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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The Half Ton Class was created by the Offshore Racing Council for boats within the racing band not exceeding 22'-0". The ORC decided that the rule should "....permit the development of seaworthy offshore racing yachts...The Council will endeavour to protect the majority of the existing IOR fleet from rapid obsolescence caused by ....developments which produce increased performance without corresponding changes in ratings..."

When first introduced the IOR rule was perfectly adequate for rating boats in existence at that time. However yacht designers naturally examined the rule to seize upon any advantage they could find, the most noticeable of which has been a reduction in displacement and a return to fractional rigs.

After 1993, when the IOR Mk.III rule reached it termination due to lack of people building new boats, the rule was replaced by the CHS (Channel) Handicap system which in turn developed into the IRC system now used.

The IRC handicap system operates by a secret formula which tries to develop boats which are 'Cruising type' of relatively heavy boats with good internal accommodation. It tends to penalise boats with excessive stability or excessive sail area.

Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium.