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#Rowing: Irish crews had two remarkable wins in quick succession at Henley Royal Regatta on Friday evening.

 Commercial came from behind to beat Cercle de l’Aviron de Lyon by three-quarters of a length in the Thames Cup. The French seemed to have a strong hold on the race, but stroke Colm Dowling and his crew rowed through them. The Irish champions then repulsed a late charge to win.

 UCD seemed set for a grim battle with RG Dusseldorf and Crefelder in the Visitors’ and there was little between them in the middle stages of the race. But the Irish four – also national champions in this boat – sped away from the Germans across the flat water to win well.

 Both crews joined Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll, who won in their round of the Silver Goblets, in Saturday’s draw.

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

Thames (Men’s Eight, Club): Commercial bt Cercle de l’Aviron de Lyon ¾ l

Visitors (Men’s Four, Club and University): UCD bt Dusseldorf and Crefeld 2¾ lengths

Hambleden Pairs (Women’s Pairs, Open): G Prendergast, K Gowler bt S O’Connor, N Long 2¼ l

Silver Goblets (Men’s Pairs, Open): Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll (Skibbereen) bt H Hogan and H Elworthy 2¼ l

Double Sculls (Men’s Double, Open): J Collins, G Thomas bt Nathan Hull and OJ Dix (Queen’s, Belfast and Leander) 1l

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Commercial beat City of Oxford by three and a quarter lengths in the second round of the Thames Cup at Henley Royal Regatta today. The Dublin club left their opponents behind them early on and rowed home under little pressure. They face French opponents, Cercle de l’Aviron de Lyon, on Friday.

Henley Royal Regatta, Day Two (Irish interest)

Thames (Men’s Eight, Club): Commercial bt City of Oxford 3¼ l.

Visitors (Men’s Four, Club and University): UCD bt Leander Club 2¼ l.

Fawley (Junior Men’s Quadruple): Christiana Roklub, Norway bt Enniskillen RBC 1/3 l.

Double Sculls (Men’s Double, Open): Nathan Hull and O Dix (Queen’s, Belfast and Leander) bt MS Cummings and Z Youell 3 1/3 l.

Princess Royal (Women’s Single, Open): JL Cole-Hossian bt Orla Hayes (Skibbereen) easily

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Commercial moved efficiently through their first outing at Henley Royal Regatta today. The Thames Cup club eight beat Nottingham Rowing Club with little fuss. The Dublin club crew led by a length after half a mile, then established a clearwater lead which they held to the finish line.

Henley Royal Regatta – Day One (Irish interest)

Thames Cup (Men’s Eights, Club): Commercial bt Nottingham RC

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The standout names in the Irish entry for Henley Royal Regatta are Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll. The world lightweight champions of 2017 have entered the Silver Goblets for open pairs.

 The Irish challenge features Commercial in the Thames Cup for club eights and UCD’s four in the Visitors. Both crews are Irish champions. Enniskillen have chosen to enter quadruples in the Fawley and the Diamond Jubilee.

 UCD, who compete at Henley Women’s Regatta this weekend, have entered the open event for women’s eights, the Remenham.  Orla Hayes of Skibbereen has entered the Princess Royal, the open event for women's single scullers.

Henley Royal Regatta, July 3rd to 7th (Selection of Entries, Irish interest)

Remenham Cup (Women’s Eights, Open): UCD

Thames (Men’s Eight, Club): Commercial

Visitors (Men’s Four, Club and University): UCD

Prince of Wales (Men’s Quadruple, Club and University): Lagan Scullers’

Fawley (Men’s Quadruple, Junior): Enniskillen Royal Boat Club

Diamond Jubilee Cup (Women’s Quadruple, Junior): Enniskillen Royal Boat Club

Britannia (Men’s Fours, coxed, Club): Belfast Rowing Club

Silver Goblets (Men’s Pairs, Open): Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll (Skibbereen)

Hambleden Pairs (Women’s Pairs, Open): Sadhbh O’Connor and Natalie Long (NUIG and Skibbereen)

Double Sculls (Men’s Double, Open): Nathan Hull and OJ Dix (Queen’s, Belfast and Leander)

Stonor Trophy (Women’s Double Sculls, Open): Fiona Chestnutt, CK Knight (Reading Univ and Newcastle Univ)

Diamond Sculls (Men’s Single, Open): Callum McCrae (Cambridge Univ Lightweight RC)

Princess Royal (Women’s Single, Open): Orla Hayes (Skibbereen)

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Bann won the women's junior 18 eights with some style at Athlone Regatta today. In a battle of Northern Ireland clubs, the women in red and white were two lengths ahead of Enniskillen, with Coleraine GS third.

The women's junior 18 fours came late in the day and was a terrific battle. Commercial produced a cracking finish to win by a length from Enniskillen, with Bann third.

Coleraine's Molly Curry was a convincing winner of the women's junior 18 single, while Brian Colsh of Sligo was the men's junior sculling winner.

Galway's St Joseph's won the men's junior 18 eight, while Bann's good day included a win in the men's junior 18 four.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Commercial won the men's eight in a close and exciting final race of Metropolitan Regatta at Blessington today. UCD and the Irish champions were neck and neck in the final stages, but UCD had the advantage until the sprint to the line, which Commercial won.

The concluding session of finals featured an even closer race.

In the women's four, two junior crews hit the line with just .297 of a second between them. Bann, on the far side of the course from the viewing area, saw their lead snatched away by Castleconnell.

Kenmare's Georgia O'Brien (20) won her singles sculls final with much more to spare, though the second placing gave Aoife Moloney of Commercial victory in the junior 18 rankings.

There were also big margins of victory for Lagan in the men's quadruple and Anna Liffey in the women's pair.

Shane Haugh and James O'Donovan won the men's double. Last weekend O'Donovan was part of the Ireland coxed four which took silver at the European Junior Championships.

Published in Rowing

#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.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Carlow’s Sadhbh Scully and Keara Egan won the junior 18 women’s double at Ghent regatta on Sunday – first of 18 competing crews. Castleconnell won the women’s junior 18 quadruple, another competitive event, with 10 crews completing the course. Both clubs did well over the two days, as did Three Castles, Methodist College, Belfast, Cork and Commercial, whose senior men’s eight took second on the Sunday.

Ghent Spring Regatta, Belgium (Selected Results; Irish interest):

Saturday

Men

Sculling, Quadruple: 3 Lagan Scullers. Junior: 5 Three Castles.

Double – Jun: 3 Three Castles (L Flynn, A Keogh)

Single – Jun: 5 Cork (P Beechinor) 7:41.32.

Women

Eight – Junior: 1 Commercial 7:25.17.

Four – Jun: 1 Castleconnell 7:32.0, 2 Commercial 7:37.27.

Pair - Senior: 2 Anna Liffey (C Dempsey, D Maguire). Under-23: Cork (J Duggan, C O’Sullivan) 8:11.24. Junior: 1 Cork (J Duggan, C O’Sullivan) 7:59.94, 2 Castleconnell (L O’Brien, N Kiely) 8:04.33.

Sculling

Double – Junior: 5 Carlow.

Lightweight Single: 2 Skibbereen (O Hayes). Under-23: 1 Carlow (K Egan) 8:49.25. Junior: 6 Carlow (S Scully).  

Sunday

Men

Eight – Senior: 2 Commercial. Four, coxed- Jun 18: 2 Methodist College, Belfast. Junior 16: 2 Castleconnell.  

Sculling, Quadruple: 2 Three Castles.

Double – Jun 18: 4 Cork (Beechinor, M Cronin) 7:08.14.

Single – Under-23 Lightweight: 2 Castleconnell (B Frohburg). Jun 18: 3 Three Castles (Flynn), 5 Three Castles (Tiarnan McKnight), 6 Three Castles (Keogh).   

Women

Four – Jun: 1 Commercial 7:41.73, 2 Castleconnell.

Pair – Sen: 3 Anna Liffey (Dempsey, Maguire). Under-23: Cork (Duggan, O’Sullivan) 8:47.59. Jun: Cork (Duggan, O’Sullivan) 8:12.36, 3 Commercial.

Sculling, Quadruple – Jun 18: 1 Castleconnell 7:21.72. Jun 16: 3 Castleconnell, 4 Carlow.  

Double – Jun 18: 1 Carlow (Scully, Egan) 7:58.26.

Single – Lightweight: 2 Skibbereen (Hayes). Lwt U-23: 1 Carlow (Egan) 8:56.71. Jun 18: 3 Carlow (Scully); 5 Cork (H Gahan).

Published in Rowing

#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.

Published in Rowing
Tagged under

#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.

Published in Rowing
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Irish Olympic Sailing Team

Ireland has a proud representation in sailing at the Olympics dating back to 1948. Today there is a modern governing structure surrounding the selection of sailors the Olympic Regatta

Irish Olympic Sailing FAQs

Ireland’s representation in sailing at the Olympics dates back to 1948, when a team consisting of Jimmy Mooney (Firefly), Alf Delany and Hugh Allen (Swallow) competed in that year’s Summer Games in London (sailing off Torquay). Except for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Ireland has sent at least one sailor to every Summer Games since then.

  • 1948 – London (Torquay) — Firefly: Jimmy Mooney; Swallow: Alf Delany, Hugh Allen
  • 1952 – Helsinki — Finn: Alf Delany * 1956 – Melbourne — Finn: J Somers Payne
  • 1960 – Rome — Flying Dutchman: Johnny Hooper, Peter Gray; Dragon: Jimmy Mooney, David Ryder, Robin Benson; Finn: J Somers Payne
  • 1964 – Tokyo — Dragon: Eddie Kelliher, Harry Maguire, Rob Dalton; Finn: Johnny Hooper 
  • 1972 – Munich (Kiel) — Tempest: David Wilkins, Sean Whitaker; Dragon: Robin Hennessy, Harry Byrne, Owen Delany; Finn: Kevin McLaverty; Flying Dutchman: Harold Cudmore, Richard O’Shea
  • 1976 – Montreal (Kingston) — 470: Robert Dix, Peter Dix; Flying Dutchman: Barry O’Neill, Jamie Wilkinson; Tempest: David Wilkins, Derek Jago
  • 1980 – Moscow (Tallinn) — Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson (Silver medalists) * 1984 – Los Angeles — Finn: Bill O’Hara
  • 1988 – Seoul (Pusan) — Finn: Bill O’Hara; Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy; 470 (Women): Cathy MacAleavy, Aisling Byrne
  • 1992 – Barcelona — Europe: Denise Lyttle; Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy; Star: Mark Mansfield, Tom McWilliam
  • 1996 – Atlanta (Savannah) — Laser: Mark Lyttle; Europe: Aisling Bowman (Byrne); Finn: John Driscoll; Star: Mark Mansfield, David Burrows; 470 (Women): Denise Lyttle, Louise Cole; Soling: Marshall King, Dan O’Grady, Garrett Connolly
  • 2000 – Sydney — Europe: Maria Coleman; Finn: David Burrows; Star: Mark Mansfield, David O'Brien
  • 2004 – Athens — Europe: Maria Coleman; Finn: David Burrows; Star: Mark Mansfield, Killian Collins; 49er: Tom Fitzpatrick, Fraser Brown; 470: Gerald Owens, Ross Killian; Laser: Rory Fitzpatrick
  • 2008 – Beijing (Qingdao) — Star: Peter O’Leary, Stephen Milne; Finn: Tim Goodbody; Laser Radial: Ciara Peelo; 470: Gerald Owens, Phil Lawton
  • 2012 – London (Weymouth) — Star: Peter O’Leary, David Burrows; 49er: Ryan Seaton, Matt McGovern; Laser Radial: Annalise Murphy; Laser: James Espey; 470: Gerald Owens, Scott Flanigan
  • 2016 – Rio — Laser Radial (Women): Annalise Murphy (Silver medalist); 49er: Ryan Seaton, Matt McGovern; 49erFX: Andrea Brewster, Saskia Tidey; Laser: Finn Lynch; Paralympic Sonar: John Twomey, Ian Costello & Austin O’Carroll

Ireland has won two Olympics medals in sailing events, both silver: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson in the Flying Dutchman at Moscow 1980, and Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial at Rio 2016.

The current team, as of December 2020, consists of Laser sailors Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon, 49er pairs Ryan Seaton and Seafra Guilfoyle, and Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson, as well as Laser Radial sailors Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins.

Irish Sailing is the National Governing Body for sailing in Ireland.

Irish Sailing’s Performance division is responsible for selecting and nurturing Olympic contenders as part of its Performance Pathway.

The Performance Pathway is Irish Sailing’s Olympic talent pipeline. The Performance Pathway counts over 70 sailors from 11 years up in its programme.The Performance Pathway is made up of Junior, Youth, Academy, Development and Olympic squads. It provides young, talented and ambitious Irish sailors with opportunities to move up through the ranks from an early age. With up to 100 young athletes training with the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway, every aspect of their performance is planned and closely monitored while strong relationships are simultaneously built with the sailors and their families

Rory Fitzpatrick is the head coach of Irish Sailing Performance. He is a graduate of University College Dublin and was an Athens 2004 Olympian in the Laser class.

The Performance Director of Irish Sailing is James O’Callaghan. Since 2006 James has been responsible for the development and delivery of athlete-focused, coach-led, performance-measured programmes across the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway. A Business & Economics graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he is a Level 3 Qualified Coach and Level 2 Coach Tutor. He has coached at five Olympic Games and numerous European and World Championship events across multiple Olympic classes. He is also a member of the Irish Sailing Foundation board.

Annalise Murphy is by far and away the biggest Irish sailing star. Her fourth in London 2012 when she came so agonisingly close to a bronze medal followed by her superb silver medal performance four years later at Rio won the hearts of Ireland. Murphy is aiming to go one better in Tokyo 2021. 

Under head coach Rory Fitzpatrick, the coaching staff consists of Laser Radial Academy coach Sean Evans, Olympic Laser coach Vasilij Zbogar and 49er team coach Matt McGovern.

The Irish Government provides funding to Irish Sailing. These funds are exclusively for the benefit of the Performance Pathway. However, this falls short of the amount required to fund the Performance Pathway in order to allow Ireland compete at the highest level. As a result the Performance Pathway programme currently receives around €850,000 per annum from Sport Ireland and €150,000 from sponsorship. A further €2 million per annum is needed to have a major impact at the highest level. The Irish Sailing Foundation was established to bridge the financial gap through securing philanthropic donations, corporate giving and sponsorship.

The vision of the Irish Sailing Foundation is to generate the required financial resources for Ireland to scale-up and execute its world-class sailing programme. Irish Sailing works tirelessly to promote sailing in Ireland and abroad and has been successful in securing funding of 1 million euro from Sport Ireland. However, to compete on a par with other nations, a further €2 million is required annually to realise the ambitions of our talented sailors. For this reason, the Irish Sailing Foundation was formed to seek philanthropic donations. Led by a Board of Directors and Head of Development Kathryn Grace, the foundation lads a campaign to bridge the financial gap to provide the Performance Pathway with the funds necessary to increase coaching hours, upgrade equipment and provide world class sport science support to a greater number of high-potential Irish sailors.

The Senior and Academy teams of the Performance Pathway are supported with the provision of a coach, vehicle, coach boat and boats. Even with this level of subsidy there is still a large financial burden on individual families due to travel costs, entry fees and accommodation. There are often compromises made on the amount of days a coach can be hired for and on many occasions it is necessary to opt out of major competitions outside Europe due to cost. Money raised by the Irish Sailing Foundation will go towards increased quality coaching time, world-class equipment, and subsiding entry fees and travel-related costs. It also goes towards broadening the base of talented sailors that can consider campaigning by removing financial hurdles, and the Performance HQ in Dublin to increase efficiency and reduce logistical issues.

The ethos of the Performance Pathway is progression. At each stage international performance benchmarks are utilised to ensure the sailors are meeting expectations set. The size of a sailor will generally dictate which boat they sail. The classes selected on the pathway have been identified as the best feeder classes for progression. Currently the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway consists of the following groups: * Pathway (U15) Optimist and Topper * Youth Academy (U19) Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and 420 * Development Academy (U23) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX * Team IRL (direct-funded athletes) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX

The Irish Sailing performance director produces a detailed annual budget for the programme which is presented to Sport Ireland, Irish Sailing and the Foundation for detailed discussion and analysis of the programme, where each item of expenditure is reviewed and approved. Each year, the performance director drafts a Performance Plan and Budget designed to meet the objectives of Irish Performance Sailing based on an annual review of the Pathway Programmes from Junior to Olympic level. The plan is then presented to the Olympic Steering Group (OSG) where it is independently assessed and the budget is agreed. The OSG closely monitors the delivery of the plan ensuring it meets the agreed strategy, is within budget and in line with operational plans. The performance director communicates on an ongoing basis with the OSG throughout the year, reporting formally on a quarterly basis.

Due to the specialised nature of Performance Sport, Irish Sailing established an expert sub-committee which is referred to as the Olympic Steering Group (OSG). The OSG is chaired by Patrick Coveney and its objective is centred around winning Olympic medals so it oversees the delivery of the Irish Sailing’s Performance plan.

At Junior level (U15) sailors learn not only to be a sailor but also an athlete. They develop the discipline required to keep a training log while undertaking fitness programmes, attending coaching sessions and travelling to competitions. During the winter Regional Squads take place and then in spring the National Squads are selected for Summer Competitions. As sailors move into Youth level (U19) there is an exhaustive selection matrix used when considering a sailor for entry into the Performance Academy. Completion of club training programmes, attendance at the performance seminars, physical suitability and also progress at Junior and Youth competitions are assessed and reviewed. Once invited in to the Performance Academy, sailors are given a six-month trial before a final decision is made on their selection. Sailors in the Academy are very closely monitored and engage in a very well planned out sailing, training and competition programme. There are also defined international benchmarks which these sailors are required to meet by a certain age. Biannual reviews are conducted transparently with the sailors so they know exactly where they are performing well and they are made aware of where they may need to improve before the next review.

©Afloat 2020