Commercial Win Epic Battle to Take Senior Eights at Irish Championships

15th July 2018

#Rowing: Commercial won a stunningly-close race to take the men’s senior eights title at the Irish Rowing Championships today. NUIG/Queen’s had a slight lead ahead of a tightly-packed field early on, but Commercial moved at the 1,000 metres. They could not shake off UCD and the NUIG/Queen’s composite. UCD

finished really fast and almost – but not quite – caught Commercial, who were taking their third consecutive title.

The women’s senior eight went to Skibbereen. Their talented crew, stroked by Denise Walsh, had a clearwater lead over NUIG, who did not give up the fight but finished second. Skibbereen lifted their title haul to eight with the win.

Enniskillen started the evening session with two wins, in the women’s club eight, where Shandon pushed them, and the men’s junior pair, who were imperious in their victory.

The women’s junior coxed quadruple from Workmen’s was similarly impressive – the quality of junior rowing was a remarkable aspect of this regatta.

Another notable aspect was the proportion of wins which went to Cork clubs. Two of the last three titles did not leave the rebel county: UCC finished out their successful programme with a win in the men’s intermediate double through Ronan Byrne and Hugh Sutton, while Selma Bouanane took the last race of the event, the women’s intermediate single, for Fermoy.

Irish Rowing Championships, Day Three (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Senior: 1 Commercial (S Mac Eoin, C Cunningham, L Cameron, N Beggan, P Moreau, F Groome, M Corcoran, C Dowling; cox: M Crockett) 5:43.18, 2 UCD 5:43.76, 3 NUIG/Queen’s 5:46.82.

Four – Club, coxed: UCC A 6:38.03.

Pair – Inter: Shandon A 6:56.07. Junior: Enniskillen 6:56.199.

Sculling, Double – Inter: UCC 6:32.59. Junior: Castleconnell (R O’Neill, J Desmond) 6:49.97.

Lightweight Single: Skibbereen (A Burns) 7:20.56.

Women

Eight – Senior: 1 Skibbereen (L Heaphy, O Hayes, M Piggott, A McCarthy, N Long, N Casey, A Casey, D Walsh; cox: A O’Neill) 6:28.42, 2 NUIG A 6:33.32, 3 Trinity 6:48.35. Club: Enniskillen 6:48.33.

Four – Inter, coxed: Cork 7:22.36.

Pair – Junior: Fermoy (E O’Reilly, G McGirr) 7:48.69.

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior: Workmen’s 7:01.06.

Single – Inter: Fermoy (S Bouanane) 8:03.25.

Lightweight Single: 1 Lee (M Cremen) 8:06.97

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About The Author

Liam Gorman

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Liam Gorman is a writer and reporter. He is the co-author of Little Lady, One Man, Big Ocean, published in the United States and Canada as Crossing the Swell. He is the rowing correspondent of the Irish Times.

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