Who is this woman in red?
Do you know her? Because she’s not one of the Indian Olympic delegation, yet she walked out with them yesterday.
The Indians are furious about the imposter. Read about it here.
Use condoms
Boris Johnson on providing condoms for the athletes:
“We need to inspire a generation; not necessarily create a generation, which is what I worry they sometimes get up to in the Olympic village.”
This will be the start. Attention. Go!
DUBC Novice VIII are off the Marlow Regatta on the London 2012 course. I’ll be out the door in ten minutes. Can’t wait!
“Live by the river!”
Dublin Head of the River 2012
This beauty is the Diana Cooke Cup. It was presented to the best overall club at the 68th annual Dublin Head of the River Boat Race, held earlier today. That means that it shall be spending the next year decorating the Trinity Boat House. Our crews did well today, claiming the pennants in the following events:
Men’s Intermediate VIII – Dublin University Boat Club
Men’s Novice VIII – Dublin University Boat Club
Ladies’ Intermediate VIII – Dublin University Ladies’s Boat Club
Commiserations to the Ladies’ Novices, who missed out on the pennant by 3 seconds to Shannon Boat Club. But for that we’d have had the grand slam. Still and all, a good day on the river.
Well rowed Trinity!
C’mon Trinideee!
The Dublin Head of the River race will take place tomorrow, starting from O’Connell Bridge at 12.15. With forty boats taking part, it’s quite the spectacle. Crews race from a 3.5km course from O’Connell Bridge to Islandbridge, including the challenge of 13 bridges in the city centre which must be safely navigated. You have to trust your cox.
I’m really looking forward to it. My favourite bit of the course is the start, which happens directly out of O’Connell Bridge. It’s a running start, which means that the boat needs to be up at race pace by the time it crosses the start line and then timing begins. In order to do this, boats start on the other side of O’Connell Bridge, in order to get a run at it. As O’Connell Bridge is as wide as it is long, it gives the effect of rowing through a tunnel. If you get get your boat set and moving, it produces an amazing sound as the curve of the archway amplifies the sound of the bubbles under the bow and when all the blades all strike out and square in unison, the arch generates an explosive bang. After three bangs, the boat has cleared the bridge, and like a bullet from a gun, the VIII is then expelled across the start line and up the river towards home.
The race begins at 12.15. We are the sixth boat off the start, so we should be underway by 12.20. So grab a bike, head down to O’Connell Bridge for midday tomorrow and get your shout on. “C’mon Trinideee!”
For readers who aren’t based in Dublin, I’ve included this handy map.
N.B. The temptation with Dublin Head is to think that the course is over after we pass the last bridge in the city centre at Heuston, however, as this map reveals there is the half the distance again to be rowed after Heuston. In fact, that’s where the race will be one or lost. Won, hopefully.
Saying goodbye to Gay Christmas
In a little under eleven hours time, the last ever curtain shall rise on the Alternative Miss Ireland competition, as 1,200 gays fill the Grand Old Lady of Dame St for the final time, in order to give the AMI a good send off.
This will be AMI XVIII – the eighteenth pageant, although it will mark the 25th anniversary of the staging of the original. (There were no pageants for most of the nineties.) The decision has been taken this year to euthanize the AMI, rather than let it drag on into a painful and prolonged death.
During the good ole days, the show used be a guaranteed sell out and the Olympia would be packed to the gills for the spectacle. However, the problem with having a competition that it is held on a annual basis is that the quality can vary hugely from year to year. Some years saw huge competition between clever, well-matched and well-rehearsed acts who fought it out bitterly for the Shamrock Crown. In other years however, the competition was less compelling and allowed more time “to go the the bar”. This variation in quality created a situation whereby people would go one year and see an amazing show and eagerly attend the following year, only to be disappointed.
Also, I think the recession played its part; with tickets at 30/42 Euro each, the AMI is not a cheap night out. The money all goes to fund HIV and AIDS charities, but still it is pricey in straitened times. So in the context of falling attendances and a show that was becoming maybe a little past its best, the organizers of AMI have decided to put the old girl to sleep this evening.
I think that it is the best thing to do. To my mind, it’s like organizing your own funeral, by inviting all of your friends around for a big party and then slipping off at the end of the night. Tonight we will celebrate the life of the AMI. We will come to terms with its death when it is no longer around.
The queen is dead. Long live the queen!
For my musings on previous year’s AMI click here.
Trial VIIIs
Dublin University Boat Club 2011 – 2012
From what I can remember of it, it was a great night!
What a hero
This is Kieran Behan. He is our newest Olympian, having qualified to represent Ireland today in London 2012.
His story is remarkable. Only 22 years old, has had a life filled with incident. He has survived a tumour on his leg, aged ten, which left him in a wheelchair. Having recovered from that, he then had an accident whilst training, aged twelve, that left him with brain damage – resulting in him having to relearn all of his basic motor skills. It took him three years before he could train again. Coupled then, with the usual injuries that athletes can occasionally sustain, he is a medical wonder. And now he’s just qualified for London! What a hero. One can only wish him well and look forward to looking out for him at the Games this summer. We’ll be cheering for him. Legend.
