#Rowing: This weekend is one of the busiest of the year for Irish rowers. At the National Rowing Centre in Cork the University Championships of Ireland will be held on Friday, April 13th, and Skibbereen Grand League Regatta is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, April 14^th and 15th. This event has its biggest-ever entry, but a very bad weather forecast for the Sunday has put competition on that day in doubt. Three Ireland women’s crews will also compete in an international regatta in Italy, the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja in Piediluco.

 World champions Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll and Olympic medallists Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan arrived home earlier this week after three months training and competition in New Zealand and Australia. The four Skibbereen men intend to compete in their home club’s regatta.

  On Friday, over 140 crews from 10 different universities and colleges around the country will compete in the University Championships. The event is set to start at 9:30 am with a straight final of the senior men’s fours and races will run throughout the day. The final contest, the men’s senior eights is scheduled for 4:20 pm.

  In Italy, two-time Olympian Sanita Puspure will compete in the heavyweight women’s single sculls in Piediluco. Aileen Crowley and Monika Dukarska will race in a double scull, while Emily Hegarty and Aifric Keogh are set to compete in a pair.

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan came fifth in the Open Double Sculls at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta. The Skibbereen crew were well in contention and finished just under three seconds short of a medal place in the eight-crew contest. The Sydney/Adelaide crew of David Watts and Alexander Hill won gold. Hill had taken gold on Thursday in the men’s Open Single Sculls. Don McLachlan, the former Ireland coach, was involved in coaching both the second- and third-placed crews.

Sydney International Rowing Regatta, Day Five (Friday; Irish interest)

Men

Open Double Sculls – A Final: 1 Adelaide/Sydney (A Hill, D Watts) 6:26.08, 2 UTS/Sydney 6:28.34, 3 Sydney University-NTC 6:30.45; 5 Skibbereen (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:33.28.

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan took fifth place in the eight-man final of the Open Single Sculls at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta. The Skibbereen man held seventh place through much of the early part of the race, but closed up to the leaders in the second 1,000 metres. However, he was sculling into a headwind and he did not completely close the gap to the medal positions.

Sydney International Rowing Regatta, Day Four (Thursday; Irish interest)

Men

Open Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Adelaide-NTC (A Hill) 7:05.49; 5 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 7:13.46.

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan has qualified for the A Final of the men’s Open single sculls at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta in Australia. The Skibbereen man finished second in his semi-final. The Skibbereen pair of Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll are set for a B Final in the Open category as they missed out on qualifying through their repechage.

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan won their heat of the Open double sculls at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta in Australia. The Skibbereen duo had the fastest time of the two heats. They will compete in the A Final on Friday. The brothers are featured in the video below, scroll to 26 seconds in the timeline.

 Mark O’ Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll took sixth place in their heat of the Open pair. They must compete in a repechage in an attempt to qualify for the A Final.

Sydney International Rowing Regatta, Day Two (Tuesday; Irish interest)

Men

Open Pair – Heat One (First two crews to A Final; rest to Repechages): 6 Skibbereen (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 7:03.94.

Open Double Sculls – Heat Two (First two crews to A Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Skibbereen (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:24.19.

Paul O’Donovan won his heat of the Open single sculls at the Sydney International Regatta on Monday.

The Skibbereen oarsman finished more than 16 seconds ahead of second-placed Jack Hargreaves.

Gary O’Donovan finished eighth in his heat and must take on a repechage if he is to qualify for a semi-final.

#Rowing: Australian rowing has given a warm welcome to the Irish quartet of Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan. Rowing Australia says the Irish, who returned from the 2017 World Championships with two gold medals, are “headlining the international line-up” at the Sydney International Regatta next week. The four have been enjoying the sights and climbs of Sydney.

#Rower of the Month: The Afloat Rower of the Month for February is Paul O’Donovan. The Skibbereen quartet of Mark O’Donovan, Shane O’Driscoll, Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan warmed slowly to their task in competing in the New Zealand Rowing Championships. The arrival of coach Dominic Casey helped. When finals came around, they won a bronze medal as a four. But topping this achievement was that of Paul O’Donovan in the Premier Single Sculls. The lightweight world champion mixed it with two of the top heavyweights in the world: O’Donovan finished third, just a few boat lengths behind Robbie Manson, who in 2017 set the world’s fastest time, and ahead of Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale.

 The achievement makes Paul O’Donovan the Afloat Rower of the Month.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2018 champions list grow.

https://www.facebook.com/WorldRowing/videos/10160199271930651/

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan took on some of the top heavyweight rowers in the world and took a bronze medal at the New Zealand Rowing Championships today.

 The Skibbereen man, who is the world lightweight single sculls champion, finished third in an open weight race won by Robbie Manson, who has set the world’s fastest time. Mahe Drysdale, the Olympic champion, was fifth.

 Earlier the Skibberen four of Gary O’Donovan, Paul O’Donovan, Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll finished third in the Premier four.

 Max Murphy of UCD won a gold as part of a Waikato senior four, while Kevin Neville of NUIG took silver in a senior quadruple.

New Zealand Rowing Championships, Lake Karapiro, Day Five (Irish interest)

Men

Four – Premier

A Final: 1 North Shore One 5:55.33, 2 West End One 5:57.50, 3 Skibbereen (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan, M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 5:58.82.

Senior

Final: 1 Waikato (3 M Murphy) 6:32.67.  

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior

A Final: 2 Nelson (3 K Neville) 6:31.86

Single – Premier

A Final: 1 Central RPC (R Manson) 7:19.48, 2 Southern RPC (J Storey) 7:22.89, 3 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 7:23.92.

Senior – B Final: 1 Wairau (K Neville) 7:23.73.  

#Rowing: An Irish crew have taken a medal in the Premier grade at the New Zealand Rowing Championships. The Skibberen four of Gary O’Donovan, Paul O’Donovan, Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll finished third in the Premier four, just a second ahead of fourth.

New Zealand Rowing Championships, Lake Karapiro, Day Five (Irish interest)

Men

Four – Premier

A Final:  3 Skibbereen (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan, M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 5:58.82.