O'Donovans Given a Real Test at Skibbereen Regatta

9th April 2017

#Rowing: Olympic medallists Paul and Gary O’Donovan were tested all the way to the line in the final of double sculls at Skibbereen Regatta at the National Rowing Centre. Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan were determined to beat them and led during the race. Gary and Paul did just enough and won by 1.6 seconds. Claire Lambe and Sanita Puspure had a much easier win in the women’s double.

The men’s and women’s four were taken in straight forward fashion by Commercial and UCD. The UCD boat was supposed to be a composite of UCD and Garda, but four UCD women filled the seats.

Skibbereen Grand League Regatta, National Rowing Centre (Selected Results; with Per Centage of Projected World Best Time)

Sunday

Men

Four - Div One – A Final: 1 Commercial (sen) 6:16.1 (90.40), 2 NUIG (sen) 6:25.1 (88.28), 3 Commercial B (sen) 6:26.9 (87.89). Div Two (coxed) – A Final: 1 Queen’s A (club two) 6:50.5; 5 Shandon (jun 16). B Final: 1 Commercial (jun 18B) 7:06.6.

Sculling

Double – Div One – A Final: 1 Skibbereen, UCD (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan; sen) 6:27.8 (92.83), 2 Skibbereen (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll; sen) 6:29.4 (92.64), 3 Skibbereen B (sen) 6:31.4 (91.98). B Final: 1 Shandon (inter) 6:42.3 (89.48); 3 Shandon A (jun 18A) 6:53.0 (88.03). C Final: 5 Carlow (club one) 7:01.4 (85.42).

Single - Div Two – A Final: 1 Shandon (J Dorney; jun 16) 7:34.6, 2 Cork (C O’Sullivan; jun 18B) 7:41.1, 3 UCC (J Larkin; club two) 7:48.2.

Women

Four – Div One – A Final: 1 UCD (sen) 7:07.1 (88.04), 2 Skibbereen A (sen) 7:13.4 (86.75), 3 Commercial A (sen) 7:17.4 (85.96); 5 Enniskillen (jun 18A) 7:18.9 (85.67).

Sculling

Double – Div One – A Final: 1 Old Collegians, Cambridge (S Puspure, C Lambe; sen) 7:09.7 (92.40), 2 Lee, Skibbereen (sen) 7:26.6 (88.90) 3 Neptune (inter) 7:42.2 (85.9), 4 Workmans B (jun 18A) 7:42.5 (85.84). B Final: 3 St Michael’s (club one) 7:56.1 (83.39).

Published in Rowing

About The Author

Liam Gorman

Email The Author

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.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.