The
Beginning
The curragh
is a wood frame, skin (canvas) covered rowboat with 3 (standard
curragh) or 4 (Naomhaig) seats. The basic design is well over
1000 years old, and little has changed over that time. What
are considered to be the “modern” curragh designs,
using canvas rather than skins dates back several hundred
years. The sport of modern curragh racing has been documented
as far back as the 1800’s in Ireland. However, curragh
racing was virtually unheard of in the U.S. before 1980 outside
of Boston, MA. Even the events in Boston consisted entirely
of Irish-born crews.
Things
changed in the early 1980’s, and Pittsburgh was at
the forefront of this movement. Many of the Irish-born citizens
of Pittsburgh were from Connacht, particularly co. Galway.
Curraghs were a tradition for them back home, but this was
temporarily forgotten while chasing the American dream.
A
major breakthrough came in 1983 when Ms. Elaine Manning,
owner of the St. Brendan’s Gift Shop in Station Square,
imported two curraghs from Ireland. Her intention was to
hang them from the ceiling as a decoration, keeping with
the theme of her store. She found, however, the curraghs
were too large to be practically hung. Stuck with two curraghs,
she was determined to find somebody who could use them.
Through
some contacts Ms. Manning was directed to several of the
clubs founders. The Mulkerrin brothers (Joe, Mike, and Pete),
Marcus Flaherty, Jimmy McDonough, Pete Shovlin, and several
others became the founding fathers of the Pittsburgh Irish
Rowing Club. By 1984 the Pittsburgh Irish Rowing Club (then
called the Pittsburgh Curragh Club) was officially established
on the south side and held its first regatta at the Pittsburgh
Three Rivers Regatta. Pittsburgh also became one of the
first members of the North American Curragh Association
(NACA).
The Yanks are Coming
Once
the club was established and its reputation spread, the
American born Pittsburghers became interested. The first
few years of the club saw many influential “Yank”
rowers including: (L.J. Manning, Dave Price, Pat Folan,
Mark Flaherty, Jr., Pat Folan, Bruce Foley, Frank Yesko,
among others). Women’s racing also became more popular
and many joined (Maggie Folan, Brigid Minnock, Mary Mulkerrin,
Brigid Mulkerrin, Patty Mulkerrin, Annie O’Donnell,
among others) although there were very few positions available
for them at the time
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Three Rivers over Three Decades
.After
several years in the south side location (where Hooter’s
currently stands today!) the club moved to its new home
on 43rd Street in Lawrenceville. The club would stay there
for over 10 years, winning several NACA championships
and changing its name to the Pittsburgh Irish Rowing Club
(changing club colors from black & gold to the maroon
& white of Co. Galway). It was during this time as
well that the original Irish-born members began to retire,
placing more responsibility on the American-born protégés.
In
1996 a new home was found at the C&E Marina (now the
Midway Marine & Storage), 600 Dawson, Glenfield, PA.
This means the PIRC has made all three rivers of Pittsburgh
home during its history! With this move came even more retirements
by our founders (although nobody is ever REALLY retired)
and even more responsibility taken on by our American-born
members.
Today the PIRC operates
out of the back channel of Neville Island on the Ohio River
at the Groveton
Boat Club.
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