Galway polo comp

June bank holiday weekend is the traditional home of the Carrick on Shannon polo competition. However that got cancelled a few years ago so we had to go to Galway instead.


The DCU polo team, Catherine, Ciaran, Orla, Alan, Myself, Joanna, Ashling and Eoin.

Not that any of us were complaining, Galway never fails to come up with the goods when it comes to weekends away!

It was almost a year since I'd played polo before this weekend so I was looking forward to getting back in a polo boat. I was playing with the DCUCC team in Division 3. The weekend didn't start well when the slowness of my car. (It cant do above 90kmph any more :( ) and the severity of the Galway tragic led to us abandoning our plan to go to the beach, so we went to the pub instead.

The next morning encouraged by much funny bunny and memorable quotes we were all fresh(ish!) for our half nine start. We had a good time playing polo, qualifying for the semi-final by wining two, drawing two and losing two games. Our semi was a hard fought game against Galway Kayak Club, but we just couldn't manage to break down their zone, and three breakaway goals saw us lose 3-0.

Our 3rd/4th play-off game, was against a team who had just lost some players, and it was starting to rain, so we generously offered to play a game of rock-paper-scissors instead of polo to settle the tie. Most ungenerously of them they won 2-0, ensuring that we finished in 4th.


The 3rd/4th place play-off got caught on camera.

The plan at that stage was to move on to Easkey for some surfing, but lack of surf put a dampener on that one, so it was back home to Dublin in the hope that the rain had hit Wicklow.

Back to Paddling and Lv. 3 Instructer!

Haven't updated this in a while so here's a rushed version of what I've been up to for the past few months!

Apart from studding and working on college assignments I've got a bit of paddling done. My shoulder seems to have finally fully recovered and I've got out for a few club trips on the Boyne and Avenmore. I also got one good day up in Wicklow with Oisin and Ger from Wild Water, where we ran the Annamoe at a perfect level and than paddled the bottom section of the Glenmcnass at a very high level.

Oisin got a video of the day, not great quality, but an idea what levels were like.



I also got my Level 3 Instructor assessment last weekend and I was quite happy to pass that. The assessment was though, two tiring days. Day one was all about rescue skills and personal paddling at the sluice. The second day had us leading a group down the Liffey and training them up in Level 3 skills. Was a good two days to take a break from the monotony of study. Next up now is my exams, than hopefully a summer with plenty of paddling!

Kayak Intervarsities 2010

This years Kayak Intervarsities were hosted by NUIG in Galway. DCU went as defending champions having won last years competition hosted by UCD. Unfortunately due to my shoulder still being injured I was unable to participate myself and had to be satisfied with taking pictures!.


Me with the Varsities cup and the white-water cup that we won last year

Due to the early start to the polo, we were up bright and early for a 8.30am departure for Galway. In typical DCU Canoe club style we left closer to 9.30. Still we weren't that late arriving and shouldn't really blame that for not showing on time for our first game against UCD. Fortunately for us, UCD were sound enough to give us a replay later on in the day. Therefore our first match was against Maynooth and their Div 1 Kilcock players. Not to surprisingly we got beaten by eventual champions. Our second game was against UCD and we drew 2-2, putting us through to the quarter finals on goal difference to play UCC. UCC had a very strong team and despite a good performance we went out in the quarter finals for the second year running.


DCU in action against Maynooth

The Friday night party was in the college bar and than on to Karma nightclub! so it was a tired morning when everyone turned up to the Long Distance for an 8am registration time! we had participants in almost every class, but unfortunately the only medal position was Ashling Conway who secured a top 3 finish for the second year running, this time in the Women's HP class. Comic relief was provided by Ger, who capsized metres from the finish line!


Men's GP start in the Long Distance

After that it was of to Clifton for the Rodeo. Participating for DCU was Ronan Matthews, Ger Gleson, Ashling Conway and Ciaran O'Sullivan. The lads put in a good performance, particularly given Ashling and Ciaran had never done freestyle before. Ronan Matthews put in a good run and Ashling secured a unexpected 3rd place with the tried and tested fall over & swim combo! UL dominated the event however securing 1st in the women's event and all top 3 positions in the men's freestyle.


Ronan Matthews playing in Clifton hole

The final event was on the Sunday, and was the white-water race on the Boluisce in Spiddal. DCU's team was Ger, Ashling and Ronan. Unfortunately for us the river was low and rocks impeded on our ability to finish the race! The final shootout was made up of UCD, NUIG, TCD and GMIT Castlebar, with Paddy McGovern of GMIT wining ahead of UCD.


Paddy McGovern of GMIT on his way to wining.

Overall the event was won by the University of Limerick who put in strong performances in every event to take a thoroughly deserved victory. DCU came a disappointing 10th, but it was always going to be hard to defend our title with a number of injuries and absences to contend with. We'll be back in force next year though with the competition to be held in Cork.

Uganda Video

I have finaly managed to get the Uganda video that Chris made online. (I'm studying for exams right now so finiding ways to avoid study is well up my list of priorities)

Uganda 2009 from Kenneth Hynes on Vimeo.