SMRC Head of the River
ST. MICHAEL’S ROWING CLUB – HEAD OF THE RIVER 2026
NEWS JUST IN!
Extra racing categories have just been added!
You can now enter: Club 8+, Club 4+, J14 4x+ AND Para 2x
St. Michael’s alongside our sponsor ROWfit will be holding our Head of the River on the 7th February and we can’t wait to see you there!
Racing will be held over the usual 3km course, there will be 6 fixed head races depending on boat category, for more details download the prospectus here – updated Jan 22nd.
The HoR Committee is also thrilled to announce that an additional pontoon has been purchased to allow for extra slip capacity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ST. MICHAEL’S ROWING CLUB – HEAD OF THE RIVER – OCTOBER 2025
This 2nd Head of the Rover for this year, 1st of the 2025-6 season, is scheduled for October 11th at our site in O’Briensbridge, Co. Clare.
We look forward to welcoming crews and their coaches and supporters from near and far again. More news closer ot the event.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ST. MICHAEL’S ROWING CLUB – HEAD OF THE RIVER – FEBRUARY 2025
Congratulations and well rowed to all crews at our Head of the River on Saturday!
Big thank you ROWfit for sponsoring our Head of the River With each race, clubs gained points towards our generously sponsored vouchers and towards the Pat Brinn Cup (Best Senior Female Club), the Jim ‘Monty’ Ahern Cup (Best Senior Male Club) and the Christy Hardiman Memorial Cup (Best Overall Club). Points were collected by each crew depending on their final finishing spot within their category.
Congratulations to University of Limerick Rowing Club on being awarded the Pat Brinn Cup and the JIm ‘Monty’ Ahern Cup.
The newly introduced Christy Hardiman Memorial Cup shall remain with SMRC after collecting the most points for a club!
Well rowed St. Michael’s…
The 5 ROWfit vouchers will be going to
Fermoy Rowing Club (Best Junior Female Club)
Bish Rowing Club (Best Junior Male Club)
University of Limerick Rowing Club (Best Senior Female and Male Club)
SMRC was awarded Best Overall Club, and will be awarded the Christy Hardiman Memoral Cup, but we will be giving the ROWfit voucher for Best Overall Club to ULRC who were second in the points table.
A massive thank you goes out to our amazing team for organising the HOR, as well as all our fantastic volunteers on and off the water.
To all of the clubs who travelled, we thank you very much for a very enjoyable and competitive day , for supporting us, and we look forward to seeing you all across the country this coming season.
Links for real-time timing on RaceClocker:
RACE 1 :: RACE 2 :: RACE 3 :: RACE 4 :: RACE 5 :: RACE 6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ST. MICHAEL’S ROWING CLUB – HEAD OF THE RIVER 2023
The SMRC HOR is going ahead tomorrow, Saturday 7th. Water levels have risen and there is going to be an increased flow so launching and the course could be challenging for beginners.
We have decided to slightly shorten the course to keep the start line away from the weir at Castleconnell. Please tell your rowers to bring wellies / sliders and can we ask that plenty of time is given to crews for launching. We have a big entry so are expecting congestion at the slip so please be patient with the marshals.
We are expecting a calm and warm day and needless to say we have a strong team of experienced marshals as safety remains our highest priority. With that in mind we ask that a representative from all crews attend the safety briefing meetings at 8am, 9am, 10am and 11am (next to the office).
See you all tomorrow
Brian & Kevin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ST. MICHAEL’S ROWING CLUB – HEAD OF THE RIVER 2022
Well, we finally did it! We’re delighted to have run a very successful HoR in O’Brien’s Bridge on March 12th, thanks in no small part to the trojan work of the race committee, local and visiting crew, volunteers on and off the water, and our own crews and coaches.
You can see the results here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ST. MICHAEL’S ROWING CLUB – HEAD OF THE RIVER 2021
Well, we finally did it! We’re delighted to have run a very successful HoR in O’Brien’s Bridge on October 9th, thanks in no small part to the trojan work of the race committee, local and visiting crew, volunteers on and off the water, and our own crews and coaches.
You can see the results here
ST. MICHAEL’S ROWING CLUB – HEAD OF THE RIVER 2020
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors for this year’s event and we are very grateful for the assistance they have given us in order to help run this event. We would encourage you to support them where possible.
Main Sponsors
Individual Race Sponsors
______________________________________________________________________________________
HoR 2018 Results
SMRC 2018 Head of the River results
______________________________________________________________________________________
HoR 2017 Results
SMRC 2017 Head of the River grade listing
SMRC 2015 Head of the River place listing
Head of the River – course map (.pdf)
______________________________________________________________________________________
HoR 2015 Results
SMRC 2015 Head of the River grade listing
SMRC 2015 Head of the River place listing
______________________________________________________________________________________
HoR 2013 Results
SMRC 2013 Head of the River grade listing
SMRC 2013 Head of the River place listing
SMRC Head Prospectus 2013 (.pdf)
______________________________________________________________________________________
HoR 2012 Results
SMRC 2012 Head of the River grade listing
SMRC 2012 Head of the River place listing
Limerick Leader article on the SMRC HOR 2011
by Pat Cunneen
Record Breaking St Michael’s Rowing Club Head-of-the-River gets Limerick City of Sport off to a flying start – over 1000 athletes compete in over 580 crews
St Michael’s Rowing Club Head of the river between Castleconnel and O’Briens Bridge was the first rowing event to be held locally since the official launch of Limerick City of Sport. With a record breaking entry it is everything the City of Sport organisers could have hoped for. The entry of 580 crews far surpassed the previous record for an Irish Head of the River which was again set by St Michaels in 1998. It is incredible to believe that from a modest entry of 63 crews in 1981, this has grown to be the largest event of its kind over the last 30 years. This year the Head-of-the-River incorporates the Rowing Ireland National Head for single sculls and pairs. As a result, there was a strong entry from all four corners of the country. Reflecting the current strength of St Michael’s, the host club has no less than 50 crews participating.
The event is the first of three national Rowing Ireland national heads (time trials), featured single sculls and pairs. Next month Carrick-on-Shannon will host the national four-blade head (doubles and fours) event, and the eight blade version (eights and quadruple sculls) takes place in Belfast in March.
The fastest time in the National Head was recorded by a St. Michaels 2(Mark O’Brien and Declan O’Connor) with just a one second winning margin over Commercial of Dublin. Other National Head section winners included: Senior 2- Commercial; Senior Scull- Muckross (Moynihan); Intermediate Scull- UCD (Neal); Mens Junior 2- Presentation College; Mens Junior 18 Scull- Skibbereen (O’Donovan); Mens Novice 2- Fossa; Mens Novice Scull- Trinity (McCaffrey); Mens Junior 16 Scull- Commercial (Geoghegan); Mens Junior 15 Scull- St. Michaels (O’Malley); Mens Masters Scull- Clonmel (Kinsella); Womens Senior 2-Skibbereen; Womens Senior scull- Killorglin (Dukarska); Womens Intermediate Scull- Skibbereen (Walsh); Womens Junior 18 2- St. Michael’s (Aoife Leahy and Hannah O’Sullivan); Womens junior 18 scull- Portora (Nixon); Womens Novice 2- Shannon; Womens novice scull- Trinity (Dowling); Womens Junior 16 scull- Commercial (Keating); Womens masters scull- Cork (Crowley). All other boat types rowed under the broader St. Michaels Head, the fastest of which were the Grainne Mhaol/ NUIG senior 8 and senior 4.
Chief Organiser Rob Le Gear said “ The phenomenal entry reflects the popularity of this event and the magnificent stretch of water that it is run on. We had over 50 volunteers working on the day to ensure it ran off smoothly. It was great to see so many members and parents of our junior squads taking an active part in helping to run this record-breaking Limerick sporting event”.
See also the Rowing Ireland website for more details.
HOR History
St Michael’s Head of the River was inaugurated in 1981 to fill a gap which existed in the season.
Commencing with a modest entry of 63 crews in 1981, the Head has grown to be the largest rowing event in the country attracting an annual entry of approximately 400-500 crews from all four provinces.
The Head is run over a 2.5 mile course from Worlds End in Castleconnell to the bridge in O’Brien’s bridge.