Opening Ceremony Tuesday 12th August

[GrainneOK]

The official Opening Ceremony will take place at the Royal Canal, Kilcock, Co. Kildare on Tuesday 12th August at 19:00hrs.

Mr. Albert Woods, President of the ECA and Mr. Enda Kenny, Leader of Fine Gael (political party) will officialy open the event.

Hope to see you all there to welcome the european teams to Kilcock. :welcome:

[Ali]

Hi Grainne

How long do you think the opening ceremony will last for tonight?

Ali

[GrainneOK]

Its scheduled for 45 minutes on the Programme.

[Ali]

Thanks Grainne

Ali

[GrainneOK]

Last nights Opening Ceremony was a great start to the championships. Family, friends and supporters turned out in their hundreds to watch the ceremony. The canal bank in front of O’Keeffes pub was packed with onlookers as all the action took place on the opposite canal bank.

15 young volunteers, dressed in the yellow uniform t-shirts accompanied two representatives from each of the federations to carry their countries flag in a procession along the back of the canal, where they all lined up.

Brenda O’Connell, President of the Irish Canoe Union was the first to address the teams. He welcomed all the teams and wished them well in what he said is the fastest growing canoeing discipline in Ireland. This he attributed to the team spirit and competitive nature of the sport and the Irish love of ‘going for a pint’ after the match!
Albert Woods, President of the European Canoe Association, travelled over from the UK to officially announce the championships ‘open’.

A procession of 8 paddlers in polo boats and one Canadian canoe paddled along the canal to the music of ‘Irelands Call’ (written by Phil Coulter for the Irish rugby team as their anthem to represent the 4 provinces in their team). They carried the flag and presented it to Tom Colton, Competition Organiser, who then raised the flag on the flagpole as the crowd stood still for ‘Amhran na bhfiann’ (National Anthem).

A display of traditional Irish dancing by 3 young girls followed that and provided great entertainment for our European audience.

All the Irish teams, Senior Men, Senior Women and U-21 Men were present, smartly dressed in their team uniforms. A real sense of pride could be sensed from the players, who have spent years travelling abroad to such competitions and now have the honour to host such a prestigious championships here at home in Kilcock.

No doubt their hard work and training will pay off as they all play their first match today. Lets wish them the best of Luck.

09:00 U-21 Men Ireland v France
11:20 Senior Men Ireland v Sweden
14:50 Senior Men Ireland v Italy
17:10 Senior Women Ireland v Great Britain (current champions)

For results and match reports keep an eye on www.canoepolo.ie/europeans2003

[Cookie]

Grainne,

Its the Senior Women that are playing Italy and not the Senior Men at 14.50:

Cookie :wavey:

[GrainneOK]

oops!
thanks for that - good to see people are paying attention :stupid: