#ROWING: Two of the big wins of the evening session of finals at the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork came to crews with very different levels of experience.
The Cork Boat Club junior women’s eight made a breakthrough for the club at this level by beating Portora and Bann in a fine race. The senior men’s quadruple was taken by the crew of Albert Maher, Sean Jacob, Con Collis and Michael Maher, who held off a challenge from the Castleconnell/University of Limerick crew. Jacob and Maher are both in their forties and have over 40 ‘Pots’ between them.
The women’s senior pair was won by Barbara O’Brien and Aifric Keogh, representing NUIG, while Sarah Quinn of Belfast Boat Club won the Club singles.
The junior men’s quadruple gave Shandon’s young crew – two are junior 17 athletes and one a junior 16 – a fine win over Skibbereen, who faltered before the finish.
The women’s lightweight single sculls final turned into a battle between Claire Lambe of Old Collegians and Siobhán McCrohan of Tribesmen, with the Dubliner coming out on top.
Turlough Hughes of UCD had a remarkably straightforward win over David O’Malley of St Michael’s in the men’s intermediate single sculls, while UCD held off a late charge by Queen’s to win the men’s novice eight.
Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results; Finals)
Men
Eight – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 5:46.25, 2 NUIG 5:50.28, 3 UCD 5:56.96. Novice: 1 UCD 6:59.50, 2 Queen’s 7:02.31, 3 Trinity 7:03.29.
Four, coxed – Junior: 1 Cork BC 6:35.99, 2 Presentation 6:36.22, 3 Portora 6:38.08.
Pair – Senior: 1 UCD (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:46.05, 2 NUIG 6:49.95, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.
Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: 1 Old Collegians/Commercial (C Collis, S Jacob, A Maher, M Maher) 5:59.84, 2 Castleconnell/University of Limerick 6:00.60, 3 Queen’s 6:07.90.
Junior: 1 Shandon 6:08.24, 2 Athlone 6:13.34, 3 Skibbereen 6:15.52.
Single – Intermediate: 1 UCD (T Hughes) 7:13.0, 2 St Michael’s (O’Malley) 7:20.72, 3 NUIG (O’Connor) 7:25.14. Club: Lee (D O’Sullivan) 7:31.80, 2 St Michael’s (P O’Connor) 7:36.24, 3 Belfast BC (A Murray) 7:39.44.
Women
Eight – Novice: 1 Queen’s 7:19.74, 2 Trinity 7:55.75. Junior: 1 Cork BC 6:39.32, 2 Portora 6:41.90, 3 Bann 6:45.27.
Sculling, Double – Intermediate: 1 Killorglin (F Foley, M Dukarska) 7:17.17, 2 Commercial 7:20.83, 3 Skibbereen 7:39.99.
Pair – Senior: 1 NUIG (B O’Brien, A Keogh) 7:33.89, 2 St Michael’s 7:42.32, 3 Shannon 7:42.48.
Single – Lightweight: 1 Old Collegians (C Lambe) 7:41.70, 2 Tribesmen (McCrohan) 7:43.80, 3 Skibbereen (Hayes) 8:01.34. Club: 1 Belfast (S Quinn) 8:09.22, 2 Queen’s (Edwards) 8:10.61, 3 Lee (McGuire) 8:39.69.
Junior: 1 Cork BC (O Forde) 8:06.14, 2 Belfast BC (J English) 8:07.11, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.
