Fingal Rowing Club

As part of our continued community engagement days, today Fingal Rowing Club hosted an event as part of National Heritage Week and welcomed more potential rowers to the water to give rowing a try, while also learning about our clubs heritage.

It was all hands on deck to get both our east coast skiffs, club rib and FISA boats out for all to see. Club members told the story of our east coast skiffs and the history of skiff racing on the east coast of Ireland. As well as showcasing our skiffs we also showed off our modern FISA (sliding seat) coastal boats.

A juxtaposition of the old and new boats but both loved by rowers up and down the east coast of Ireland. We would like to thank everyone who came down to meet with us today and at our Her Outdoors events, we were delighted to see so many people from the fingal area coming to give rowing a go.

We hope to see some of you back as new members in 2027.

If you want to sign up for our 2027 email our membership officer here: [email protected]

Are very thankful to all our club members for their willingness to give up their time to make these days happen.

Heritage Week Believe Balbriggan Fingal East Media Fingal County Council Events in Fingal

Interview with Alison O'Grady -

As part of our 'stop the slop' campaign, we asked the artist who created our piece for Dublin Canvas for a few words on her reaction to AI generated content.

The overuse of AI is making our visual culture increasingly generic. Posters, flyers, and other creative work are starting to look the same, with a polished, predictable AI aesthetic replacing the individuality and human touch that make art interesting and memorable.

There is also the serious issue of artists’ original work being used without their permission to train AI, which undermines the value of the time, skill, and creativity artists have spent developing their own work.

Regarding our collaboration on the design submission to Dublin Canvas, I enjoyed discussing and interpreting your concept sketch to illustrate your vision as best as possible, depicting Fingal Rowing Club with the beautiful beaches and landmarks of Balbriggan.

The week our public relations officer will give an interview with Dublin City FM about the campaign. The interview will be broadcast on their Saturday show on the 29th August.

Lambay is fast approaching!

On 5th September 2026, we return to the open sea for the legendary Lambay Challenge, a relentless 19km battle from Rush, carving through the waves and around the wild beauty of Lambay Island. Places are filling up fast, so get your entries in quick.

The Lambay Challenge holds significant importance to Fingal Rowing Club; our club originated in Rush and was our first home before moving to our permanent home in Balbriggan.

This race is open to:

- Fixed seat & sliding.
- Coxed or uncoxed: bring your crew, bring your courage.

This is not your average row.
This is endurance.
This is grit.
This is where determination gets tested to its limits.

To register, head over to our website:

https://www.fingalrowingclub.ie/event-list

fans East Coast Rowing Council Rowing Ireland Coastal

National Heritage Week 2026 - Updated time

23rd August 2026

2pm - 4pm.

Just a slight update to our event taking place on Sunday 23rd August, we will now be starting our event at 2pm and will run until 4pm.

Fingal Rowing Club are delighted to take part in an event as part of National Heritage Week 2026. Join us as we celebrate the story of Fingal Rowing Club as we mark our 10 year anniversary and the heritage of our east coast skiffs.

East Coast skiffs are traditional wooden boats historically used along Ireland’s east coast, especially around counties like Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford. They’re typically clinker-built (overlapping planks), light, and well-suited for coastal fishing and inshore work.

As part of heritage week, you can meet the men and women who row and race these boats. Skiff racing has its origins routed in Ringsend, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, hobblers would row these boats out to sea to meet vessels and earn piloting or cargo work. It was dangerous work and required skilled crews.

Over time, the rough-and-tumble hobbling competitions evolved into formal skiff racing and coastal rowing as a sport. Skiff rowing has a long history on the Liffey; there are two clubs already long established on the Liffey, Stella Maris and St. Patrick's.

At this event, you will learn about our clubs beginnings in Rush, and now our permanent home in Balbriggan. Learn about our first east coast skiff, affectionately known as 'old joe', hear of his remarkable story and rediscovery in the pigeon house of Poolbeg.

The event will take pace at the old bath house and boat house, two historic structures that are destined to be our future home along with the 89th Bremore Sea Scouts.
We can't wait to see you all there.

To register for this event email: [email protected]

To learn more about National Heritage Week 2026, visit:

https://www.heritageweek.ie/



Believe Balbriggan Fingal East Media Fingal County Council National Maritime Museum of Ireland East Coast Rowing Council

Collaborative art project for Dublin Canvas 2026.

Inspired by the rich maritime heritage of Balbriggan, this artwork depicts the iconic Martello Tower and the historic bathhouses at King Strand. These buildings hold a significant place in the town’s history, having once served as the home of the RNLI and the station for Balbriggan’s first lifeboat, the Maid of Annan.

As these historic structures enter a new chapter, they are set to serve the local community once again as the future home of Fingal Rowing Club and the 89th Bremore Sea Scouts. The artwork celebrates both Balbriggan’s proud seafaring past and the continued connection between the town, the sea, and the organisations that foster maritime skills and community spirit for future generations.

While the final design was not selected we are delighted with the results and will find a home in our new boathouse when construction has been completed.

STOP THE SLOP

At Fingal Rowing Club we are committed to collaborating with local artist, photographers, film makers and other creatives to produce engaging content to promote our club, our community and rowing on the east coast of Ireland.

Today we are launching a campaign called ‘stop the slop’, the aim is to discourage clubs and community groups from using AI to produce promotional artwork or graphics in place of human creators. The Fingal area is awash with talented artists and designers who could be contacted to produce materials for your club.

We are calling on all clubs and community group to reach out to graphic designers and artists to collaborate and produce unique materials to promote your events. We all know AI posters when we see them and we can spot them a mile away. We also know many people studying to be creatives in college or trying to make a living as such. Lets not devalue their craft, time spent committed to their craft and skill required to produce these materials.

Choosing AI may appear to be the quick and easy option but public perception dictates otherwise. AI cheapens your brand and most AI produced content looks the same. Even a simple poster created on Canva shows more individuality to stand you out amongst other groups.

Earlier in the year Fingal Rowing Club collaborated on a piece of artwork with local artist Allison O’Grady, the brief was to produce artwork for Dublin Canvas. While the Fingal submission was not selected we were delighted with the final design out come. We will post the artwork in the coming days for you all to see, the main thematic of the artwork was our rich maritime heritage in Balbriggan. This design only came to life through the collaborative process between two people, not acomputer.

https://www.instagram.com/alisonogrady_visualartist/

Let’s work together, value the craft and skill of our Irish artist before the profession is dissolved completely. So reach out, put a call out and help keep Irish artist, graphic designers, photographers and videographers involved in your clubs creative promotions. If you are a local artist in the Fingal area, comment below, let us know your background and link in your professional profile or website.

Finally to show your support, please like and share this post as far and wide as you can!

National Heritage Week 2026

23rd August 2026

11:30am - 3pm.

Fingal Rowing Club are delighted to take part in an event as part of National Heritage Week 2026. Join us as we celebrate the story of Fingal Rowing Club as we mark our 10 year anniversary and the heritage of our east coast skiffs.

East Coast skiffs are traditional wooden boats historically used along Ireland’s east coast, especially around counties like Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford. They’re typically clinker-built (overlapping planks), light, and well-suited for coastal fishing and inshore work.

As part of heritage week, you can meet the men and women who row and race these boats. Skiff racing has its origins routed in Ringsend, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, hobblers would row these boats out to sea to meet vessels and earn piloting or cargo work. It was dangerous work and required skilled crews.

Over time, the rough-and-tumble hobbling competitions evolved into formal skiff racing and coastal rowing as a sport. Skiff rowing has a long history on the Liffey; there are two clubs already long established on the Liffey, Stella Maris and St. Patrick's.

At this event, you will learn about our clubs beginnings in Rush, and now our permanent home in Balbriggan. Learn about our first east coast skiff, affectionately known as 'old joe', hear of his remarkable story and rediscovery in the pigeon house of Poolbeg.

The event will take pace at the old bath house and boat house, two historic structures that are destined to be our future home along with the 89th Bremore Sea Scouts.

We can't wait to see you all there.

To register for this event email: [email protected]

To learn more about National Heritage Week 2026, visit:

https://www.heritageweek.ie/

Believe Balbriggan Fingal East Media Fingal County Council East Coast Rowing Council National Maritime Museum of Ireland

Unfortunately the sea conditions didn’t allow us to bring people out on the water but we had a fantastic evening hosting so many people at our Her Outdoors event.

A very special thank you to Anthony Murphy for opening the event meeting more of our club members.

Fingal Sports Office Fingal County Council

All hands on deck setting up for her outdoors.

Her Outdoors Week 2026

We can't wait to see you all later today for our 'Her Outdoors Week' showcasing East Coast skiff rowing with some of our female club members.

We’re incredibly proud to be taking part in Her Outdoors Week on Tuesday, 11th August, celebrating the brilliant women in sport here on the East Coast! Kicking off at 18:30 to 20:30 at the Martello Tower, Balbriggan.

Come along and meet some of our fabulous female rowers, hear about what makes skiff rowing so special to them, and see the sport they’ve poured so much time, passion and dedication into. And who knows… you might even be tempted to give rowing a go yourself!

We will also have our support rib out on the water if people want to take to the water and see our crews training. Or you simply want to see Balbriggan from a different angle and see what training involves.

And if you find yourself with a Grá for skiff rowing, our Membership Officer will be there on the day to chat with you about how you can become part of our rowing community.

Come along, meet the crew, have a chat and give it a go; we’d absolutely love to see you there!

There's still time to sign up; email your interest to [email protected]

Balbriggan Chain of Survival Believe Balbriggan Fingal East Media Fingal County Council Fingal County Council Sports Office Rowing Ireland Sport Ireland Cllr Tom O'Leary - Skerries, Balbriggan & Loughshinny Councillor Tony Murphy Cllr. Grainne Maguire Grace Boland FG East Coast Rowing Council