Displaying items by tag: Ireland Trials

18th May 2018

O'Donovan and O'Driscoll Given Big Test

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure and Paul O’Donovan were impressive winners of the single sculls tests at the Ireland trial at the National Rowing Centre today. Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan won their pairs race, but only by 2.8 seconds from the very tall crew of Andy Harrington and Patrick Boomer.

Denise Walsh won the lightweight single sculls from Margaret Cremen. Aoife Casey was absent because of exams. The top women’s pair were Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty, while Aaron Keogh of Three Castles beat Rory O’Neill of Castleconnell in the junior single sculls.

Published in Rowing

Tagged under

25th March 2017

McCarthy Tops Heat Rankings But UCD's Mulvaney Forced Out

Fintan McCarthy topped the single sculls rankings in the heats at the Ireland trial at the National Rowing Centre. The 20-year-old Skibbereen lightweight came in ahead of Daire Lynch and Gary O'Donovan. Jake McCarthy- Fintan's twin - was fourth. Sam McKeown and Chris Beck also made the A Final from the heats which were run on a time trial basis.

The men's pairs heats were overshadowed by an illness to Shane Mulvaney which forced his lightweight pair partnership with David O'Malley to pull out. Shane O'Driscoll and Mark O'Donovan won well.

Sanita Puspure was a clear winner in the women's singles heat, while UCC were the fastest women's pair.

Published in Rowing

Tagged under

20th March 2016

Lightweight Four Fastest at Ireland Time Trial

Gary O'Donovan, the fastest lightweight single sculler at the Ireland Time Trial.

#Rowing: The Ireland lightweight four was the fastest crew in the time trials this morning at the Ireland trial at the National Rowing Centre. Ranking on per centage of projected gold medal-winning time, the Shandon/Clonmel combination in the men’s junior double scull had the most impressive performance. Paul O’Donovan pulled out ill, while Claire Lambe has been injured, so Gary O’Donovan and Sinéad Jennings competed in the lightweight single. Both posted good times.

Published in Rowing

Tagged under

17th March 2016

Ireland Trials Adopt Schedule Change

#Rowing: The final schedule for the Ireland trials this weekend at the National Rowing Centre has been released. The adult events are now sited primarily on the Sunday, with just the men’s under-23 heavyweight double sculls being added to the big junior programme on the Saturday, March 19^th. The first time trials, for junior men’s pairs, start earlier than originally scheduled, at 8.30 am because of concerns about the weather. Finals for juniors are scheduled for the Saturday afternoon.

Published in Rowing

Tagged under

The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier.

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years.

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.