#Rowing: Rowing Ireland has launched Greenblades, an initiative to help fund the junior, under 23 and development teams by means of donations. Currently, development rowers often call heavily on support from their families, as well as Rowing Ireland and whatever other funding they can muster.

 It takes a lot to be an international rower and stars like Sanita Puspure, Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan have been supported in their development before they reached the top level in the world.

 Rowing Ireland says that Greenblades will ensure that athletes who are representing Ireland will be supported to reach their full potential so that they can compete at the highest level possible. 

 Rowing Ireland’s chief executive, Michelle Carpenter said: “It is key that we do everything to support our up-and-coming athletes as we prepare to successfully support their future careers by giving them the opportunity to row in Paris [the 2024  Olympic Games] and beyond. 

 She said that the athletes are the future of Irish rowing. Consideraton must be give to the next two years, but also the next four and eight years. 

 “Rowing should be accessible to everyone who wants to compete, be it at domestic or high-performance level,” Carpenter added.

 Rowing Ireland says that all donations will go directly to the athletes who will be competing at the World Under-23 Championships in Florida and the World Junior Championships in Tokyo.

 Donations can be made at greenblades.ie 

#Rowing: Georgia O’Brien has been chosen to represent Ireland at the Coupe de la Jeunesse. The Kenmare girl was added to the team, which will compete in Belgium on July 29th and 30th, after Cork Regatta. However, Rory Quinn and Oisin Clune, who had been in the mix for the Coupe de la Jeunesse team, were not chosen. They have been named in the team for the Home International Regatta in Scotland on July 22^nd.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen took a silver medal at the European Junior Rowing Championships today in Germany. The Skibbereen/Lee crew took second behind dominant crew Germany, and ahead of Italy, who took bronze. In a strong field, Denmark, the Czech Repbublic and Britain took the next three places. Ireland had the best last 500 metres, pushing up on Germany, but Italy came strong at the end to give the girls in green a small scare.

Casey, a daughter of Ireland coach Dominic, represented Ireland as a junior at the World Championships last year, while Cremen took a bronze medal at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2016.

Ireland’s three other crews placed in the top 10 to make it a very satisfactory campaign in Krefeld.

European Junior Championships, Krefeld, Germany (Selected Results; Irish interest, Day Two)

Men

Pair – Semi-Final B: 6 Ireland (A Johnston, R Corrigan) 7:17.95. B Final: 4 Johnston, Corrigan 7:20.57.

Sculling, Quadruple – Semi-Final B: 5 Ireland (J Quinlan, J Keating, M Dundon, B O’Flynn) 6:20.31. B Final: 4 Ireland 6:24.6

Women

Pair – Semi-Final A: 4 Ireland (G McGill, E O’Reilly) 7:51.31. B Final: 3 Ireland.

Sculling, Double – Semi-Final B: 2 Ireland (A Casey, M Cremen) 7:26.83. A Final: 1 Germany 7:21.64, 2 Ireland 7:25.84, 3 Italy 7:28.32; 4 Denmark 7:31.32, 5 Czech Republic 7:40.58, 6 Britain 7:44.31.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey finished second in their semi-final and will compete in the A Final of the double sculls at the European Junior Rowing Championships in Krefeld in Germany. The Skibbereen/Lee combination were just .31 of a second off winners Denmark in their race and had the second-fastest time overall as they head into the A Final.

Three other crews – the men’s pair and quadruple and the women’s pair – finished outside the A Final places.

European Junior Championships, Krefeld, Germany (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Semi-Final B: 6 Ireland (A Johnston, R Corrigan) 7:17.95.

Sculling, Quadruple – Semi-Final B: 5 Ireland (J Quinlan, J Keating, M Dundon, B O’Flynn) 6:20.31.

Women

Pair – Semi-Final A: 4 Ireland (G McGill, E O’Reilly) 7:51.31.

Sculling, Double – Semi-Final B: 2 Ireland (A Casey, M Cremen) 7:26.83.

#Rowing: Ireland's Ronan Byrne and Daire Lynch finished fifth in their semi-final of the junior double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Rotterdam today. Drawn in the very tough lane one and battling against the worst of the wind, the Irish passed Lithuania and pressed the Netherlands hard, though the host nation held on to fourth. Germany, Italy and Hungary took the A Final places. Ireland will compete in a B Final.

 The junior women's double of Aoife Casey and Emily Hegarty were also in the tough lane one. They finished sixth in a race won by Greece. Ireland will fight for a good placing in the B Final on Sunday.

World Rowing Championships, Rotterdam (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Lightweight Pair - A Final: 1 France 7:14.18, 2 Denmark 7:15.30, 3 Britain (J Cassells, S Scrimgeour) 7:16.49; 4 Ireland (M O'Donovan, S O'Driscoll) 7:24.6, 5 China 7:32.48, 6 United States 7:36.91.

Lightweight Single Sculls - A Final: 1 Ireland (P O'Donovan) 7:32.84, 2 Hungary (P Galambos) 7:36.95, 3 Slovakia (L Babac) 7:38.89; 4 Slovenia (R Hrvat) 7:41.07, 5 Germany (K Steinhuebel) 7:48.66, 6 Serbia (M Stanojevic) 7:49.03.

Junior Double Sculls - Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Germany 7:17.47, 2 Italy 7:18.14, 3 Hungary 7:29.93; 5 Ireland (R Byrne, D Lynch) 7:36.48.

Women

Four - A Final: 1 Britain (3 H Nixon) 7:16.28.

Junior Double Sculls - Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Greece 7:57.20, 2 Germany 7:58.97, 3 Australia 7:59.61; 6 Ireland (A Casey, E Hegarty) 8:12.31.

#Rowing: The junior trials, set for Saturday at Lough Rynn and the National Rowing Centre, have been called off. The wind would have made Lough Rynn unsuitable, and it was not thought fair to have a trial at just one of the two venues. There was also the consideration that many rowers have not had sufficient time on the water because of flooding. The testing process will continue at the Ireland trial on March 19^th and 20^th at the NRC.  

 The St Michael’s Head of the River, scheduled for February 20^th, has been rescheduled for March 12^th.

#Rowing: The two-day Carlow Regatta, with 189 races (88 and 101 on the respective days), went off to schedule. There were 16 clubs involved, and a particularly strong representation from the host town, with 67 of the 280 crews coming from Carlow Rowing Club. There was a headwind, but the weather, which is such a crucial part of Irish regattas, did not disrupt the event. . 

#ROWING: Ireland’s junior teams for the Coupe de la Jeunesse and the Home International Regatta have been named. Based on performances at the European Junior Rowing Championships, Rowing Ireland decided not to send a team to the World Junior Championships.

Crews listed have been selected on the basis of performances at trials throughout the year, and on the provision that they show continued improvement in performance levels.

A plan will be drawn up by so that all selected junior crews will get in training days mid-week where possible when schools are out or over weekends prior to the Irish Championships. Crews will go into training camp after the Irish Championships up to the departure dates for competition.

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Libourne, France. 1st – 3rd Aug 2014

Women

Junior Double Sculls: Eimear Lambe (Commercial RC), Jasmine English (Belfast BC)

Junior Quadruple: Emily Hegarty (Skibbereen RC), Aoife O’Keeffe (Cork BC), Claire Beechinor (Cork BC), Kirsty Turner (Belfast BC)

Junior Single: Erin Barry (Bann RC)

Junior Pair: Oisin Forde, Dervla Forde (Cork BC)

Men

Junior Double: David O’Malley (St Michael’s RC), Connor Carmody (Shannon RC)

Quadruple: Colm Hennessy (Shandon BC), Eoghan Whittle (Castleconnell BC), Patrick Munnelly (Athlone BC), Andrew Goff (Waterford BC)

Pair: Brian Keohane (Presentation RC), David Keohane (Presentation RC)

Home International, NRC, Cork (Sat 26th July)

Note: Line ups to be decided by coach of each crew, this will be finalised in the next week.

Junior Men Sweep Team: Adam Browne (Shannon RC), Patrick O’Connor (St Michaels RC)

Ciaran Higgins/Thomas Higgins   (Cork BC)

Alex Coyne/Darragh McCarthy (Col Iognaid RC)

Kevin Fallon/Jack Bennett (St Josephs RC)

Luke Rigney/Donal Coen (Col Iognaid RC)

Junior Men Sculling Team;                                    

Shane Mulvaney (Neptune RC)

Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen RC)

Daniel Begley (Shandon BC)

David Synnott (Lee RC)

Sean Dennehy (Cork BC)

Stephen O’Sullivan (Shandon BC)

Dylan McCarthy (Skibbereen RC)

Junior Women Sweep team;

Niamh Casey, Ellen McCarthy (Skibbereen RC)

Kara O’Connor, Holly Hickey (Muckross RC)                              

Ciara Davis, Ciara O’Dwyer (Shannon RC)

Katie Nagle/ Fiona O’Keeffe  (Shandon BC)

Naomi Wray/ Francesca Morelli  (Bann RC)

Junior Women sculling team;

Aisling Rodger (Commercial)

Sarah Murphy (St Michaels RC)

Megan McLaughlin (Cork BC)

Alison Mooney (Offaly RC)

Carrie Nolan (New Ross BC)

Eimear Cummins (Lee RC)

Brega Mullan (Bann RC)

#ROWING: A team of seven athletes have been selected to represent Ireland at the European Junior Rowing Championships in Hazelwinkel, Belgium on May 24^th and 25^th. This is the first time Rowing Ireland has sent a team to compete at this event.

 The team is:

Junior Women’s Single Scull: Erin Barry, Bann RC.

Junior Women’s Double Scull: Eimear Lambe, Commercial RC and Jasmine English, Belfast BC

Junior Men’s Double Scull: David O’Malley, St Michaels RC and Conor Carmody, Shannon RC

Junior Men’s Pair: David Keohane and Brian Keohane, Presentation College RC

All seven athletes represented Ireland in 2013. Erin Barry, Jasmine English, David O’Malley and Conor Carmody competed at the Junior World Rowing Championships, while Eimear Lambe, David Keohane and Brian Keohane were chosen for the Coupe de la Jeunesse, a European tournament. This year’s World Junior Rowing Championships and Coupe de la Jeunesse both take place in August.

#CANOEING: Ireland junior canoeist Liam Jegou took a silver medal today at the Canoe Slalom Under-23 and Junior World Championships in Sydney, Australia. On a difficult course in Penrith, only Florian Breuer of Germany was faster in the C1 (canoe single) than the Irishman. Both men took one touch, Jegou’s on the fourth gate. Roman Malyshev of Russia was third and Britain’s Samuel Ibbotson fourth.

“It’s great, I am really happy,” Jegou said. He had come close to a podium finish in the last two years, finishing sixth last year and fourth in 2012.

Canoe Slalom World Under-23 and Junior Championships, Penrith, Sydney (Irish interest):

C1 Men – Semi-Final (10 qualify): 1 Britain (S Ibbotson) 109.47; 6 Ireland (L Jegou) 112.11 (2.64 behind). Final: 1 Germany (F Breuer) 104.31, 2 Ireland (L Jegou) 107.61, 3 Russia (R Malyshev) 108.54.