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#Rowing: Irish crews took a full set of medals – gold, silver and bronze – in Championship finals on another excellent day at the British National Schools’ Regatta on Dorney Lake on Sunday. The Fermoy pair of Ellie O’Reilly and Gill McGirr powered away from their opponents in the second half of the Championship Pair A Final, while Enniskillen’s Nathan Timoney and Odhran Donaghy took a comfortable second in the men’s race. Aaron Christie of Bann held out well to hold on to third in the Championship Singles. Enniskillen also took a gold medal in the junior 16 girls’ pair, through Zoe McCutcheon and Maeve Donnelly.

British National Schools’ Regatta, Dorney Lake (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Saturday

Boys

Championship/Non-Championship Eight – B Final: 3 Enniskillen RBC.

Girls

Championship/Non-Championship Eight – B Final: 2 Galway 7:35.72; 3 St Michael’s 7:45.46.

Junior 16 Four, coxed – A Final: 2 Enniskillen RBC 8:22.68.

Sculling, Double – Championship A Final: 2 Workmen’s (A O’Donoghue, C Browne) 8:06.37.

Single – Championship A Final: 7 Workmen’s (C Moynihan) 9:10.40. B Final: 1 Coleraine Grammar School (M Curry) 8:43.03.

Sunday

Boys

Championship Pair: 2 Enniskillen (O Donaghy, N Timoney) 7:19.06.  

Sculling, Championship Singles: 3 Bann (A Christie) 7:39.46.

Girls

Championship Pair: 1 Fermoy (E O’Reilly, G McGirr) 8:11.17.

Junior 16 Pair: 1 Enniskillen (M Donnelly, Z McCutcheon) 8:08.80

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland took its fifth gold medal of the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Hazewinkel in Belgium today. Gill McGirr and Eliza O’Reilly were emphatic winners of the junior women’s pair. They led in silver-medal winners Italy by over six seconds. Britain took the bronze.

 The two Fermoy women had also won gold on Saturday.

 Earlier, the junior men’s quadruple had taken their second gold. Georgia O’Brien and the men’s four finished fourth and fifth respectively in their A Finals.  

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Hazewinkel, Belgium – Day Two (Irish interest)

Junior Men

Four – Heat One: 2 Ireland (A Johnston, R Corrigan, B Connolly, N Timoney) 6:29.73. A Final: 5 Ireland 6:22.36.

Quadruple – Heat One: 1 Ireland (B O’Flynn, M Dundon, J Keating, J Quinlan) 6:20.92. A Final: 1 Ireland 6:10.07.

Junior Women

Pair – A Final: 1 Ireland (G McGirr, E O’Reilly) 7:37.86

Single – Heat: 1 Ireland (G O’Brien) 6:21.42. A Final: 4 Ireland 8:16.84

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Gill McGirr and Eliza O’Reilly won gold at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Hazewinkel in Belgium today. The Fermoy girls brought Ireland’s gold medal tally to a remarkable three. They were big winners, beating Britain’s Lucy Pullinger and Frances Curtis by eight and a half seconds. Italy took the bronze.

 Earlier single sculler Georgia O’Brien and the men’s quadruple had taken gold.

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Hazewinkel, Day One (Irish interest)

Junior Men

Four – Heat One (First Three to A Final): 3 Ireland (A Johnston, R Corrigan, B Connolly, N Timoney) 6:23.78. A Final: 5 Ireland 6:27.89.

Quadruple – Heat One: 1 Ireland (B O’Flynn, M Dundon, J Keating, J Quinlan) 6:12.81. A Final: 1 Ireland 6:12.16, 2 Italy 6:14.58, 3 Britain 6:15.07.

Junior Women

Pair: Final: 1 Ireland (G McGirr, E O’Reilly) 7:48.50, 2 Britain 7:57.02, 3 Italy 8:00.26.

Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Three to A Final): 1 Ireland (G O’Brien) 8:10.17. A Final: 1 Ireland 8:09.83, 2 France 8:10.16, 3 Britain 8:14.57.  

Published in Rowing

Irish Sailing Classes and Association – There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. 

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U