The award for the Afloat Rowers of the Month for March is shared between the women’s pair of Aifric Keogh and Monika Dukarska and the men’s double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne.

Both crews excelled at the Ireland Trial and the National Rowing Centre on the final weekend of March. Keogh and Dukarska, who are a new combination for this season, had a consistently good level of performance through the three-day test.

Doyle, a medical doctor, could only make the final two days. Constraints through injury and time pressure have meant that this crew have not had much time together since they finished ninth at the World Championships in 2018. Yet, they combined wonderfully and raced well.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2019 champions list grow.

#Rowing: The double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne performed brilliantly for Ireland last year, culminating with a ninth-place finish at he World Championships. They took up where they left off at the the Ireland Trial at the National Rowing Centre today. The heavyweight crew beat the lightweight double of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in a fine race in the first session. McCarthy and O’Donovan had never raced together before, but still finished well and were just over four seconds behind Doyle and Byrne in dead calm conditions.

Some of the contests in this first of two sessions were handicapped to produce good racing and it worked. Sanita Puspure did not win her race but had a very good time, while the pair of Aifric Keogh and Monika Dukarska won in another impressive time.

The new junior coxed four of John Kearney, Jack Dorney, James O’Donovan and Matthew Gallagher, with cox Leah O’Regan were just pipped in their race – but again excelled in terms of time for this boat.

One of the more interesting crews to be trialled was the senior four of Eimear Lambe, Aileen Crowley, Emily Hegarty and Claire Feerick. Another four was to be trialled in the second session. This opens up a possibility of a single, a pair and a four going forward on the women’s heavyweight side.

The combination of Rory O’Neill of Castleconnell and Finn O’Reilly of Skibbereen were the top men’s junior double.

#Rowing: The Afloat Rower of the Year 2018 is Sanita Puspure. The Old Collegians competitor proved herself the best single sculler in the world. She took silver at the World Cup regattas in Belgrade and Lucerne, running the defending champion, Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland, extremely close (.23 of a second) in the Lucerne final.

Working with coach Dave McKenzie McGowan and high performance director Antonio Maurogiovanni, who set a very heavy training schedule, Puspure decided to miss the European Championships so that she could concentrate on the World Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria in September. She won her heat and semi-final, and then overcame bobbly conditions in the final. She established a clearwater lead. Gmelin came back at her in the third quarter; Puspure was not for catching. She won by two lengths of clear water.

Sanita Puspure (centre) smiles after being presented with her gold medal at the World Championships. Jeannine Gmelin (silver) is on the left and Magdalena Lobnig (bronze) on the right. Photo: Liam Gorman

Sanita with Daniella and Patrick, her children, after winning World Championship gold. Photo: Liam Gorman

The win was a twin highlight at the end of a wonderful year. The O’Donovan brothers, Gary and Paul, won the lightweight double sculls gold in Plovdiv, making history as the first Ireland crew to take World Championship gold in an Olympic boat. They overcame terrible conditions and a poor lane draw to win in the quarter-final. This was succeeded by a semi-final in which they looked tired and could only take third. The final saw them in the unfavoured lane six for the final.

Ireland gold medalists Gary and Paul O'Donovan on the World Championship podium in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with Italy (silver) and Belgium (bronze)

In a stirring race, the Skibbereen men saw off Italy. They would describe it as the best race they had ever rowed. They were outstanding in their steadiness, and over the second, third and fourth quarters they were the fastest crew. They took over the lead from Italy between 1200 and 1500 metres and rebuffed the charge by the men in blue to win by three-quarters of a length.

 In a first for a women’s sweep crew from this island in an Olympic boat, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty, the Ireland women’s pair, also reached an A Final at the World Championships. The World Under-23 Championships were also laden with success, with four A Finalists, gold for Shane Mulvaney and David O’Malley in the lightweight pair and silver for Miles Taylor, Niall Beggan, Ryan Ballantine and Andrew Goff in the lightweight quadruple.

 Come the Fisa World Rowing Awards, Dominic Casey was honoured as the coach of the year.  

 In a season of success, Sanita Puspure is the Afloat Rower of the Year.

Afloat Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, and David O'Brien, editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year appeared on afloat.ie.

#Rowing: The Ireland Trial set for tomorrow, Saturday, at the National Rowing Centre at Farran Wood in Cork has been cancelled because of bad weather. No plan for Re-scheduling has been announced.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Jack Dorney came in fastest of 36 starters in the Men’s Youth Singles at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.

Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll placed eighth in the Directors Challenge Men’s Quadruple, while O’Driscoll and O’Donovan were seventh in the Championship Double. Shannon took second in the Men’s Masters Eight.

The Trinity men’s eight finished 11th in the Club Eight despite starting at the back of the field.

Gary O’Donovan, who entered the men’s Championship Single, did not travel.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne took fifth in their semi-final at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria this morning. They will compete in the B Final for places six to 12. The top three took A Final places and Ireland actually led through the first 500 metres. Britain’s Angus Groom and Jack Beaumont took over the lead and built it. They would go on to win. The Irish crew were still their nearest challengers at halfway, but from there New Zealand took over in second and held it. Ireland stayed well in it, but were passed by Romania and Poland. The Romanians took third.

In the first race of the day, the Britain women’s eight squeaked through to the A Final by taking the fourth of four qualification places in their repechage – by .16 of a second from New Zealand. Rebecca Shorten from Belfast is the stroke woman for the crew.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Six (Irish interest)

Men

Double – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): Britain 6:06.59, 2 New Zealand 6:08.00, 3 Romania 6:08.17; 5 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:10.95.

Women

Eight – Repechage (First Four to A Final): 4 Britain (8 R Shorten) 6:04.63.

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan finished third in their semi-final and qualified for the A Final of the lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv. Italy were the early leaders and held on even as the O’Donovan brothers produced a good middle third. Coming up to the line, Belgium found a big finish and took second, while Ireland held off Poland to qualify.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Five (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Quarter-Final Four (Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Canada 6:26.04, 2 New Zealand 6:30.36, 3 Czech Republic 6:35.01; 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:44.28.

Double Sculls – Repechage Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Final):

Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:16.96, 2 Bulgaria 6:20.15.

Lightweight Double – Semi-Final Two (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Italy 6:21.94, 2 Belgium 6:22.83, 3 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:23.78.

Women

Pair – Semi-Final (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:14.67, 2 Italy 7:14.99, 3 Spain 7:15.30.

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan won a thrilling quarter-final of the lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bugaria.

The Ireland crew were fourth at 500 metres and third behind New Zealand and Norway at half way. But the Skibbereen men produced a brilliant second half to pass both crews and win – beating New Zealand by just six-tenths of a second.

The lightweight quadruple of Fintan McCarthy, Ryan Ballantine, Jake McCarthy and Andrew Goff became the first Ireland crew to qualify for an A Final with a steady second place behind Turkey in their repechage.

Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley hoped to stay on course with a top three place in their repechage, but they could only finish fifth and go to C/D semi-finals.

Racing was later suspended.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Four (Irish interest)

Men
Lightweight Quadruple Sculls – Repechage One (First Two to A Final): 1
Turkey 5:51.12, 2 Ireland (F McCarthy, R Ballantine, J McCarthy, A
Goff) 5:54.09
Lightweight Double Sculls – Quarter Final Three (First Three to A/B
Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P
O’Donovan) 6:44.44, 2 New Zealand 6:45.04, 3 Norway 6:46.70.

#Rowing: The Ireland team for the World Cup Regatta at Lucerne from July 13th to 15th has been announced. There will be two men’s heavyweight pairs, as Patrick Boomer and Andy Harrington join Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll. Philip Doyle will compete in the open single sculls.

Sanita Puspure (silver) and the lightweight double of Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan (bronze) both had podium finishes at the first World Cup in Belgrade and will compete again. The women’s double of Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley also win their place and a women’s four or pair will be announced after a trial in the coming days.
Ireland Team for World Cup Regatta, Lucerne, July 13th to 15th

Men
Pair: M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll; A Harrington, P Boomer
Lightweight Double: G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan
Single Sculls: P Doyle

Women
Pair or Four: to be chosen
Double: M Dukarska, A Crowley
Single Sculls: S Puspure

#Rowing: The Ireland teams for the Under-23 and Junior World Rowing Championships have been chosen. The U23 World Championships will be held from July 25th to 29th in Poznan, Poland. The Junior World Championships will be held in Racice in the Czech Republic from August 9th to 12th.

Ireland Under-23 Rowing Team:

Men

Pair: Shane Mulvaney, David O’Malley

Lightweight Quadruple: Niall Beggan (Commercial), Miles Taylor (QUBBC), Ryan Ballantine (Portora-Newcastle), Andrew Goff (UCD)

Lightweight Double: Jake McCarthy, Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen)

Lightweight Single Sculls and Reserve: Hugh Sutton (UCC)

Single Scull: Ronan Byrne (UCC)

Women

Pair: Emily Hegarty, Tara Hanlon (UCC)

Lightweight Double: Lydia Heaphy (Skibbereen), Margaret Cremen (Lee RC)

HPD: Antonio Maurogiovanni

Coaches: Dominic Casey, David McGowan, Paul Thornton

Team Manager: Paul Thornton

Ireland Junior Team

Men

Quadruple: Jack Keating (Carlow), Jack Dorney (Shandon), Luke Hayes-Nally (Shandon), Alex Byrne (Shandon)

Four, coxed: Eoin Gaffney (Shandon), Conor Mulready, James O’Donovan (Castleconnell), Fintan O’Driscoll. Coxswain to be announced.

Women

Pair: Gill McGirr, Eliza O’Reilly (Fermoy)

Double: Ciara Moynihan, Ciara Browne (Workmen's)

HPD: Antonio Maurogiovanni

Coaches: Ray Morrison and Fran Keane

Team Manager: Michelle Carpenter