ULKC have matched NUIGs record for most consecutive Irish Kayak Intervarsity titles after winning their seventh title in a row on the 7th of February.
The weekend consisted of paddlers competing in five different disciplines of kayaking. Canoe Polo kicked off the competition on the Friday morning. For those unfamiliar with the rules of Canoe Polo it’s a team event with 5 players on each side, it also has some similarities to hurling, rugby and soccer.
UL had been seeded into the toughest group in the whole competition with Letterkenny IT, NUI Maynooth and DCU to play and get to the semi-finals. The DCU game was our first match and also the most important, in the past matches had been settled with only one goal in the difference. UL managed a huge upset victory against DCU along a massive score line of 10-2. That wasn’t the only score line ULKC dominated, Letterkenny and Maynooth were beaten 10-0 and 9-0 respectively.
In the semi-finals UL faced an extremely strong and intimidating DIT team with a number of international paddlers in their ranks. After the first half UL were 6-1 down, a quick team talk at half time and a change in game plan meant UL were ready for war. Quick goals off the break brought the score line to 6-5. Some conservative play and timewasting by DIT meant that the final score was 7-5 to DIT.
This loss was not all bad news though as we were still in the 3rd place playoff against NUIG. We decided before the match that we would play a team of only first and second years, which paid off as Conor Lowe shot two screamers past the NUIG goalkeeper. The score at fulltime was 2-1 to UL putting us third place in polo.
The second event to take place on Friday was the flatwater slalom race, a short timed race course with a number of gates which must be correctly navigated. The super-quick UL slalom squad placed 3rd in this event.
On Saturday morning groggy heads were woken to compete in the white-water event. The race is a timed sprint down a number of intense rapids. ULKCs representatives in this event were: Mark Scanlon, Caoimhe Farrell, Gavin Sheehan and Jack Phelan. Collectively they placed 1st in this event after a blistering run. In the afternoon the freestyle event took place in Tuam, the conditions on the water were less than desirable. A piercingly cold wind and a lack of sunlight meant the competition was set to be a cold one.
Freestyle kayaking is essentially trying to do a many tricks on river wave in a set time period, the harder a move is the more points it scores. UL had a solid crew consisting of Andrew Regan, Conor Lowe, Caoimhe Farrell and Eoin Keyes. The atmosphere along the river bank watching the competition was fantastic, UL were by far the loudest with their chanting and cheering whenever one of their paddlers completed a difficult move. UL came second in this event to NUIG, their experienced paddlers and knowledge of the feature made sure they were miles ahead of the competition. The Final event of the competition was the long-distance race, UL paddlers earned plenty of medals in their individual classes earning first place overall in long distance.
A huge thank you to all ULKC paddlers who competed at varsities, also a special mention to Simon McCormack for training the Polo team and Oisin Farrell for training the slalom team. We hope to see you in 2017 at the University of Ulster. #8inarow
Here’s a summary of this years January trip to Donegal written by one of our member’s, Joe Doyle.
ULKC GO UP THE DUFF!
On a fine, crisp winters morning the UL kayak club set off on yet another one of our notorious end of semester trips. This year we went to Donegal for a week of intense kayaking and seeing a few sights around the north.
January 16th we set off from the UL boathouse with a minibus and sprinter loaded up with some of the finest kayaks and kayakers ever to grace the university… Kind of. To kick start the journey we had to endure a 3 hour packing session that involved the essential spice bag break. 6:30pm we were off on the road eager to get at some of the rivers in Donegal.
On the first day we took on the great ‘Duff’ river but thankfully in low levels of water as it becomes an entirely different river with a bit of rainfall in the surrounding areas. It was a short river requiring some skill and thought to take on. Thankfully we had some adrenaline hungry paddlers ready to get on at a moments notice. We hopped into our gear and got straight into our kayaks to take on the elements of the Duff. With twists and turns at every corner followed by three drops we soon found ourselves staring at the horizon line of a 13ft waterfall at the end of the river. Hearts beating out of our chests we paddled on straight towards it one by one (once the safety had been set up). Personally, coming up to the very edge I didn’t have time to think as soon as I could see the bottom I was already in the air charging on down towards the water. One brief moment of weightlessness and it was all over with screams of joy and encouragement coming from members of the club. It was an experience of a lifetime and not to be missed on future trips.
The next day we decided we would give our new freshers a nice old river to hone their skills and develop as proper kayakers. Guided by one of the locals we set off for the ‘Fin’, a river located in Leitrim with an easy get on and a gentle start which was all too needed for a club of kayakers who got up at 8am for it. We spent the day paddling and going over the basics. A necessity for any kayaker if we wish to improve and climb the ranks.
The next day we did the upper section of the river known by its really obvious name ‘The Upper Fin’. This river required some good skills and knowledge of how water flows which we had meticulously drilled into our freshers the day before so we were read to take on the challenge and were sailing on through with ease. This really brought up the comradery and spirit amongst the club to really see everyone improving. Of course this was followed by sandwiches and our daily trip to Aldi to ensure no paddler ever goes hungry! As someone who eats a lot I am forever grateful.
Finally! Our rest day had arrived. To celebrate a day where we could finally relax we all hopped on a bus to see the Giant’s Causeway in the Northern Ireland and walk across a famous rope bridge near-by. Seeing the Giant’s Causeway really stuck with me as I just couldn’t get over how perfectly hexagonally shaped everything was without human interference. Truly a sight to behold and I would recommend it to anyone. Following this we made food and went to the only Decathlon in Ireland where we basically handed over our bank accounts in exchange for gear!
We spent the rest of the trip paddling the ‘Duff’ at higher waters until we finally had to say goodbye to Donegal and prepare ourselves for the start of another amazing kayak filled semester!
Tickets are 50 euro with a 3 euro Eventbrite service charge. Places are limited so if you want to attend make sure to buy your ticket soon! Upon purchase, you will receive an email with detailed information about the weekend including discounted hotel room rates around Limerick City. The ticket price goes towards a champagne reception, a 3 course meal, the band, DJ, professional photography, discounted drinks, a full magazine to commemorate the event, mementos for all attendees and also some speeches from some special guests! All paddling activities are free!
Please keep spreading the word. All members old and new are invited. We hope to see you there!
This is the 40th year of the kayak club in UL and to Commemorate we will be having a weekend of celebrations next semester.Our 40th Anniversary celebrations are taking place on the weekend of April 9th-10th 2016. We would love for as many former members, young and old, to attend no matter where you are in the world.
It’ll be a rare opportunity to catch up and relive arguably some of the best fun we’ve all had thanks to this club and the opportunities it has given us in life. Loads more information on the event available here:
Here’s a write up by one of our members Josh Morris about this years club trip to Wicklow.
Wicklow Trip 2015
It was a cold, dark evening but spirits were high when we arrived onto the boathouse at 6 o’clock for our weekend long trip to Wicklow! Everything started off well, we were all fairly quick to start packing our gear and making sure we had everything ready for the trip. However it wasn’t long before someone decided to start playing some tunes through the speakers. That’s kind of where it went downhill. All work was ceased and everyone decided to have a bit of a dance off instead. Sure it delayed our set off time but it was well worth the craic! We finished packing the sprinter and all the other cars heading up. There wasn’t a space left unused. We just about managed to load ourselves into the cars and off we went. Everyone was fairly excited as this was the first kayaking trip to Wicklow for most going and the first time on a river for a few!
The journey was going well, time was flying by! That is until we reached the Wicklow gap, the fog was so dense that we had to reduce our speed to a literal snail’s pace. We shuffled our way ahead and eventually reached the hostel at about 10. A quick game of Room Roulette later and we all had our rooms for the weekend. We claimed our own bit of space to sleep for the weekend, not that there was much of that. After having a bit of craic in the hostel and playing a few “get to know each other” games we decided to head on down to the local bar for a few quite ones. There was a great buzz around the place but we ended up pretty much taking over due to our sheer number of people. We stayed for there for a while and eventually most decided to head off back to bed. Needless to say there were shenanigans taking place on the short walk back up the road and some Dora’s got lost in the woods on some magical adventure to find an old round monastery tower. We found out, it wasn’t that spectacular especially in the dark. Don’t be fooled!
We were woken at the ungodly time of 7 AM, the next morning, which was a major shock to the system considering I had only ever heard of such a time existing in legends of old. The hostel became the new setting for one of the scenes from “The Walking Dead”. We got ourselves a bit of breakfast, shuffled on out to the cars and took our short 20 minute drive to the get on of the river. We had decided to run the Annamoe river section. We began to get changed and were on the river in no time! We weren’t… it was 11:30, why did we even get up at 7? We did the usual stuff of playing some warm up games, which were great fun, and sorting our groups for on the river but most importantly we distributed those all-important (and delicious) river snacks. We had a great run of the river, doing notable features such as the Guinness Rapids. Boulder Garden and the lead up to Jacksons. The level of standards on the river was outstanding. Everyone did extremely well including all our beginners. After the lead up to Jacksons we all got out of our boats to see what lay before use, the wonderful Jackson Falls. Solid Grade 4 water so I hear. I had seen some videos of this but none compared to how it looked from the top of the 30 foot cliff face. Only the more advanced paddlers were being allowed to run this particular rapid due to its technicality and difficulty. All our beginners got out to watch the carnage, all except one. One fresher, known only as Donegal Mark, was so determined to run it we had to let him try. I think it would be an understatement to say that he performed outstandingly!
As it were Halloween night some of us decided it would be a waste to get out of our gear straight after the river so we decided to go trick or treating instead! We were rewarded bountifully! It was certainly worth the effort and all the people questioning us on being twelve year olds. We got out of our gear, packed up and headed straight back to the hostel. Everyone was shattered, people were dropping all over the place for a nap here and there all the while a few were busy down stairs preparing that evenings dinner. We awoke refreshed (somewhat) got our dinner and headed straight on down to the bar once more with a special agenda in mind; celebrations for not one but TWO birthdays. Needless to say the craic was has. Celebratory singing and chanting plenty abound. Not to mention the odd twenty or so kisses. A great night was had by all.
The next morning there was a little bit of a logistical issue what with someone’s alarm “accidentally” not going off. So we all got a decent lie in. Woop! It wasn’t all fun and games unfortunately. We were kind of in a rush to pack up clean and leave due to our little alarm mishap. It was all go go go from getting up. A quick breakfast, a small tidy and we were once again ready to hit the road for our last river of the trip. We headed up further than the day before to the Loughdan get on. We were running the river section above the section we did previous. All things considered it was another good day on the river despite everyone being exhausted from the weekend. There was that one incident with some horses but we won’t dwell on that! We finished the river for about 4 that afternoon, began packing up all our gear and we were ready to hit the road soon after.
We began our long journey home through the dense Wicklow fog and winding back roads. Making progress was difficult enough but it was managed well enough. We all decided that we’d meet up at Junction 14 for some food, after all you could physically see everyone falling away after such a long day on the river. We pulled in, parked up and pretty much took over the shop due to our substantial numbers. The line for Supermacs was practically to the door! I can tell you one thing for sure, the number of 7 and a half ounce burgers that were consumed on that day was roughly equal to the meat from three cows! After visiting Spar and buying more snacks for the remainder of the trip we set off once more! The drive went by quick and we ended up back in Limerick in good time. Back at the boathouse we once again set about putting back all our gear from the weekend, which is a lot. This process was once more helped along by some great music provided by our resident DJs. That was it. Another year and another successful club trip! Just a quick thanks for all who came along to make it what it was! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend! For those who missed out, there’s always next time!
As the new semester begins, The University of Limerick Kayak Club is proud to welcome its newest members, and what a better way to introduce the newcomers to the spirit of ULKC than with a weekend of fun and adventure! On the 25th of September we set off on our annual trip to Lahinch, Co. Clare. The weekend proved to be a truly amazing experience for all.
As we boarded the bus on Friday evening everyone was full of anticipation and eager to delve into all that the weekend had to offer. The journey was shortened by the angelic voices of all our members. Instruments were welcomed and we sang our hearts out for nearly the whole journey. To our amusement, amazement and possible distress, we attempted to recall the words of our favourite songs. Some eventually found their astounding lyrical prowess while others continued to squawk like crows!
Upon arrival at the hostel everyone was eager to introduce themselves and integrate with the great atmosphere in the building that evening. The night was jam-packed full of craic with names repeated several times until they were remembered. The experience did bring about a warm sense of nostalgia among returning members. Arriving in Lahinch was quite a varied experience among the group, simply because of the fact that we all had different expectations regarding how the weekend would progress, but regardless of that we knew it was going to be memorable.
By Saturday morning everybody was more or less settled in and the main attraction of the trip was on the agenda, the surf! Soon everyone was fed, geared up, and rearing to go. We got into our kayaks, and after a prolonged struggle to shimmy off the sand everyone was tackling or being tackled by the waves that Lahinch had to offer. Being met with relatively calm waves at the offset, which were perfect for the beginners, it was a great pleasure to see the swell pick up and get some purely enjoyable kayak surfing for the more experienced members. When everyone got a chance to paddle, it allowed for a perfect display of the varying skill levels present in our club and also allowed everyone new to kayaking to gauge the extent of their own ability on waters that are a step up from the pool and it was wonderful seeing everyone improve as the weekend progressed.
Apart from kayaking, the trip was spent enjoying the weekend as a club, relaxing and getting to know each other in the hostel, cheering for our favourite rugby team, or even dressing up as ridiculously as possible and going out to tear up the dance floor in the local club. We all have slightly different memories from the trip, but I know everyone will remember Lahinch fondly and will be looking forward to our next trip. We had a whole load of fun and made a vast amount of tremendous (and somewhat blurry!) memories!
The journey was a lot more relaxed as we made our way home on Sunday evening, allowing everyone to lean back and take in all they had experienced over the weekend. The trip was concluded with a mass clean-up of all the gear and everyone went home for a well deserved, and probably long awaited, good night’s sleep!
It was an absolutely remarkable weekend! We hope that you all had an amazing fun journey and we can’t wait to see all of you on our next outing!
