Killorglin trio Monika Dukarska, Aoibhe Horan and Rhiannon O’Donoghue will this weekend compete at the European Coastal Rowing and Beach Sprint Championships in La Seyne-Sur-Mer, France.
Racing is split into two different categories; endurance racing and a shorter beach sprints event.
The endurance racing, ranging between 4km (heats) and 6km (finals) takes place on Friday and Saturday morning.
On Saturday afternoon - the beach sprint event begins. Beach sprint is a fast and furious event with athletes running up to 50m down the beach, then jumping into their boat and slaloming out 250m through a set of three buoys before returning back to the beach and finishing the race off with another run to touch the buzzer at the finish line.
The first race will be a time-trial to decide the side by side race order, until the final 4 competitors, having progressed through the knock-out stages, fight to secure the medals. This event is likely to be introduced into the Olympic programme in Los Angeles in 2028.
Rhiannon O’Donoghue will race the Women’s Coastal 4x+ in the endurance event. Rhiannon is a 6-time Irish Coastal (offshore) Champion in this event and won a silver medal in the Coastal Women’s Double at the 2022 World Coastal Rowing Championships in Wales. Rhiannon is part of a composite quad with Arklow, Castletownbere, Kilmacsimon and Portmagee rowing clubs.
Aoibhe Horan will race the Junior Women’s Coastal 1x in the beach sprint event on Saturday and Sunday. This will be Aoibhe’s first cap for Ireland despite the fact that Aoibhe is already a two-time Irish Offshore Champion in the CW4x+, junior solo champion and recently won the Irish flatwater Championships in the Women’s Intermediate Double. Watch this space, as Aoibhe is speedily progressing through the ranks!
Senior rower – an Olympian and a numerous international coastal medallist, Monika Dukarska, will take to the water in both the endurance and beach sprints events. Monika, the double world champion in the Women’s solo, will race this event for Ireland, facing 22 and 15 female scullers in the endurance and sprint events respectively.
Dukarska is first into action, tomorrow morning in the Women's Solo.
