Oxbridge in Ireland for Killarney Rowing Festival

The regatta is in its 228th year making it the oldest traditional regatta that is still active in the world.

Racing in the ‘Lakes of Killarney Salters Cup’, local Irish crews competed against Oxford and Cambridge on Lough Lein, one of the Lakes of Killarney, in the county of Kerry.  Muckross Rowing Club – the oldest rowing club in Ireland – won the event.

The boat type for the Salters Cup is unique to Killarney. Known as the ‘Killarney Sixes’ these wooden boats have a fixed seat. The Salters Cup in named after the original designer and builder of the boat – Salters in Oxford.  The Salters Cup was won by the Irish rowing stars, the Casey brothers in 1931. The cup was presented this year by Patrick and Steven Casey to the Muckross crew of Brendan Sheehan, Jeremy Kenny, Ronan Spillane, Maurice Coffey, Brendan O'Neill, David Horan and coxswain Aoife Cooper.

The festival also included the traditional Seine boat race which is raced for 30 minutes on the Lakes of Killarney; Lough Lein, Muckross Lake and Upper Lake. The original use of the Seine boats was for fishing. They fit 12 rowers and a coxswain and this year approximately 100 rowers took part. This year Sneem Rowing Club won the event.