The Gannon Cup: The 2012 Edition of 'Ireland's Boat Race' Goes to UCD

The 2012 Gannon Cup–a match race between rivals University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin–took place on Monday 19 March, continuing a tradition that began in 1947. The cup is named for Ciaran Gannon, who studied Medicine and Surgery at UCD while also competing as a member of the rowing team from 1933 to 1938, serving as Captain in '37 and '38. Upon graduation, Gannon joined the war effort, serving as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He served in Egypt, India, and Burma, and was killed in action while in Borneo in 1944. The video included below is a documentary on the race, filmed last year during the final stages of training for the 2011 event:


The Gannon Cup from Antonio Bonalana on Vimeo.

The race is roughly 2k, and is held on the River Liffey, which runs through the heart of Dublin. The women's event, the Corcoran Cup, is held on the same stretch of water, on the same day (the same will be true of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race beginning in 2015) as part of the larger event known as the Colours Boat Races. The 2012 Gannon Cup race featured a startling lead change, with Trinity blasting out of the start to hold a half-length lead through the first half of the race. UCD, however, were able to get more out of fewer strokes per minute, and overtook Trinity to win the event for the fifth straight time, as the video below (shot from the upper deck of an open-top bus) shows:



On the women's side, the Corcoran Cup went to UCD as well, though Trinity avoided a repeat of last year's sweep by winning the women's novice event. While the Colours Boat Races are in the books for 2012, Henley-on-Thames is just gearing up for this weekend's Henley Boat Races, which pit rivals Oxford and Cambridge against one another in the women's eight, and men's and women's lightweight eights. For more on this weekend's events in Oxfordshire, please visit the official website of the Henley Boat Races.

And, speaking of Oxford and Cambridge, the Boat Race is just over two weeks away, and the crews are making their way from home training centers to the Tideway in preparation for the race.

Thanks very much to Paul for sending us the link to this year's Gannon Cup video!

-RR

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