#MATCHRACING – This weekend's fourth Irish National Match Racing Championship, hosted by Lough Derg Yacht Club, went to the Gladiators team. The Gladiators – captained by Richie Murphy, with Peter Bayly on the helm, Paddy Blackley as sheet hand and Ian MacNamee on pit and trim – sailed an almost faultless round robin to lead by three points going into the final.
Howth Yacht Club teams came second and third. With with wind dieing out before the team consisting of Ben Duncan, Ric Morris, Joe Turner and Keith Glynn, could finish off the upset that was on the cards in the final leaving Mad Match Racing second for the 3rd year running.
The HYC Development Squad team of Ryan Scott, Connor Murphy, Ross Darmody and Graham Barker finished the round robin tied on points with Mad Match but missed out on the final as a result of losing the final match between the two teams ending up 3rd. A fantastic performance from Ryan earns him the right to be nominated by Match Racing Ireland for next years World University Match Racing Championships.
With the Team Racing World Championships held in Ireland this year the focus for a number of teams moved away from match racing and there where only 7 teams in Lough Derg. Debutants Noel Butler and Audrey Adamson got to grips with match racing at this level for the first time and had a great time, with Audrey taking a particularly satisfying race from Mad Match and Noel sussing out the moves over the weekend to finish fifth. With John Sheehy unable to attend for family reasons Darragh O'Connor represented the defending champions and two time winners coming fourth.
Next years National Championships will be held in Howth in late July or August, subject to confirmation on the location of the boats.
With sponsorship from INVEST WISE already in place plans are being made to include coaching and practice during the week before so to encourage anyone who has ever fancied the chance to have a go at this distinctly different form of sailing the chance to see what it's all about.
