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It was mixed results for Trinity rowing crews in the coin toss for the annual Colours Boat Races yesterday (Sunday 27 February).

Round Ireland sailor and adventurer Mark Pollock was on hand to flip the coin at the steps of TCD’s Dining Hall, with the Dublin University Boat Club losing the toss for the men’s race — they will take the south station for the Gannon Cup and Dan Quinn Shield against UCD Boat Club.

Trinity’s women faired better, with the Dublin University Ladies Boat Club winning their toss — they chose to race on the south station for the Corcoran Cup and the Sally Moorhead Trophy against UCD’s women.

The 2022 Colours Boat Races, which return after a two-year break amid the COVID-19 pandemic, take place on the River Liffey from O’Connell Bridge to St James’ Gate on Friday 18 March.

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#Rowing: Holly Davis gave the crowds a sensational result at the Irish Championships. The Lee Valley girl came through a good battle with Eabha Benson of St Michael's, to pull away and win. The remarkable thing is that Davis is just 14. She does not turn 15 until January 10th next year, leaving her with four years at Junior level.

The men's junior coxed four also electrified the crowd: Colaiste Iognaid and Enniskillen duked it out down the course. The Galway crew got away to win as their emotional supporters roared them on.

Youth was the theme of this regatta: Kevin O'Donovan, who is a junior, won the club single, while Anna Tyther, also under 18 teamed up with Zoe Hyde to win the intermediate double for Killorglin.

The three other titles on offer in this first Saturday session went three different ways: Commercial's strong senior men's programme was on show as they won the men's quadruple; Cork had a fine win in the intermediate men's eight; Trinity's A crew won the women's novice eight.

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#Rowing: UCD fours won on the double at Metro Regatta today. The club in blue and saffron took the Division One men's coxless four in a battle with Commercial, while their coxed four also won. Bann's junior 18 eight were the top women's crew, while the women's quad and coxed four from Commercial also won. Killorglin's Rhiannon O'Donoghue and Anna Tyther, both outstanding juniors, were the fastest double. The men's single saw Kealan Mannix of the University of Limerick take the honours in this 150th anniversary regatta, ahead of Niall Beggan of Commercial. Trinity's Mark Quigley and Adam Browne won the men's pair.

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#Rowing: Bann closed out the day with two wins at Trinity Regatta. Aaron Christie won the last race of the day, the men's intermediate single. In the previous race, the Coleraine club's women's club eight beat KSRV Njord convincingly - it made up for the earlier women's junior 18 eight final, in which Bann had crossed first but been disqualified.

The men's club eight went to the hosts, who had taken the day in hand early on by winning the men's senior eight. Their women's club, DULBC had won the novice eight.

Commercial were big winners on the day, racking up victories in the men's senior coxed four and pair and the women's and men's club coxed fours. Michael Maher beat clubmate Niall Beggan in the men's senior single on a disqualification.

Neptune won the men's intermediate coxed four and the women's senior double, while Brian Colsh of Sligo took the men's junior 18 single sculls.

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#Rowing: The hosts won the men's senior eights title at Trinity Regatta today. The Trinity/Lady Elizabeth crew had a length and a quarter to spare over Blue Star, a British crew which featured Scott Durant, an Olympic gold medallist, along with former Ireland internationals Cormac Folan and Niall Kenny.

 The men's senior singles went to Michael Maher after a disqualification. The race featured a clash between the two Commercial men, after which Niall Beggan was disqualified.

 The women's novice eight gave DULBC a chance to show their mettle. They raced Neptune in the final and won well. Bann's women's junior 18 eight looked strong and crossed the line ahead of Graiguenamanagh - but Bann were disqualified for not staying the right side of a buoy.

 Brian Colsh of Sligo continued his good run by taking the men's junior 18 single, while Galway beat Blackrock in the men's junior 16 eights final.

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#Rowing: UCD won the Gannon Cup for senior men and Trinity the Corcoran Cup for senior women at the Colours Races in Dublin today.

Trinity lead early in the Gannon, but once the crews came through Grattan Bridge, UCD pushed into the lead. The lead stood at one length through the next four bridges, but Trinity whittled it to two-thirds from there, making for a good finish. UCD held on to win.

Trinity were outstanding winners of the Corcoran Cup. They carved out a big lead early on and went on to win easily.

UCD’s novice women also built on a good start to win the Sally Moorhead trophy, while Trinity won the men’s novice race and took the Dan Quinn Shield.

Colours Races 2019, Dublin

Gannon Cup (Senior Men): UCD (Rob Brown, Jack Stacey, Andrew Goff, Shane O’Connell, Thomas Earley, Andrew Kelly, Cameron Murphy, David O’Malley; cox: Orlagh Reid) bt Trinity 2/3 l

Corcoran Cup (Senior Women): Trinity (Anna Mangan, Ellen Clohessy, Ruthie McHugh, Jane Hogg, Aoife Corcoran, Erika Deasy, Miriam Kelly, Aoife McGranaghan; cox: Clare White) bt UCD easily

Dan Quinn Shield (Novice Men): Trinity bt UCD 3l

Sally Moorhead Trophy (Novice Women): UCD bt Trinity 3l.

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#Rowing: The senior eights from Commercial and Trinity topped the men’s and women’s rankings at the Erne Head of the River in Enniskillen today. Commercial were the fastest crew and came home faster than Trinity’s men’s senior eight, while Enniskillen’s junior women’s eight were the second-fastest women’s crew. The host club’s junior 18 men’s eight were also fastest in their class – they were fifth overall.

There were strong winds throughout the race. Despite the conditions, this was the biggest Erne Head.

Erne Head (provisional results); 1 Commercial A men’s senior eight 19 mins 32 seconds, 2 Trinity mens sen eight 19:56, 3 UCD men’s sen eight 20.11.2, 4 Commercial B men’s sen eight 20.14.9, 5 Enniskillen men’s junior 18 eight 20.35.9, 6 NUIG men’s club one eight 20:56.5. 18 Trinity women’s senior eight 22.24.2; 20 Enniskillen junior women’s eight 22:35.8.

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#Rowing: Commercial took first and second at the Dublin Head of the River today. UCD took third. The fastest women’s crew was Trinity's senior eight and Commercial were the fastest women's junior 18 eight. Neptune’s boys formed the fastest men’s junior crew. Seventeen eights competed in the official race, with a number of crews also taking to the water on a time-only basis.

Dublin Head of the River, Saturday (All Eights; Selected Results): Men – Senior Eight: Commercial A 10 minutes 54 seconds. Inter: Neptune 11:35. Club: Commercial  12:53. Junior 18: Neptune 12:05. Masters: Neptune 13:08.
Women – Senior: Trinity 12:57. Intermediate: Trinity 14:07. Club: Neptune 14:19. Jun 18: Commercial 13:45.

 

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#Rowing: NUIG won the much-anticipated women’s senior four final at the Irish Rowing Championships today. Trinity made the early moves, but NUIG moved before halfway, with Commercial and Cork Boat Club also coming into contention. From there the Galway club took it and won from Commercial by over three seconds. Cork were third.

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#Rowing: Trinty lost out to Syracuse University and Neptune to Gloucester at Henley Royal Regatta today. Both victors were seeded crews; they were much heavier than their rivals from Ireland.

 For the Temple Cup, Trinity lost William Doyle to a back injury after the first race and flew in Sean Canning, who replaced him. They came up against one of the top-ranked American crews in orange-clad Syracuse, who justified favouritism with a pillar-to-post win.

 In the Fawley for junior quadruples, Neptune never gave up, but they, too, were fighting a losing battle from early on. They made Gloucester work – but the English crew were stronger.

Henley Royal Regatta, Day Two (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Thames Cup (Eights, Club): Cork Boat Club bt London RC ‘A’ 1 ¾ l.

Temple Cup (Eights, College): Syracuse University (US) bt Trinity 2½l; Yale University (3 D Lynch) bt Bath University 2¾ l.

Fawley (Quadruple, Junior): Gloucester RC ‘A’ bt Neptune 1 1/3 l.  

Double Sculls (Open): S Cox, T Oliver bt JJP Keech and JA Dunley 1 ¼ l.

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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.