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#Rowing: Ireland’s lightweight quadruple scull of Miles Taylor, Niall Beggan, Ryan Ballantine and Andrew Goff won their repechage and moved into the A Final at the World Under-23 Championships in Poznan, Poland.

 The Ireland crew would have gone through with first or second and they disputed the lead with Spain until half way. But Ireland hit that line first and went on to lead. Germany tried hard to push into the top two, but Spain rebuffed them, while Ireland had a one-length lead from Spain at the finish. Britain finished fourth.

 Hugh Sutton also came through in his repechage. The 19-year-old raced well to take second and qualify for the quarter-finals of the lightweight single sculls. Four from six qualified. Early on, Egypt’s Omar Amer, who had made a false start, fell to the back of the race and stayed there throughout, while Turkey’s Enes Yenipazarli shot into a lead he would never lose. Sutton stayed in second for most of the race, swapping it with American Zachary Heese, but then beating him in a sprint in the closing stages.

 The Ireland men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls had earlier made it directly through their heats.

World Under-23 Championships, Poznan, Poland (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Lightweight Quadruple Sculls – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (M Taylor, N Beggan, R Ballantine, A Goff) 6:01.47, 2 Spain 6:04.02.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (F McCarthy, J McCarthy) 6:35.94.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Repechage (Top Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to E Final): 2 Ireland (H Sutton) 7:21.51

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 2 Ireland (L Heaphy, M Cremen) 7:37.99.


 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Monika Dukarksa of Killorglin won the women’s Championships Single at Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake today. Ronan Byrne finished third in the men’s Championship singles final and teamed up with Dan Begley to take second in the men’s Championship Doubles. Myles Taylor of Queen’s took second in the lightweight single.

Cork finished second in the women’s Championship Pairs and the Ireland men’s lightweight quadruple were third in the Championship Quadruple.

In the men's Championship Coxed Four, NUIG placed second and Trinity third.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Queen’s University, Belfast, had some excellent results at the British University (BUCS) Regatta at Nottingham. Their men’s crews won 11 medals including three golds. The Beginners’ eight and coxed four won, as did Miles Taylor in the men’s intermediate lightweight single sculls. Philip Doyle took silver in the men’s Championship single sculls and Sam McKeown matched this in the men’s intermediate single sculls. Taylor and Chris Beck teamed up to take silver in the Championship lightweight double, and the Championship and Beginners’ quadruples also took silver.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland took two medals on the second day of the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Poznan, Poland today. The Ireland pair of Tara Hanlon and Amy Mason rowed to a fine second place behind Britain, putting pressure on the long-time leaders coming up to the line. The junior quadruple of Lucy Taylor, Hannah Scott, Fiona Chestnutt and Margaret Cremen took bronze in their final. They were fourth until halfway, but put in a fine second 1,000 metres, taking over a clear third as Italy faded back. Switzerland took gold ahead of Britain.

 The junior men’s four finished second in their B Final, and the junior men’s quad were 4th in theirs, one place ahead of the Netherlands.  

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Poznan, Poland (Irish interest; selected results)

Day Two

Men

Junior Four  - Heat One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 4 Ireland 6:51.55. B Final: 2 Ireland 6:52.17.

Junior Quadruple: Heat Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 5 Ireland 6:38.47. B Final: 4 Ireland 6:35.36.

Women

Junior Pair (First Three to A Final): 1 Britain 8:03.61, 2 Ireland 8:07.85. A Final: 1 Britain 7:41.82, 2 Ireland 7:43.34, 3 Belgium 7:48.62.

Junior Quadruple (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland 7:07.21. A Final: 1 Swit 6:54.88, 2 Britain 6:56.01, 3 Ireland 6:58.11.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland crews placed fifth in two A Finals at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Poznan, Poland. The women’s quadruple were involved in a battle for the second to fifth places with Switzerland, Hungary and Britain, but missed out in the drive for the line. The pair of Tara Hanlon and Amy Mason were well in the hunt early on. But in the cross-tail conditions they had steering problems in the final third of the race and faded back from second at half way to be out of the medal placings at the finish.

 The junior men’s four and quadruple were second and fourth in their B Finals.

 All the crews get another chance in heats and finals tomorrow, Sunday.

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Poznan, Poland – (Irish interest; selected results)

Day One

Men

Four – Heat One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 4 Ireland (A Johnston, S Armstrong, R Corrigan, P Kennelly): 6:34.59. B Final: 2 Ireland 6:33.78.

Quadruple – Heat Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 5 Ireland (N Beggan, B O’Flynn, B Connolly, S O’Sullivan) 6:35.70. B Final: 4 Ireland 6:24.39.

Women

Pair – Heat Two – 2 Ireland (A Mason, T Hanlon). A Final: 5 Ireland 7:43.76.

Quadruple – Heat Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Britain 6:49.66, 2 Ireland (L Taylor, F Chestnutt, H Scott, M Cremen) 6:54.22. A Final: 5 Ireland 6:47.32.

Published in Rowing

Sharks in Irish waters

Irish waters are home to 71 species of shark, skates and rays, 58 of which have been studied in detail and listed on the Ireland Red List of Cartilaginous fish. Irish sharks range from small Sleeper sharks, Dogfish and Catsharks, to larger species like Frilled, Mackerel and Cow sharks, all the way to the second largest shark in the world, the Basking shark. 

Irish waters provide a refuge for an array of shark species. Tralee Bay, Co. Kerry provides a habitat for several rare and endangered sharks and their relatives, including the migratory tope shark, angel shark and undulate ray. This area is also the last European refuge for the extremely rare white skate. Through a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) project, Marine Institute scientists have been working with fishermen to assess the distribution, diversity, and monthly relative abundance of skates and rays in Tralee, Brandon and Dingle Bays.

“These areas off the southwest coast of Ireland are important internationally as they hold some of the last remaining refuges for angel shark and white skate,” said Dr Maurice Clarke of the Marine Institute. “This EMFF project has provided data confirming the critically endangered status of some species and provides up-to-date information for the development of fishery measures to eliminate by-catch.” 

Irish waters are also home to the Black Mouthed Catshark, Galeus melastomus, one of Ireland’s smallest shark species which can be found in the deep sea along the continental shelf. In 2018, Irish scientists discovered a very rare shark-nursery 200 nautical miles off the west coast by the Marine Institute’s ROV Holland 1 on a shelf sloping to 750 metres deep. 

There are two ways that sharks are born, either as live young or from egg casings. In the ‘case’ of Black Mouthed Catsharks, the nursery discovered in 2018, was notable by the abundance of egg casings or ‘mermaid’s purses’. Many sharks, rays and skate lay eggs, the cases of which often wash ashore. If you find an egg casing along the seashore, take a photo for Purse Search Ireland, a citizen science project focusing on monitoring the shark, ray and skate species around Ireland.

Another species also found by Irish scientists using the ROV Holland 1 in 2018 was a very rare type of dogfish, the Sail Fin Rough Shark, Oxynotus paradoxus. These sharks are named after their long fins which resemble the trailing sails of a boat, and live in the deep sea in waters up to 750m deep. Like all sharks, skates and rays, they have no bones. Their skeleton is composed of cartilage, much like what our noses and ears are made from! This material is much more flexible and lighter than bone which is perfect for these animals living without the weight of gravity.

Throughout history sharks have been portrayed as the monsters of the sea, a concept that science is continuously debunking. Basking sharks were named in 1765 as Cetorhinus maximus, roughly translated to the ‘big-nosed sea monster’. Basking sharks are filter feeders, often swimming with their mouths agape, they filter plankton from the water.

They are very slow moving and like to bask in the sun in shallow water and are often seen in Irish waters around Spring and early Summer. To help understand the migration of these animals to be better able to understand and conserve these species, the Irish Basking Shark Group have tagged and mapped their travels.

Remarkably, many sharks like the Angel Shark, Squatina squatina have the ability to sense electricity. They do this via small pores in their skin called the ‘Ampullae of Lorenzini’ which are able to detect the tiny electrical impulses of a fish breathing, moving or even its heartbeat from distances of over a kilometre! Angel sharks, often referred to as Monkfish have a distinctively angelic shape, with flattened, large fins appearing like the wings of an angel. They live on the seafloor in the coastal waters of Ireland and much like a cat are nocturnal, primarily active at night.

The intricate complexity of shark adaptations is particularly noticeable in the texture of their skin. Composed of miniscule, perfectly shaped overlapping scales, the skin of shark provides them with protection. Often shark scales have been compared to teeth due to their hard enamel structure. They are strong, but also due to their intricate shape, these scales reduce drag and allow water to glide past them so that the shark can swim more effortlessly and silently. This natural flawless design has been used as inspiration for new neoprene fabric designs to help swimmers glide through the water. Although all sharks have this feature, the Leafscale Gulper Shark, Centrophorus squamosus, found in Ireland are specifically named due to the ornate leaf-shape of their scales.