Tullamore Special Olympics And Offaly Rowing Club Organise The Great Ball Race
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Members of Tullamore Special Olympics Club and Offaly Rowing Club launch the Great Ball Race 2010 fund-raiser in Cosmic Bowl last week.
CAN you imagine thousands of balls rolling down High Street! That's exactly what's going to happen in an innovative fund-raiser dreamed up by Tullamore Special Olympics and Offaly Rowing Club.
The clubs are pleased to introduce the Great Ball Race 2010 which takes place on 29th August. Thousands of balls will be released at Kilroys, High Street at 4.00 pm with the winners being the first balls to reach O'Connor Square. There is a prize fund of €1000 on the day.
Both clubs are asking for your support. Tickets are on sale at €2 per line from The Sin Bin, Cosmic Bowl, Nationwide Cellular, The Brewery Tap, Fays XL Puttaghaun and any club member or committee member. Each ticket sold will have a corresponding ball number.
The ball race was launched by members of both clubs at a function in Cosmic Bowl on Tuesday evening last.
The organisers are also very grateful to the sponsors of the event - the Bridge House, the Bridge Centre, Jumping Jacks and Nationwide Cellular.
Tullamore Special Olympics Club has been in existence for five years and caters for 45 members. The clubs activities include bowling and soccer with swimming to commence in September. The club recently had three members representing team Leinster at the Special Olympics Ireland games and they came home with a medal haul of 2 gold's, 1 silver and 2 bronze. Members of Tullamore Special Olympics club have represented Ireland in swimming and soccer with great success.
Offaly Rowing Club was established in 1985 by Frank Durkin and from its humble beginnings at Cappincur, on the Grand Canal, the club has developed, grown and changed with the times. In 1985 the club's rowing profile was that of junior members under the age of 18 both boys and girls. Offaly Rowing Club crews coached by Frank Durkin are frequent winners at the junior championships. Offaly Rowing Club's success has extended to the international arena with Offaly Rowing Club members competing at club level and being selected for both the junior and senior Irish squads including the World Championships, Coupe de la Jeunesse, Under 23 World Championships and the Home Internationals between Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
Twenty five years on Offaly Rowing club is still a formidable force to be reckoned with in both the junior and senior championships. Nowadays, Offaly Rowing Club row from the 23rd Lock, where the clubhouse is situated, towards Digby Bridge. In recent times Offaly Rowing Club, has been providing access to rowing for people with disabilities through the adaptive rowing boat programme at the club house. At present we don't have competitive rowers in adaptive competitions but the equipment is available for competitive and recreational users. Offaly Rowing Club also participates in the new indoor rowing programme using ergometers in association with secondary schools throughout the county.
Although junior rowers still make up the highest percentage of the membership at the club there are other rowing categories including senior and masters. To date a total of five Offaly Rowers have earned themselves rowing scholarships for third level institutions nationally and internationally.
Offaly Rowing Club in 2010 has competed in time trials known as Head of the River (HOR) competitions and in Sprints and Regattas involving side by side racing over 500m to 2000m. In the Head of the River racing season Offaly Rowing Club had wins in four categories in the Offaly Time trial in October, four wins in Lagan Scullers HOR, Belfast in January, and two wins at Galway HOR, Galway in March. The junior women made club history by racing Galway HOR in a coxed octuple (i.e. eight scullers in a boat). The winning for Offaly Rowing Club continued in the Regatta season with two wins in Queen's Regatta, Castlewellan, Co. Down in April, a win at Cork City Regatta, Inniscarra, Co. Cork in May, and wins in Metro Regatta, Blessington, Co.Wicklow, Carlow Regatta, Carlow and Athlone Regatta, Athlone during June along with Castleconnell Sprints, Limerick and Fermoy Sprints, Co. Cork also in June.
In May both junior and senior rowers from Offaly Rowing Club competed in Gent, Belgium. The month of May was an important month for former Offaly Rowers and current Offaly Rowers competing on behalf of their Universities and Schools respectively in the University Championships and Schools Regatta at the National Rowing Centre, Co. Cork. Schools represented included Coláiste Choilm, Tullamore College and Sacred Heart School, Tullamore.
Former Offaly rowers have enjoyed a very successful year to date. Three former Offaly Rowers competed in the winning men's University College Dublin Boat Club colours crew beating rivals Trinity College Dublin on the River Liffey. Former Offaly Rowers also competed at Henley on behalf of University
College Dublin Boat Club winning in the student coxed fours and with Carlow Rowing Club in the
Thames Challenge Cup coxed eight.
For the remainder of the season the senior women of Joanne and Eimear Moran will represent Ireland at the Home Internationals at the National Rowing Centre, Co. Cork on the 24th July. The Offaly Rowers will have an unusually long rowing season with the National Championships split over two weekends on the 16-17th July and 25th September. On the 16th October Offaly Rowing Club will host the annual Offaly Time trial competition on the Grand Canal racing over a 2,250m course from Digby Bridge to the Club House.
Subscribe to read full newspaper »
Send to a friend
Please complete the following form to inform a friend about this page.
