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Displaying items by tag: Leonora Kennedy

#ROWING – Ireland's Leonora Kennedy and Monika Dukarska won gold for the second day running at the Memorial Paolo d'Aloja regatta in Piediluco in Italy. The Enniskillen/Killorglin pair have only come together as a crew in recent weeks, but again proved faster than Spain and Italy crews.

The lightweight women's double of Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh competed with the heavyweight crews and finished fifth.

The Ireland men's lightweight double missed out on the final: they raced well on Saturday evening but finished third behind South Africa, the world champions, Greece.

Memorial Paolo d'Aloja Regatta, Piediluco, (A Finals unless stated; Irish interest)
Saturday
Women
Pair: 1 Ireland (L Kennedy, M Dukarska) 7:35.74, 2 Spain 7:37.11, 3 Italy Two 7:38.79.
Lightweight Double Sculls: 1 South Africa 7:11.05, 2 Italy 7:17.41, 3 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:18.97.
Single Sculls: 1 Switzerland (J Gmelin) 7:56.63, 2 Greece Two (A Asoumanaki) 7:57.42, 3 Zimbabwe (M Thornycroft) 7:58.40; 4 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:01.67.
Lightweight Single Sculls: 1 Switzerland (P Merz) 7:46.88, 2 South Africa (K Johnstone) 7:49.80, 3 Switzerland Two (R Frederique) 7:20.25; 4 Ireland (S McCrohan) 7:50.35.

Saturday Heats
Men
Lightweight Double – Heat Three: 1 South Africa 6:24.87, 2 Greece 6:25.40, 3 Ireland (P O'Donovan, G O'Donovan) 6:26.49
Women
Lightweight Single Scull – Heat One: 2 McCrohan 8:17.38.

Sunday – Finals
Women
Pair: 1 Ireland (Kennedy, Dukarska) 7:31.65, 2 Spain 7:32.49, 3 Italy Two 7:35.41.
Double Sculls: 1 Lithuania (D Vistartaite, M Valciukaite) 7:01.59; 5 Ireland (Lambe, Walsh) 7:26.33.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Ireland's Leonora Kennedy and Monika Dukarska took gold on their first outing together as a pair at the Memorial Paola d'Aloja regatta in Piediluco in Italy today. They held off Spain, who took second, and four Italian crews in the final. Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh, in the lightweight double sculls, took bronze, and Siobhán McCrohan just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in the ligthweight single sculls. Sanita Puspure, who has been ill, finished fourth in the single sculls. She has been withdrawn from the rest of the regatta.

Memorial Paolo d'Aloja Regatta, Piediluco, (A Finals unless stated; Irish interest)
Women
Pair: 1 Ireland (L Kennedy, M Dukarska) 7:35.74, 2 Spain 7:37.11, 3 Italy Two 7:38.79.
Lightweight Double Sculls: 1 South Africa 7:11.05, 2 Italy 7:17.41, 3 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:18.97.
Single Sculls: 1 Switzerland (J Gmelin) 7:56.63, 2 Greece Two (A Asoumanaki) 7:57.42, 3 Zimbabwe (M Thornycroft) 7:58.40; 4 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:01.67.
Lightweight Single Sculls: 1 Switzerland (P Merz) 7:46.88, 2 South Africa (K Johnstone) 7:49.80, 3 Switzerland Two (R Frederique) 7:20.25; 4 Ireland (S McCrohan) 7:50.35.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Ireland’s Lisa Dilleen and Leonora Kennedy finished second in the B Final of the women’s pair at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today, placing them eighth overall. Russia’s Liana Gorgodze and Elizaveta Tikhanova, the second slowest of the crews in the semi-finals, took this race by storm. They led all the way down the course despite constant attempts to head them by Ireland, the one crew which mounted a consistent challenge.

World Rowing Championships, Day Seven (Irish interest, selected results)

Women

Pair – B Final (Places 7 to 13): 1 Russia (L Gorgodze, E Tikhanova) 7:06.08, 2 Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:09.20, 3 Serbia 7:10.61, 4 Canada 7:12.15, 5 Ukraine 7:18.40, 6 Czech Republic 7:19.72.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Leonora Kennedy and Lisa Dilleen won on their first outing as a pair at an international regatta this morning. The newly-formed Ireland combination came home ahead of a field of Italian crews at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja in Piediluco in Italy. Single sculler Sanita Puspure and the Ireland double of Eimear Moran and Monika Dukarska had earlier finished second and third respectively in their finals.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: The newly-formed women’s pair of Lisa Dilleen and Leonora Kennedy were outstanding in racing on the final day of the Ireland Trials at the National Rowing Centre. Their percentage of projected World Championship gold medal winning time was an excellent 88.25. The new lightweight men’s pair of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny and single scullers Paul O’Donovan and Sanita Puspure also breached 87 per cent. All these crews are set to represent Ireland this year.

On Saturday, in the Home International Trials, Eimantas Grigalius, the former world junior champion for Lithuania who now lives in Ireland, topped the rankings in the single sculls.

Ireland Trials, National Rowing Centre, Cork

Saturday (Home International Trials)

Men

Pair – Senior: 1 Buckley/Coughlan 7:52.57 (74.06), 2 Rawlinson/Brett 7:53.86 (73.86), 3 Deere/Corcoran 7:57.32 (73.33).

Lightweight Pair: Keene/Breen 7:48.69 (74.68), 2 Murphy/McKenna 7:49.77 (74.5)

Junior Pair: 1 Browne/O’Connor 7:54.10 (73.82), 2 Higgins/Higgins 7:55.62 (73.59), 3 Coyne/McCarthy 7:57.33 (73.32).

Single Sculls – Senior: 1 E Grigalius 7:51.56 (78.46), 2 D Neale 7:59.09 (77.23), 3 S McKeown 8:04.84 (76.31).

Lightweight Single Sculls – Senior: N Duncan 8:21.96 (75.70), 2 C Murphy 8:41.5 (72.78), 3 S Toland 8:49.20 (71.81)

Junior Single Scull: 1 D Synott 8:04.76 (76.33), 2 S Dennehy 8:11.55 (75.27), 3 S O’Sullivan 8:12.87 (75.07).

Women

Pair - Senior: 1 Lonergan/Ryan 8:47.30 (73.58), 2 O’Brien/McCarthy 8:48.73 (73.38), 3 Bracken/Kelly 8:59.77 (71.88).

Lightweight Pair – Senior: 1 Leahy/Crowe 8:36.85 (77.78), 2 Wickham/Judge 8:51.01 (75.70).

Junior Pair: Connor/Hickey 8:44.08 (74.03), 2 Davis/O’Dwyer 8:51.97 (72.94), 3 O’Keeffe/Nagle 8:55.28 (72.49).

Lightweight Single Sculls – Senior: 1 E Desmond 9:18.30 (74.87), 2 O Holden 9:40.27 (72.04), 3 A Bulman 9:43.64 (71.62).

Junior Single Scull: 1 A Rodger 9:03.29 (73.99), 2 S Murphy 9:03.99 (73.9), 3 M McLaughlin 9:05.29 (73.72).

Sunday

(Per Centages Based On Senior Times)

Race One: 1 B Keohane, D Keohane (junior pair) 7:34.12 (81.04), 2 P O’Donovan (lightweight single, under-23) 7:37.78 (87.38), 3 L Kennedy, L Dilleen (women’s senior pair) 7:40.89 (88.25), 4 O Hayes, C Jennings (women’s lightweight double) 7:51.38 (85.71).

Race Two: 1 S Dolan (women’s lightweight single) 8:50.00 (83.02), S Horgan (women’s lightweight single, under-23) 8:51.63 (82.76), 3 E Barry (jun women’s single) 8:52.99 (79.74), 4 E Hegarty (jun women’s single) 9:06.59 (77.75)

Race Three: 1 J Ryan (lightweight single) 7:53.65 (84.45), 2 Women’s Junior Double (J English, E Lambe) 8:02.67 (81.63), 3 S Puspure (women’s single) 8:05.73 (87.5), 4 Women’s Junior Double (O’Keeffe) 8:16.75 (79.32).

Race Four: 1 Lightweight Pair (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 7:15.87 (87.18), 2 Women’s Four (M O’Neill, E Tormey, B O’Brien, A Keogh) 7:31.87 (84.09), 3 D Neale (men’s single) 7:56.54 (81.84), 4 J Keohane (men’s single) 7:59.85 (81.28).

Race Five: 1 Men’s Double (S McKeown, D Quinlan) 7:12.90 (82.93), 2 Men’s Double (Oliver) 7:17.73 (82.01), 3 Men’s Pair (R O’Callaghan, R Bennett) 7:28.26 (82.10), 4 Men’s Pair (K Neville, M Pukelis) 7:31.51 (81.5).

Race Six: 1 Junior Quadruple (Begley) 6:58.49 (79.09), 2 Lightweight Double (C Beck) 7:11.04 (84.91), 3 Junior Double (D O’Malley, C Carmody) 7:12.49 (83.01), 4 Junior Double (Mulvaney) 7:19.14 (81.75).

Race Seven (Pararowing Crews, 1,000m): 1 LTA1x (O’Hara) 2:09.42 (77.27), 2 TA1x (O’Brien) 2:45.40 (81.62), 3 AS1x (O’Doherty) 2:48.06 (81.82), 4 AS1x (Kelly) 3:09.52 (72.55).

Published in Rowing

Sharks in Irish waters

Irish waters are home to 71 species of shark, skates and rays, 58 of which have been studied in detail and listed on the Ireland Red List of Cartilaginous fish. Irish sharks range from small Sleeper sharks, Dogfish and Catsharks, to larger species like Frilled, Mackerel and Cow sharks, all the way to the second largest shark in the world, the Basking shark. 

Irish waters provide a refuge for an array of shark species. Tralee Bay, Co. Kerry provides a habitat for several rare and endangered sharks and their relatives, including the migratory tope shark, angel shark and undulate ray. This area is also the last European refuge for the extremely rare white skate. Through a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) project, Marine Institute scientists have been working with fishermen to assess the distribution, diversity, and monthly relative abundance of skates and rays in Tralee, Brandon and Dingle Bays.

“These areas off the southwest coast of Ireland are important internationally as they hold some of the last remaining refuges for angel shark and white skate,” said Dr Maurice Clarke of the Marine Institute. “This EMFF project has provided data confirming the critically endangered status of some species and provides up-to-date information for the development of fishery measures to eliminate by-catch.” 

Irish waters are also home to the Black Mouthed Catshark, Galeus melastomus, one of Ireland’s smallest shark species which can be found in the deep sea along the continental shelf. In 2018, Irish scientists discovered a very rare shark-nursery 200 nautical miles off the west coast by the Marine Institute’s ROV Holland 1 on a shelf sloping to 750 metres deep. 

There are two ways that sharks are born, either as live young or from egg casings. In the ‘case’ of Black Mouthed Catsharks, the nursery discovered in 2018, was notable by the abundance of egg casings or ‘mermaid’s purses’. Many sharks, rays and skate lay eggs, the cases of which often wash ashore. If you find an egg casing along the seashore, take a photo for Purse Search Ireland, a citizen science project focusing on monitoring the shark, ray and skate species around Ireland.

Another species also found by Irish scientists using the ROV Holland 1 in 2018 was a very rare type of dogfish, the Sail Fin Rough Shark, Oxynotus paradoxus. These sharks are named after their long fins which resemble the trailing sails of a boat, and live in the deep sea in waters up to 750m deep. Like all sharks, skates and rays, they have no bones. Their skeleton is composed of cartilage, much like what our noses and ears are made from! This material is much more flexible and lighter than bone which is perfect for these animals living without the weight of gravity.

Throughout history sharks have been portrayed as the monsters of the sea, a concept that science is continuously debunking. Basking sharks were named in 1765 as Cetorhinus maximus, roughly translated to the ‘big-nosed sea monster’. Basking sharks are filter feeders, often swimming with their mouths agape, they filter plankton from the water.

They are very slow moving and like to bask in the sun in shallow water and are often seen in Irish waters around Spring and early Summer. To help understand the migration of these animals to be better able to understand and conserve these species, the Irish Basking Shark Group have tagged and mapped their travels.

Remarkably, many sharks like the Angel Shark, Squatina squatina have the ability to sense electricity. They do this via small pores in their skin called the ‘Ampullae of Lorenzini’ which are able to detect the tiny electrical impulses of a fish breathing, moving or even its heartbeat from distances of over a kilometre! Angel sharks, often referred to as Monkfish have a distinctively angelic shape, with flattened, large fins appearing like the wings of an angel. They live on the seafloor in the coastal waters of Ireland and much like a cat are nocturnal, primarily active at night.

The intricate complexity of shark adaptations is particularly noticeable in the texture of their skin. Composed of miniscule, perfectly shaped overlapping scales, the skin of shark provides them with protection. Often shark scales have been compared to teeth due to their hard enamel structure. They are strong, but also due to their intricate shape, these scales reduce drag and allow water to glide past them so that the shark can swim more effortlessly and silently. This natural flawless design has been used as inspiration for new neoprene fabric designs to help swimmers glide through the water. Although all sharks have this feature, the Leafscale Gulper Shark, Centrophorus squamosus, found in Ireland are specifically named due to the ornate leaf-shape of their scales.