#Rowing: Two outstanding races brought the first session of the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre to a close today. Daire Lynch of Clonmel won the junior single sculls. He caught and passed Shandon's Ronan Byrne in the final quarter, but Byrne refused to give in easily and the two swept towards the finish line with a small margin separating them - Lynch won by just over four tenths of a second.
The junior women's double had a similar profile: Skibbereen hunted down and caught leaders Bann and held off their late charge to win by just over three tenths of a second.
UCD had a surprisingly emphatic win over a Skibbereen/UCC composite in the women's senior four - a first senior win for bow woman Eimear Lambe. In the men's double, Shane O'Driscoll and Mark O'Donovan were similarly impressive in their win over Old Collegians.
Neptune had started the session with their first Championships win in years, in the novice coxed quadruple. Fermoy won the women's Club coxed four, while Cork and NUIG won hte women's intermediate pair and men's intermediate coxed four respectively.
Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork, Day One (Selected Results)
Men
Four - Inter, coxed: 1 NUIG 6:26.811.
Sculling, Quadruple - Novice, coxed: Neptune 6:44.559.
Double - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:32.773, 2 UCD 6:34.914, 3 Castleconnell 6:39.727.
Single - Junior: 1 Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:04.040, 2 Shandon (R Byrne) 7:04.462, 3 Shandon (S O'Sullivan) 7:23.197.
Women
Four - Senior: 1 UCD 6:54.652, 2 Skibbereen/UCC 6:58.902, 3 Trinity 7:04.715. Club, coxed: Fermoy 7:16.116.
Pair - Intermediate: Cork 7:36.488
Sculling
Double - Junior: 1 Skibbereen B 7:19.682, 2 Bann 7:91.995, 3 Neptune 7:33.305.
