Rowing: Wicklow set to host international offshore event in 2019

Ireland looks set to hold an international offshore rowing event in 2019.

The offshore committee of Rowing Ireland approved the plan at its annual meeting in December.

Clubs from Britain have also come on board. Wicklow and Arklow rowing clubs have agreed to host the event in Wicklow. The boards of Rowing Ireland and British Rowing would have to approve the plan.

Offshore rowing is done in sliding-seat boats similar to those used in Olympic rowing. The World Championships are popular and the president of Fisa, Jean-Christophe Rolland, has speculated about it becoming part of the Olympic programme. Rolland is a member of the International Olympic Committee.

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Offshore rowing in Ireland has chosen dates for its championships for the next two years. This year they will be held in Antrim on September 7th and 8th, while in 2020 it will be in Donegal, on September 5th and 6th.

There are two championships for coastal rowing (which generally uses more traditional, fixed-seat craft) because of a split between the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation and a breakaway group under the aegis of Rowing Ireland.

The championships for the Rowing Ireland group will be held at the National Rowing Centre from August 23rd to 25th 2019 and in 2020 in Donegal on August 14th to 16th.

Many of Ireland’s top rowers are currently in camp in Italy and Spain.

"It's going well," reported Dominic Casey of his predominantly lightweight group in Seville. "The weather has been good. We have no complaints," said the 2018 World Coach of the Year.

Paul O’Donovan, who is studying medicine, returns this weekend, while the bigger group has one more week.

The Irish Indoor Championships, which has become a mainstay of the calendar, is just two weeks away (Saturday, January 19th) and registration closes next Wednesday, January 9th.