the water last night, putting the Lily through her final spin of the summer in the fading light. The lads, coxed by the ever-patient Saoirse, completed the challenge in the Killarney 6, rowing from the Valley shore into Glena Bay and home.

Showing their years of experience, the lads took their time to get going: polishing the seats, selecting appropriately sized life jackets (do they shrink in the wash?), looking for extra straps, searching the boathouse and finding the Vaseline last used at the 2009 Killarney regatta, selecting the seats and arguing about who should stroke (again), debating the infamous bow oar (again), giving out about the senior cox (again!), and finally they wanted their picture taken! 🙄

To be fair, once the rowing started, they settled into their task and had a very enjoyable spin to Glena and back, recalling former coxes and rowers, and memories of the Killarney Regatta that rowing the six always evokes.

At least that was until the blisters started to rise in all the usual places and Saoirse decided that they should stop talking and pick up the pace for the last mile! 🥵

Well done lads and thanks to Saoirse for coxing.

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Bantry 2027!

The Board of the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation is pleased to announce:

Some more photos from the weekend😁

Thank you to everyone who took great photos and videos over the last three days, and a special thank you to our mighty little photographers Muireann and Dearbhla!!
.. you may also notice a few of Valerie O'Sullivan's fantastic pics in there too - thanks Valerie. 💙

Where to start?! Sunday was the final day of the All-Ireland Coastal Rowing Championships in Bantry, Co. Cork and it was another fantastic day on the water.

The weather was ideal for coastal rowing, with lots of wind and rain, and some crews thought about taking up surfing instead of rowing!!

With over 50 crews across categories from under 12 to Masters, the Valley took a trip to Bantry for the weekend. The beach at times was like Main Street in Killarney on a Saturday night, and there was a fantastic atmosphere around the Valley gazebo across the whole weekend. Thank you sincerely to all the families and friends who made the trip to support the club and cheered home all our crews with such fervour! 💙

We are very proud of everyone who rowed their hearts out in the Valley colours at the weekend, especially our medal winners and those rowing in their very first All-Irelands. The standard of rowing was exceptional across the weekend and our junior members acquitted themselves brilliantly. More important than the rowing, was the fun and laughter across the weekend.

This weekend was the culmination of a long year of training on the Valley shore, and many thanks are due to our coaches and coxes for their time and encouragement throughout the year. Thanks to Donal Kelly, Tadhg Kelly, Paul Burke, Kieran Counihan, Jillian O’Neill, Colm Ó’Súillebháin, Breeda Burke, Caoimhe Kelly, John Fleming and Saoirse Sweeney. Thanks also to everyone who helped launch and catch boats all day, no one would have made it out to row over the weekend without them!

AICRC 2026 FVRC Results

U16 Girls 🥇
Under 12 Beginners 🥈
Under 12 Girls 🥈
Under 14 Boys 🥈
Under 16 Girls 🥈
Intermediate Ladies 🥈
Masters Men 🥈
Under 14 Mixed 🥉
Under 16 Mixed 🥉
Under 16 Boys 🥉
Under 18 Mixed 🥉
Under 21 Ladies 🥉

We are very grateful to Fossa Rowing Club who loaned us a boat for some of our races, it wouldn’t have been possible to have had such a great weekend without the support of other clubs.

Thanks to Tadgh Kelly, Karol Kelly, and Richie Leane for towing boats, and Donal Kelly and Kieran Counihan for bringing all the extra parts of boats and all of the webbing a life jackets (and Mr Sheen of course!). Thanks also to Richie for the loan of a boat trailer!

Finally, Flesk Valley would like to thank the indomitable Mary B and the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation for all their hard work in organising and hosting such a fantastic event. The atmosphere and organisation of the championships was top class from start to finish, from the on-the-water commentary and superb drone footage on the big screen, and the fantastic live stream that let many people tune in at home (and in Bantry!). We would also like to very sincerely thank the safety and medical personnel for looking after everyone so well this weekend!

C’mon the Valley💙🤍

Flesk Valley had a great day today at the All-Ireland Coastal Rowing Championships in beautiful Bantry. The weather was stunning and conditions were just perfect for rowing, as well as a bit of wind that we are well used to down at the Valley shore!

Well done to our medal winners, with our u12 beginners with silver (showing us how it’s done!), and with our u21 ladies, u18 mixed, u14 mixed, and u16 mixed claiming bronze in their races. 👏 🥈🥉

Well done to everyone who rowed for the Valley today, and thanks to all the parents and supporters who roared home the Valley crews all day long.

A special word of thanks to all the younger members who really entered in to the spirit of the day and had a ball, it’s great to see the future of our club thriving!!

We can’t wait to see everyone bright and early in the morning to do it all again💙🤍

💫 Best of luck to all the Flesk Valley crews heading to Bantry, County Cork this weekend, for the 2026 All-Ireland Coastal Rowing championships.

Thanks to everyone who helped prepare and load the boats this evening.

We're looking forward to a great weekend of rowing in beautiful Bantry Bay.

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