May 17, 2026
Race Report: Junior Liffey Descent 2026
The Junior Liffey Descent took place on Saturday 16th of May.
It is a 14km river race running from Salmon Leap Canoe Club (Leixlip Lake) to the Canoe Centre in Palmerstown. It
challenges young paddlers with moving water, weirs, and technical river obstacles.
It's a once a year opportunity to celebrate our younger paddlers throughout Ireland.
Representing Celbridge Paddlers in the K1A division was Simon Hearns, Danny Cooper & Naoise Heneghan
In the K1C category were Megan ODonohoe, Katie King and racing his first Junior Descent was Daniel Keane.
It was a very tough race with many capsizes, damaged and broken boats. The notorious Sluice Weir claimed several boats,
some could be fixed, others had to retire. 50% of boats had some type of drama on the day particularly at the Sluice &
Wrens.
Celbridge Paddlers took home 3 Gold & 1 Silver medal.
In U15 Girls Megan O 'Donohoe took Gold. She had a flawless run and has bragging rights for staying the right way up for
the whole race. Her reaction to the river on the day was impressive In U18 Girls Katie King took Silver, recovering well from
a capsize at Sluice.
In U15 Boys Danny Cooper took Gold with the fastest club time on the day of 1.18.59. Naoise Heneghan took Gold in U18
Boys showing his impressive skills at the Sluice, with Wrens catching him out.
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