Today, on March 21st, the long-awaited rowing Colours race against UCD took place. Up for grabs were four separate trophies: the Dan Quinn Shield for the Novice Men’s 8+, the Sally Moorhead Trophy for Novice Women’s 8+, the Gannon Cup for the Senior Men’s 8+, and finally the Senior Women’s Corcoran Cup.
Kicking off the races was the Novice Men’s team. Despite their promising victory at Erne’s Head just two weeks ago, DUBC got off to what spectators described as a “rocky start,” quickly falling behind their competitors. Unable to recover, UCDBC claimed the Dann Quinn Shield, breaking a 5-year win streak for the DUBC Novice crew. A member of the Trinity Novice crew reflected on the loss, saying that Erne’s Head – a 6 kilometer race – was more endurance-based, while Colours played to the strengths of the UCDBC crew: “We had better technique, but they had the power”.
Next to race was the Novice Women’s crew. After a thrilling start, with DULBC and UCDLBC neck-and-neck off the start line, a member of the Trinity crew caught a crab that forced her off of the boat. Although DULBC’s quick recovery meant that they were ready to continue racing, for health and safety reasons they were asked to forfeit the race. Despite also being asked to stop rowing, the UCDLBC Novice crew opted to finish the race, claiming the Sally Moorhead trophy in the process.
Vying for the Gannon Cup, the DUBC Senior Men entered their race as the underdogs of the competition, following their loss at Erne Head on March 7th. Despite remaining relatively close to their competitors for the first kilometre of the race, they were unable to keep up with the UCDBC boat, ultimately coming in second place.
Last, but certainly not least, the Senior Women’s 8+ raced in contention for the Corcoran Cup, bringing home a commanding victory for the DULBC. Their commanding victory warranted an explosion of cheers, celebrations, and uncorked champagne bottles in the aftermath of the race.
