#ROWING: Portora’s men’s junior 18 quadruple scull was the fastest crew in the first head of the Lagan Head of the River on Saturday. The fastest single sculler on the day was a junior – Dylan Mitchell of Bann outpaced intermediate Sam McKeown of Portadown. Senior sculler Ruth Morris of Trinity was the fastest woman, while the Queen's novice eight was the fastest women's crew.

Lagan Head of the River, Belfast, Saturday (2,700m)

Head One:

Overall: 1 Portora men’s junior 18A quadruple sculls 10 min 10.3 sec, 2 Belfast BC mens’ senior double sculls 10:46.6, 3 Methodist A men’s junior 16 coxed quad 11:06.5, 4 Bann jun 18A coxed quad 11:06.5, 5 Commercial club one coxed four 11:07.6, 6 Portora jun 16 coxed four 11:20.0.

Men

Eight – Novice: Trinity 11:27.7.

Four – Club One, coxed: Commercial 11:07.6. Novice, coxed: RBAI 12:14.1. Jun 18A: Coleraine AI 11:24.1. Jun 16, coxed: Portora 11:10.8.

Pair – Sen: Belfast RC A 12:11.5. Jun 18: Methodist 12:05.9.

Sculling

Quadruple – Club One, coxed: RBAI 11:21.2. Jun 18A: Portora 10:10.3; Jun 18A, coxed: Bann 11:06.5. Jun 16, coxed: Methodist A 10:53.6

Double – Senior: Belfast BC 10:46.6. Club One: Methodist 11:18.7. Jun 18A: Bann 11:31.6. Jun 16: Methodist 12:05.2.

Single – Senior: Trinity (J Dover) 12:23.1. Inter: Portadown (S McKeown) 11:55.0. Club One: Trinity (J Norton) 12:03.1. Jun 18A: Bann (D Mitchell) 11:52.5.

Women

Eight – Novice: Queen’s A 12:24.6.

Four – Inter, coxed: Belfast RC 12:45.8. Club One, coxed: Trinity 12:35.6. Jun 18: Methodist 12:17.8. Jun 16, coxed: Portora 12:15.4.

Pair – Senior: Methodist 13:06.4. Jun 18A: Portora 12:49.2.

Sculling,

Quadruple – Novice, coxed: Belfast BC 13:57.2. Jun 18A: Bann 11:27.8. Jun 16, coxed: Portora 12:44.9.

Double – Club One: Queen’s 12:53.8. Jun 18A: Neptune 12:40.7.

Single – Senior: Trinity (R Morris) 12:27.4. Inter: Belfast BC (S Quinn) 13:11.4. Club One: Queen’s (R Maguire) 13:46.8. Jun 18A: Bann (E Barry) 13:39.9.

#ROWING: The men’s junior coxed four was the standout race of the morning session at the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. It took a photo finish to confirm Cork Boat Club’s win over Presentation, with Portora also disputing the lead right to the last 50 metres.

Cork Boat Club also took the women’s junior single sculls title through Oisin Forde, who won a fine battle with Jasmine English of Belfast Boat Club. Forde is from Torrevieja in Spain and with her sister Dervla, who was third, will represent Ireland at the Coupe de la Jeunesse next month.

The men’s senior pair final gave Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny of UCD a chance to show why they are in the frame to represent Ireland at the World Championships this year, while a former international Fiola Foley partnered a current one, Monika Dukarska to win the women’s intermediate doubles title.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results; Finals)

Men

Eight – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 5:46.25, 2 NUIG 5:50.28, 3 UCD 5:56.96.

Four, coxed – Junior: 1 Cork BC 6:35.99, 2 Presentation 6:36.22, 3 Portora 6:38.08.

Pair – Senior: 1 UCD (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:46.05, 2 NUIG 6:49.95, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.

Sculling

Single: Lee (D O’Sullivan) 7:31.80, 2 St Michael’s (P O’Connor) 7:36.24, 3 Belfast BC (A Murray) 7:39.44.

Women

Eight – Novice: 1 Queen’s 7:19.74, 2 Trinity 7:55.75.

Sculling, Double – Intermediate: 1 Killorglin (F Foley, M Dukarska) 7:17.17, 2 Commercial 7:20.83, 3 Skibbereen 7:39.99.

Single – Junior: 1 Cork BC (O Forde) 8:06.14, 2 Belfast BC (J English) 8:07.11, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.

#ROWING: Enniskillen club Portora bridged a gap back to 1980 when they won the junior men’s eights title at the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. St Joseph’s of Galway, seeking their third successive junior eights crown, fought it out with Portora down the course, but the boys in black and gold kept their heads impressively to pull away at the end.

The Gráinne Mhaol four of Fionnán Tolan, Alan Martin, Cormac Folan and James Wall beat Old Collegians to win the senior fours. The first half of the race was a nip-and-tuck battle, but the Galway crew moved away at 1250 metres to win well.

UCD and NUIG fought it out right to the finish in the women’s intermediate eights, with the Dublin college just shading it. UCD also won the inaugural men’s club eight – by almost eight seconds.

Justin Ryan gave UCC a title when he won the lightweight single sculls from Tim Harnedy of Skibbereen. The west Cork club added to their title roll by winning the junior women’s four.

Clonmel won the women’s novice coxed quadruple sculls from NUIG.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results, Finals)

Men

Eight – Club: 1 UCD 6:03.79, 2 Skibbereen 6:11.41, 3 Trinity B 6:13.04. Junior: 1 Portora 6:06.24, 2 St Joseph’s 6:10.21, 3 Bann 6:17.78.

Four – Senior: 1 Gráinne Mhaol 6:10.15, 2 Old Collegians 6:14.81.

Four, coxed – Intermediate: 1 NUIG 6:26.37, 2 Carlow 6:29.33, 3 Neptune 6:36.71.

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: 1 Queen’s 6:49.52, 2 Clonmel 7:01.83, 3 Kenmare 7:17.56.

Double – Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:30.22, 2 Three Castles 6:34.96, 3 UCC 6:45.32.

Single – Lightweight: 1 UCC (J Ryan) 7:26.61, 2 Skibbereen (T Harnedy) 7:31.73, 3 UCD (S Toland) 7:39.60.

Junior: 1 St Michael’s (D O’Malley) 7:17.53, 2 Shannon (C Carmody) 7:22.81, 3 Waterford (A Goff) 7:25.24.

Women

Eight – Intermediate: UCD 6:44.30, 2 NUIG 6:44.92, 3 Queen’s 6:55.60.

Four – Senior: 1 NUIG/Cork 6:57.92, 2 Trinity 7:09.18, 3 Skibbereen 7:16.93. Junior Four: 1 Skibbereen 7:18.45, 2 Muckross 7:29.03, 3 Shannon 7:31.07.

Four, coxed – Club: 1 NUIG A 7:25.50, 2 UCC 7:33.87, 3 Skibbereen 7:38.30.

Pair – Intermediate: 1 St Michael’s 7:49.72, 2 Trinity 7:53.27, 3 Shannon 7:53.29.

Sculling,

Quadruple – Novice, coxed: 1 Clonmel 7:47.42, 2 NUIG 8:03.81, 3 Athlunkard 8:48.81.

Double – Junior: 1 Cork 7:26.87, 2 Belfast 7:32.25, 3 Commercial 7:36.33.

#ROWING: Holly Nixon of Portora was in the number two seat of the composite crew which finished second in the final of the Princess Grace for women’s quadruple sculls at Henley Royal Regatta. The race was won Leander and Gloucester, a senior British women’s quadruple, with Gloucester and Northwich, an under-23 British composite crew, three and a quarter lengths behind them at the finish. Nixon wore her Portora colours, but under Henley rules only two club names are listed for composite crews.

Henley Royal Regatta

Princess Grace (Women’s Quadruple, Open): Leander and Gloucester bt Gloucester and Northwich 3¼l, 7 mins 31 secs.

#ROWING: Holly Nixon brought Portora a title at Henley Women’s Regatta today. The Enniskillen woman teamed up with Lucy Burgess, Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Josephine Wratten to take the Borne Cup for elite quadruple sculls with a six-length win in the final over a French composite. In the junior coxed four, Portora had given way to Henley Rowing Club (the eventual winners) and in the junior 16 coxed four American crew St Paul’s had beaten them at the quarter-final stage.

Women’s Henley (Finals; Irish interest):

Elite Quadruple Sculls: Gloucester H/Northwich/Tees/Portora bt Grenoble/Caen, D’Avignon 6l.

Trunk and Arms Single Sculls: Tribesmen (K O’Brien) bt Cantabrigian (C Connon) 3l.

#ROWING: Portora won the Stephen Doran prize for best club at Athlone Regatta on Saturday. The Enniskillen club won a remarkable 11 finals, including clean sweeps of the men’s and women’s junior 18, junior 16 and junior 15 eights – with Bann of Coleraine coming in second in the junior 18 races. Portora also won the junior men’s coxed four and junior women’s coxless four.

The men’s senior single sculls winner was Turlough Hughes of UCD, with Damien Kelly of Garda second. Conor Carmody of Shannon won the junior 18 single sculls.

Kenmare celebrated their recent affiliation to Rowing Ireland by recording their first win – in the men’s noviced coxed quadruple sculls.

# ROWING: Commercial topped the rankings with 11 wins and seven second places at the Neptune Head of the River at Islandbridge today. A Commercial/Neptune senior eight won the final race of the day, beating English visitors Broxbourne by half a length in three minutes 46 seconds, the fastest time of the regatta. Colm Dowling, the number seven man in the crew, had earlier won the senior single sculls title. The regatta was held in cold, sunny conditions and had a particularly big entry from Northern Ireland clubs Bann and Portora.  

Neptune Regatta, Islandbridge (Selected Results)

Men, Eight – Senior: 1 Commercial/Neptune (W Yeomans, I Kelly, L Hawkes, AJ Rawlinson, F Groome, J Graham, C Dowling, M Maher; cox: G Connolly) bt Broxbourne ½ l 3:46. Intermediate: Broxbourne bt Portora 1l, 3:54. Novice: Belfast RC bt Bann 1l, 4:12. Junior 16: Portora A bt Bann 2 ¼l, 4:07. Junior 18: Neptune bt Commercial 3l, 3:59. Masters: Old Collegians/Three Castles bt Waterford BC 3l, 5:21.

Fours – Intermediate One, coxed: Portora bt Bann 1l, 4:24. Novice, coxed: Belfast bt Trinity 1¾ l, 4:52. Junior 18, coxed: Portora bt Neptune 1½ l, 4:25. Masters, coxed: Old Collegians bt Carlow 2l.

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: UCD bt Trinity 2 ½ l, 4:32. Junior 18: Neptune bt Commercial easily 4:16. Junior 16, coxed: Commercial bt Portora 2 ½ l, 4:29. Junior 15, coxed: Portora bt Bann 1ft, 4:41.

Double – Junior 16: Waterford bt Offaly easily. Junior 15: Commercial bt Athlone A easily, 5:04.

Single – Senior: Commercial (Dowling) bt Three Castles (Corcoran) easily, 4:59. Intermediate: Garda (Kelly) bt Three Castles (Corcoran) 2 ¾ l, 4:49. Novice: UCD (Toland) bt Sligo (Patterson). Junior 18: Commercial (W Yeomans) bt Athlone (Munnelly) disq. Junior 16: Athlone (Munnelly) bt Waterford (Goff) 2 ¾ l, 4:58.

Women

Eights – Intermediate: UCD bt Commercial 2ft, 4:22. Novice: Bann bt Belfast RC easily, 4:34. Junior 16: Portora A bt Portora B easily, 4:50.

Fours – Novice, coxed: Trinity A bt Belfast B 2¾ l, 5:04.  

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: Commercial bt Neptune ¾ l, 5:21. Junior 18: Commercial bt Neptune easily, 4:54. Junior 16, coxed: Carlow bt Portora 5:04. Junior 15, coxed: Bann A bt Athlone 3½l, 5:11.

Double – Junior 16: Neptune B bt Neptune A. Junior 15: Bann bt Athlone 1l, 5:38

Single – Senior: Commercial (S Dolan) bt Commercial (E Lambe) easily, 5:32. Intermediate: Trinity (O’Brien) bt Commercial (Foley) easily, 5:27. Novice: Bann (Barry) bt Commercial (Foley) 3l, 5:25. Junior 18: Neptune (Kavanagh) bt Carlow (Byrne) ½ l, 5:36. Junior 16: Commercial (Lambe) bt New Ross (Nolan) 2ft.

The Rowing Ireland/Portora composite which won the elite quadruple sculls at Henley Women’s Regatta are the Afloat Rowers of the Month for June. The crew of Eimear Moran, Lisa Dilleen, Holly Nixon and Sanita Puspure beat a British combination crew in the final by four lengths. Dilleen and Puspure had earlier won the elite double sculls.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, President of Rowing Ireland Anthony Dooley and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2011. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2011 champions list grow.

Two men’s senior eights from Queen's University slotted into the first two slots at the Erne Rowing Head of the River at Enniskillen. The junior 18 quadruple of the host club, Portora, had a fine result, finishing joint eighth overall.

Erne Head of the River, Enniskillen

Overall: 1 Queen’s A men’s senior eight 19 minutes 53 seconds, 2 Queen’s B men’s senior eight 20:21, 3 University of Limerick/St Michael’s men’s senior eight 20:40, 4 Trinity men’s intermediate eight 20:59, 5 Bann men’s junior 18 eight 21:09, 6 Methodist College, Belfast men’s junior 18 eight 21:47.

Men, Eight – Senior: 1 Queen’s A 19:53, 2 Queen’s B 20:21, 3 University of Limerick/St Michael’s 20:40. Intermediate: Trinity 20:59. Novice: 1 Trinity 21:47, 2 Queen’s 22:38, 3 Queen’s B 24:51. Junior 18: 1 Bann 21:09, 2 Methody 21:47, 3 St Joseph’s 22:02. Junior 16: St Joseph’s 23:50. Masters: Belfast BC (E) 24:06.

Four/Quadruple Sculls – Senior: 1 Belfast RC (quadruple) 23:01, 2 LSC (quad) 24:45. Intermediate: 1 Trinity (quad) 22:17, 2 Queen’s (coxed four) 23:39, 3 University of Limerick (quad) 23:59. Junior 18: 1 Portora (quadruple) 22:02,  2 Commercial (quad) 22:51, 3 Portora (coxed four) 22:56. Junior 16: Bann (quad, coxed) 24:05.

Women, Eight – Senior: 1 Trinity 23:42, 2 NUIG 23:51. Intermediate: 1 Queen’s 23:45, 2 Trinity 26:02, 3 Methody 26:16. Novice: 1 Queen’s 25:07, 2 Trinity A 26:29, 3 Trinity B 26:40. Junior 18: 1 St Michael’s 24:41, 2 Portora A 27:24. Masters: Belfast BC (D) 25:39

Four/Quadruple – Senior: 1 Portora (quadruple) 24:32, 2 Trinity (coxed four) 27:28, 3 Garda 28:11.

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