Slalom 2 - Downings, Donegal - Jul’24
On the weekend of 20th and 21st July we held the Irish National windsurfing youth Championship and the second round of the Irish Slalom series which included wing and foil racing as well as a paddle board race.
The wind was light and from the North which meant flat wate r but fluky wind suitable for foiling and great flat water for the youth championship. Unseasonally cold and wet however the event organisers made the most of it with Ciaran O’Brien and Jon Boyce leading the fleets joined this year for the first time and big thanks to Eric Greenberg and Sophie Fletcher for running the youth fleet and silver fleet respectively.
The registration was held on the which helped with getting to know people and understanding the days events and with the main beneficiary of the event being th RNLI there was a raffle and tickets for the evening dinner and entertainment. Check out the Downings windsurfing facebook page for the briefing and photos which were provided by professional photographer Martin Fleming.
The raffle was won by Richard Harshaw. Richard was 3rd Senior in the event and has been supporting the event for 20 years or so. Richard also was the organiser of the Magheraroarty Classic way back when. Big thanks as Richard donated the first prize to the RNLI which has been sold and proceeds to the RNLI. Whow.
There were 80 competitors at Downings this year with the youngest being 1 years of age and the oldest 70 years of age.
The racing was very competitive with every race counting towards the event results.
The Youth championship was hotly contested and the silver and novice fleet very competitive also with 3 gybe down wind slalom.
The gold fleet were out the bay also with 3 gybe downwind slalom, due to the light winds. Overall there were more than 11 races in each fleet over the weekend.
On Saturday night we had dinner, a quiz and some dancing. With over 140 people for dinner, and dancing into the early hours of Sunday.
The prize giving was on the beach as usual and everybody went home with a smile on there face!
Big thanks to all the helpers and organisers as well as the many sponsors. Especially Maeve McBride, Colette Jones, Ciaran O’Brien and Jon Boyce.
Also Big thanks to Heather McBride and Trish Boyce for organising the Dinner and welcoming the Irish Windsurfing Association us on behalf of the RNLI.
100’s of photographs from the event are available to enjoy on the Downings facebook page…please click HERE.
Martin Fleming photography aced it again on the lens!…contact Martin for better res pics.
