#ROWING: The Afloat Rowers of the Month for August are Leonora Kennedy and Monika Dukarska. The Enniskillen woman, who had rowed and won medals with Britain, and her Killorglin teammate only began to work together earlier this summer, yet they formed a women’s double which finished a creditable 10th at the World Rowing Championships in Chungju in Korea. As preparations for the new season begin, this crew gives hope that Ireland rowing may begin to gather momentum again on the world stage.

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 and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2013. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2013 champions list grow.

#WRChamps: In a terrifically exciting final of the men’s single sculls at the World Rowing Championships, Alan Campbell had to settle for fourth. Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic was an impressive winner of the gold, but Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba passed both Marcel Hacker (the eventual bronze medallist) and Campbell in the second half of the race to take a surprise silver.

World Rowing Championships, Chungju, Korea, Day Eight (Irish interest)

Men

Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Czech Republic (O Synek) 6:45.24, 2 Cuba (A Fournier Rodriguez) 6:48.91, 3 Germany (M Hacker) 6:49.39; 4 Britain (A Campbell) 6:51.44, 5 Netherlands 6:52.70, 6 Lithuania 6:56.19.

Women

Double Sculls – A Final: 1 Lithuania 6:51.82, 2 New Zealand 6:51.86, 3 Belarus 6:55.90; 4 Britain 6:58.67, 5 Germany 7:00.66, 6 Denmark 7:04.72.

B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 United States (M O’Leary, E Tomek) 6:56.05, 2 Russia (E Potapova, M Kraskilnikova) 7:01.07, 3 Ukraine (A Kravchenko, O Buryak) 7:03.34, 4 Ireland (M Dukarksa, L Kennedy) 7:06.80, 5 Italy 7:09.04, 6 Korea 7:11.75.

Saturday

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls: 1 Norway 6:36.04, 2 Switzerland 6:37.11, 3 Britain (R Chambers, P Chambers) 6:38.04.

#WRChamps: Ireland had a good finish to its campaign in the World Rowing Championships in Chungju in Korea this morning. The new women’s double scull of Monika Dukarska and Leonora Kennedy took fourth in their B Final, tenth overall in this Olympic-class event. Meghan O’Leary and Ellen Tomek of the United States won the contest at the head of the field with Russia and the Ukraine, and the Irish won their battle with Italy and Korea. Italy pushed hard at the 1500-metre mark; Kennedy and Dukarksa saw them off with a good final quarter.

World Rowing Championships, Chungju, Korea, Day Eight (Irish interest)

Women

Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 United States (M O’Leary, E Tomek) 6:56.05, 2 Russia (E Potapova, M Kraskilnikova) 7:01.07, 3 Ukraine (A Kravchenko, O Buryak) 7:03.34, 4 Ireland (M Dukarksa, L Kennedy) 7:06.80, 5 Italy 7:09.04, 6 Korea 7:11.75.

#WRChamps: Ireland’s new double scull of Leonora Kennedy and Monika Dukarska finished fifth in their semi-final at the World Championships in Chungju in Korea this morning and will compete in a B Final on Sunday. The semi-final was won well by Frances Houghton and Victoria Meyer-Laker, with Germany and Denmark filling second and third and taking the resultant places in the A Final. Ukraine took fourth, while Ireland pushed Italy into sixth early in the race and stayed in front of the crew in blue until the finish.

World Rowing Championships, Chungju, Korea, Day Six (Irish interest)

Women

Double Sculls – Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Britain (F Houghton, V Meyer-Laker) 7:18.56, 2 Germany (J Lier, M Adams) 7:19.10, 3 Denmark (M Petersen, L Jakobsen) 7:29.30; 4 Ukraine 7:34.27, 5 Ireland (M Dukarska, L Kennedy) 7:39.33, 6 Italy 7:39.50.

Lightweight Single Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Italy (D Zacco) 8:05.21, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:07.38, 3 Korea (Yoo Jin Ji) 8:08.75, 4 Japan 8:18.46, 5 Singapore 8:24.11, 6 India 8:32.05.

#WRChamps: Italy’s Denise Zacco denied Claire Lambe a win in the C Final of the lightweight single sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Chungju in Korea. Lambe led through the first three quarters of the 2,000 metres, but Zacco judged the race superbly: by 1500 metres she had passed Yoo Jin Ji of Korea; she closed on Lambe, then passed her in the last 200 metres.

World Championships, Day Six (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Italy (D Zacco) 8:05.21, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:07.38, 3 Korea (Yoo Jin Ji) 8:08.75, 4 Japan 8:18.46, 5 Singapore 8:24.11, 6 India 8:32.05.

#WRChamps: Claire Lambe bounced into the C Final at the World Rowing Championships in Chungju in Korea with a good win in the C/D semi-final. Yoo Jin Ji of Korea shadowed the UCD sculler for about half the race, but in the third quarter Lambe extended her lead to three seconds and tended that margin to the finish.

World Rowing Championships, Day Five (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – C/D Semi-Finals (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:55.60, 2 Korea (Yoo Jin Ji) 7:58.62, 3 Singapore (A Saiyidah) 8:15.23; 4 Kenya 8:41.66.

#WRChamps: Monika Dukarska and Leonora Kennedy reached the A/B Semi-Finals at the World Championships in Korea this morning. The Ireland double scull had to make the top three in their repechage to qualify, and they finished second behind Russia and ahead of Korea, who took the third qualification place. The Russians, who had to give way to Ireland in the heats, were pillar-to-post winners, but the new Ireland crew maintained a steady pace behind them.

 The Olympic and World Champion in the men's single sculls, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand, could only finish fourth in his quarter-final and failed to make the semi-finals.

World Rowing Championships, Day Three (Irish interest)

Women

Double Sculls – Repechage (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C Final): 1 Russia (E Potapova, M Krasilnikova) 7:09.81, 2 Ireland (M Dukarska, L Kennedy) 7:12.08, 3 Korea (A Kim, Y Kim) 7:17.95; 4 Taipei 7:44.92, 5 Namibia 9:22.05.

#WorldRowingChampionships: Ireland’s double scull of Monika Dukarska and Leonora Kennedy took fourth in their heat at the World Rowing Championships in Chungju in Korea this morning and must compete in a repechage to secure a place in the A/B Semi-Finals.

A place in the top three was the target: Lithuania and Denmark were the clear one-two from half way, with Ukraine in third and Ireland and Russia trailing. Dukarska and Kennedy upped their rate in the second half of the race, engaging in a battle with Russia which they won. They overlapped Ukraine in the closing stages but could not head them.

World Rowing Championships, Day Two (Irish interest)

Women

Double Sculls – Heat One (First Three Directly to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Lithuania (D Vistartaite, M Valciukaite) 6:52.09, 2 Denmark (M Petersen, L Jakobsen) 6:56.34, 3 Ukraine (A Kravchenko, O Buryak) 7:02.42; 4 Ireland (M Dukarska, L Kennedy) 7:03.92, 5 Russia 7:09.73.

#WorldRowingChampionships: Claire Lambe finished third in her heat and must compete in a repechage as she seeks a place in the semi-finals at the World Rowing Championships in Chungju in Korea. The Dubliner led early in the battle of the lightweight single scullers, but Ursula Grobler of South Africa powered into the lead after 500 metres and went on to win well. Alena Kryvasheyenka of Belarus took over in second after halfway, with Lambe third ahead of scullers from Singapore and Indonesia.

World Rowing Championships, Day One (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Three (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; Rest to Repechage): 1 South Africa (U Grobler) 7:58.84, 2 Belarus (A Kryvasheyenka) 8:04.59; 3 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:16.06, 4 Singapore 8:34.99, 5 Indonesia 8:54.69.

#World Rowing: Ireland will send two crews to the World Rowing Championships in Chungju in South Korea. Claire Lambe will compete in the lightweight single sculls, while Monika Dukarska and Leonora Kennedy will compete in the double. In their last outing Lambe finished fifth at the World Cup regatta in Dorney and the Dukarska and Kennedy sixth. This was the double’s first outing as a crew.

 The Championships run from Sunday, August 25th, to the following Sunday, September 1st.

Ireland Team for World Rowing Championships, Chungju, South Korea, August 25th to September 1st

Women

Double Sculls: M Dukarska, L Kennedy

Lightweight Single Sculls: C Lambe