News

Our Christmas brunch rounded off the Plurabelle year and was a perfect opportunity for paddlers to catch up with each other over yummy festive treats. As soon as the boats were away the clubhouse filled with paddlers in Christmas jumpers, novelty glasses and Santa hats. Among those in attendance were many Plurabelles who had not paddled in a while, but who weren’t going to miss an opportunity to catch up with old friends. To add to the party feeling, every Plurabelle who attended the brunch was asked to bring along a small gift for another member. The gifts, many of which were handcrafted or home baked, were placed in a Christmas sack and randomly selected by individual Plurabelles.

Huge thanks go to the organisers, the caterers, the photographers, the singers (of course there was singing – it wouldn’t be a Plurabelle gathering without singing!) and to all those who attended and made this such a wonderful success.

To all our friends, we’d just like to say Nollaig Shona Daoibh! Happy Christmas!

The importance of the Liffey to the Plurabelles is captured in our name. Anna Livia Plurabelle is the female protagonist in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and is, herself, an allegory for the river Liffey. Given the special place that the Liffey has for the Plurabelle Paddlers, we were delighted to participate in the All in a Row event. The fundraiser raises valuable money for the RNLI and the Irish Underwater Search and Recovery Unit.

Dressed in Santa hats and festive glitter, two boatloads of Plurabelles, including paddlers from Dublin Vikings and Nore Dragon Paddlers, joined countless rowing boats, kayaks and canoes in a large flotilla that travelled up the river Liffey to the very heart of Dublin city, passing under numerous iconic Dublin bridges.
The All in a Row event is a firm favourite for the Plurabelle Paddlers. In addition to the paddlers who had previously participated in the event, today was a new experience for some of our paddlers, who got to see Dublin city from a very different viewpoint. If that wasn’t enough excitement, they also got to experience the 225-year-old lock!

Beautiful pink flowers added some sunshine to an overcast morning at the Grand Canal Dock as Plurabelle Paddlers gathered beside the Plurabelle memorial bench. The Plurabelles were happy to be joined by family members of recently deceased (and much-loved) Plurabelles for the club Flower Ceremony.

Tara led the ceremony, which featured poignant words and the song ‘Vitruvian Man’ by the Dublin musician Patrick O’Laoghaire, who performs under the stage name ‘I Have A Tribe’. Thanks to Tara for the lovely words and for choosing such appropriate music as we remember together our teammates and friends who are deceased, but who remain in our memories and in our hearts.

Belfast’s finest, Van Morrison, sang of ‘Days Like This’ and that perfectly captures the Plurabelle Paddlers’ trip to Lagan Dragons in Belfast on 30 September. Paddlers were mixed up on the three boats, so that the Plurabelles and Lagan Dragons were seat buddies. Together they headed for Belfast city centre . . . what a wonderful opportunity it was to see the cityscape from the water (including the iconic yellow H&W ship-building cranes). Afterwards the hungry paddlers enjoyed a buffet lunch before catching the train back to Dublin.

Thank you so much, Lagan Dragons, for your warm and generous hospitality. We had a truly wonderful day!

They’ve got the full collection now . . Yes, SILVER was added today (our final day of racing) to the GOLD and BRONZE won on the first day of competition.

This morning’s silver medal was won in the 500m Small Boats BCP category. The Plurabelles went straight through to the Grand Final, having secured victory in their heat by less than four-hundredths of a second!

The Grand Final saw 8 teams from 7 different nationalities compete over 500m (it was nail-biting stuff for the legion of Plurabelle supporters watching in Italy and in Ireland and beyond on livestream, with lots of cheering at the screen).

Well done, ladies, on today’s medal success and on a wonderful competition in Ravenna. Safe journey back to Ireland today and know that we are so, so proud our Plurabelle teammates.

To quote Julius Caesar ‘Veni, Vidi, Vici’ – you came, you saw and you conquered!!!

Forget Super Tuesday – today was Super Wednesday for the Plurabelle Paddlers!

Two teams competed at the EDBF European Club Crew Championship in Ravenna and both teams won medals at the 2000-metre distance. Yes, that’s 2km!

The 10-man boat secured GOLD in a closely fought BCS category and there was BRONZE in the Women Senior B category (standard boat).

There’s only a brief recovery time for the team before tomorrow’s Women Senior B (standard boat) competition at 200 metres. With three races to compete in, it’ll be a tough day . . . but, in case you haven’t noticed already, the Plurabelle Paddlers are tough women!

If you’d like to follow the action, the races are being streamed live and Plurabelle Paddlers will compete in the following races:

Race 32 @08.56 (Italian local time)

Race 40 @10.06 (Italian local time)

Race 47 @11.09 (Italian local time)

So, why not tune in and support the team (from your sofa … ssh, don’t tell the coach!)