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Jes Rowing Goes From Strength to Strength
With 80+ members, Coláiste Iognáid Rowing Club is now one of the largest in the country.
The club's reputation and standing have been enhanced by successes in events around Ireland, including the national championships, and by the selection of Jes rowers to compete for Ireland in international events.
Achievements in 2024 - 2025 » 2023-2024 » 2022-2023 » 2021-2022 » 2020-2021 » 2019-2020 » 2018-2019 » 2017-2018
There were some outstanding achievements In the 2024-25 season:
World and Irish records were set:
CIRC rowers represented Ireland in international events:
Wins in National Events:
CIRC celebrated 4 wins in the National 1K Classic (aka Baby Champs), in July:
You may find more information in our 2024 - 2025 events archive.
There were some outstanding achievements In the 2024-25 season:
World and Irish records were set:
- Grace Faherty achieved the World Record for (for 13 - 14 year olds) over 500m, in November.
- Then she smashed the 13 - 14 2K Irish record, at the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships (IIRC), in January (and, later that day, beat the Irish 500m record time for 15-16 year olds). Unfortunately, Grace's 2k time of 7:07.8 is not recognised as an official J13-14 Irish record - presumably because the 14-year-old was now considered a J15 rower, ever since January 1, and the J15-16 Irish record is 7:04.2 (3.6 seconds faster than Grace's time on the day). The official J13-14 Irish record is still shown as 8:07.9 (60.1 seconds slower than Grace's time).
However, if she is now a J15 rower, then Grace's winning time of 1:34.1, in the WJ15 500 meter race, should have earned her a new Irish J15-16 record. But Concept 2 still lists Acorn Cassidy's slower time of 1:34.8 as the J15-16 Irish record. - Eoghan Volz O'Dowd looked like he had beaten the published Irish 13 - 14 record for distance covered in 4 minutes, at the IIRC, on January 18. Unfortunately, the record had been broken, only a week beforehand, but hadn't been fully processed yet. Eoghan's distance of 1,228m turned out to be 23m below this latest record.
- But, on May 22, Eoghan Volz O'Dowd set a new Irish record for M13-14 1000m, with a time of 3mins, 12.3 secs.
- On June 14, Grace Faherty broke another Irish Record - this time for W15-16 2K, beating the previous record by just over 3 seconds with a time of 7mins, 01 secs.
CIRC rowers represented Ireland in international events:
- Paul Schofield represented Ireland in the U19 European Championships, in Kruszwica, Poland. Ireland's quad just missed out on a medal, coming in 4th.
- Oisin O'Conaire was selected to represent Ireland in the Coupe de Jeunesse, in Linz, Austria, in August. This is his 2nd cap for Ireland - he and Paul Schofield were selected for the Homes Regatta, last year.
- Paul Schofield was asked to wear the Irish one-piece for a 2nd time in the same year - this time to go to the U19 World Rowing Championship in Trakai, Lithuania, in August. This is Paul's 3rd time rowing for Ireland.
- Jack Mannion and Eoghan O'Connell were chosen to represent Ireland in the Home International Regatta, taking place in London, in late July.
Wins in National Events:
CIRC celebrated 4 wins in the National 1K Classic (aka Baby Champs), in July:
- WJ15 4x+: Lola-Mae McCormack (bow), Izzy Howley, Grace Faherty, Sophie Ryder (stk), Aoibheann ní Dhónaill (cox).
- WJ15 1x: Grace Faherty
- WJ15 2x: Grace Faherty (bow) and Sophie Ryder (stk)
- WJ15 2x: Lola-Mae McCormack (bow) and Lauren Ward (stk)
You may find more information in our 2024 - 2025 events archive.
Former members of the club have gone on to successfully represent Ireland or their club at World U23 Championships, World University Games, Henley Royal Regatta, Women's Henley, National Senior Championships, World Senior Championships, and the Olympics.
The club's success is only possible because of the great team spirit and work ethic shown by the rowers, the coaches and the many people who support the club in so many different ways. The members of the club would like to thank everybody who has helped: the coaches who give so much of their time; the committee, who keep the club running smoothly and organise fundraising; parents, who help out in many ways; and the Principal and school, who support the club so well.
A Jesuit presence in Galway can be dated to as far back as the 1620's. An invitation in 1859 by the Bishop led to the establishment of St. Ignatius College in 1863. St. Ignatius College continued until 1926 and was re-established as Coláiste Iognáid in 1929.
The school still maintains its Jesuit ethos, although the staff is now predominantly made up of lay persons. The school, and by extension our rowing club, are equally well known locally as "the Jes".
The rowing club was founded in 1934 and has been at its current site at Earl's Island within the grounds of the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) since the early nineteen fifties.
