Displaying items by tag: Morten Espersen

15th November 2017

Casey Nominated for Top Coaching Award

#Rowing: Ireland coach Dominic Casey has been chosen as one of the finalists for the Coach of the Year at the World Rowing Awards for the second successive year. Casey coaches the Ireland lightweights, who had an extraordinary 2017.

The lightweight pair of Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll capped a year of wins in the World Cup events and the European Championships with a World Championship gold. Paul O’Donovan also took top position on the podium in Florida after winning the lightweight single sculls. He and his brother Gary had taken two World Cup medals and a European Championship silver in the lightweight double. Denise Walsh was a World Championship finalist and took medals at the European Championships and the World Cup in Belgrade. The Ireland lightweight quadruple and the lightweight pair of David O’Malley and Shane Mulvaney took medals at the World Under-23 Championships.

Casey has also been nominated for an award for Distinguished Services to International Rowing. Former Ireland high performance director, Morten Espersen, is also a nominee for this award.

Published in Rowing

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Ireland Rowing HPD Espersen Resigns

#Rowing: The high performance director of Rowing Ireland, Morten Espersen, has resigned. Espersen emailed his decision to the chief executive of Rowing Ireland, Hamish Adams.

“On behalf of the entire Board and Staff I wish Morten well in the next phase of his professional and personal life and would like to personally thank him for his huge contribution to rowing in Ireland over the last four years,” Adams said.

“Morten will be working closely with us for the next three months to ensure our high performance programme continues to go from strength to strength.”

Published in Rowing

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Olympic Watersport Coaches Share Philips Award For August

Rory Fitzpatrick with his Philips Sports prize at the National Yacht Club

The Philips Sports Manager of the Month for August is being shared by the two succesful Olympic medal winning coaches – both in waterports – from Rio.

Irish Sailing Association Olympic coach Rory Fitzpatrick and Morten Espersen, the High Performance Director and Olympic Manager with Rowing Ireland are joint winners of the prestigious award for the month of August.

The award is an acknowledgement of the success of sailor Annalise Murphy and rowers Gary and Paul O’Donovan at the Olympic Games in Rio.

Annalise and the O'Donovan brothers brought home silver medals in the Laser Radial Sailing and Lightweight Double Sculls rowing categories respectively.

The sailing medal was the first since Moscow in 1980 and the O’Donovan brothers secured the first ever medal for Ireland in rowing.

Published in Olympic

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Forty Foot Swimming Spot on Dublin Bay

The 'Forty Foot' is a rocky outcrop located at the southern tip of Dublin Bay at Sandycove, County Dublin from which people have been swimming in the Irish Sea all year round for 300 years or more. It is popular because it is one of few spots between Dublin city and Greystones in County Wicklow that allows for swimming at all stages of the tide, subject to the sea state.

Forty Foot History

Traditionally, the bathing spot was exclusively a men's bathing spot and the gentlemen's swimming club was established to help conserve the area.

Owing to its relative isolation and gender-specific nature it became a popular spot for nudists, but in the 1970s, during the women's liberation movement, a group of female equal-rights activists plunged into the waters and now it is also open to everyone and it is in the control of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

Many people believe that swimming in extremely cold water is healthy and good for the immune system.

Is it safe to swim at the Forty Foot?

The Forty-Foot is a great place to swim because there is always enough water to get a dip but like all sea swimming, there are always hazards you need to be aware of. For example, a lot of people like to dive into to the pool at the Forty-foot but there are submerged rocks that can be hazardous especially at low water. The Council have erected signs to warn people of the underwater dangers. Other hazards include slippy granite cut stone steps that can often be covered with seaweed and of course marine wildlife including jellyfish that make their presence felt in the summer months as do an inquisitive nearby Sandycove seal colony.