It is with great sadness that we have to announce the tragic death of Richard Lonergan, who died yesterday, aged 68, as the result of an accident whilst cycling with his brother, Billy, in south east Spain. He was taken unconscious to hospital but never regained consciousness.
Richard came to the club after a successful start to his rowing career a little downstream, representing Auriol RC, Thames Tradesmen’s RC and Sons of the Thames RC at Henley Royal Regatta in the 1980s and ’90s. He had been a stalwart of our racing veterans for over a quarter of a century, with a first recorded win for the club at Maidenhead Regatta in August 2000, followed a month later with wins in Masters B and Masters C eights at the World Masters Regatta in Hazewinkel, Belgium. In total Richard achieved over 60 regatta wins and over 20 head pennant wins for the club, including twelve World Masters medals, sixteen British Masters medals and eight Henley Masters medals, concluding with four gold medals at the 2023 European Masters Regatta in Munich. He was an aggressive stroke in eights and fours, always quick off the stakeboat.
Richard was quite an adventurer, on one occasion embarking on a solo cycling tour from the southernmost tip of Argentina to points north against what turned out to be a strong prevailing wind. He must have kissed the Blarney stone, as he could always strike up a conversation with absolutely anyone and this certainly helped him get out of a few scrapes on the Argentina trip. In recent years he moved to the south of France and then to Thailand but regularly returned to Quintin for a spot of rowing. His last success was to be in the Masters H crew that won the pennants at the Hammersmith Head and the Vesta International Masters Head earlier this year. He will be sorely missed.
Richard on the medals raft at the 2013 World Masters Regatta, Varese, Italy
