#Rowing: Carlow’s Sadhbh Scully and Keara Egan won the junior 18 women’s double at Ghent regatta on Sunday – first of 18 competing crews. Castleconnell won the women’s junior 18 quadruple, another competitive event, with 10 crews completing the course. Both clubs did well over the two days, as did Three Castles, Methodist College, Belfast, Cork and Commercial, whose senior men’s eight took second on the Sunday.

Ghent Spring Regatta, Belgium (Selected Results; Irish interest):

Saturday

Men

Sculling, Quadruple: 3 Lagan Scullers. Junior: 5 Three Castles.

Double – Jun: 3 Three Castles (L Flynn, A Keogh)

Single – Jun: 5 Cork (P Beechinor) 7:41.32.

Women

Eight – Junior: 1 Commercial 7:25.17.

Four – Jun: 1 Castleconnell 7:32.0, 2 Commercial 7:37.27.

Pair - Senior: 2 Anna Liffey (C Dempsey, D Maguire). Under-23: Cork (J Duggan, C O’Sullivan) 8:11.24. Junior: 1 Cork (J Duggan, C O’Sullivan) 7:59.94, 2 Castleconnell (L O’Brien, N Kiely) 8:04.33.

Sculling

Double – Junior: 5 Carlow.

Lightweight Single: 2 Skibbereen (O Hayes). Under-23: 1 Carlow (K Egan) 8:49.25. Junior: 6 Carlow (S Scully).  

Sunday

Men

Eight – Senior: 2 Commercial. Four, coxed- Jun 18: 2 Methodist College, Belfast. Junior 16: 2 Castleconnell.  

Sculling, Quadruple: 2 Three Castles.

Double – Jun 18: 4 Cork (Beechinor, M Cronin) 7:08.14.

Single – Under-23 Lightweight: 2 Castleconnell (B Frohburg). Jun 18: 3 Three Castles (Flynn), 5 Three Castles (Tiarnan McKnight), 6 Three Castles (Keogh).   

Women

Four – Jun: 1 Commercial 7:41.73, 2 Castleconnell.

Pair – Sen: 3 Anna Liffey (Dempsey, Maguire). Under-23: Cork (Duggan, O’Sullivan) 8:47.59. Jun: Cork (Duggan, O’Sullivan) 8:12.36, 3 Commercial.

Sculling, Quadruple – Jun 18: 1 Castleconnell 7:21.72. Jun 16: 3 Castleconnell, 4 Carlow.  

Double – Jun 18: 1 Carlow (Scully, Egan) 7:58.26.

Single – Lightweight: 2 Skibbereen (Hayes). Lwt U-23: 1 Carlow (Egan) 8:56.71. Jun 18: 3 Carlow (Scully); 5 Cork (H Gahan).

#Rowing: Commercial beat UCD and Cork Boat Club to take the men's eights at Skibbereen Grand League Regatta at the National Rowing Centre today. Commercial seemed to be in a commanding lead coming up to the viewing area, but UCD chased them down and were under two seconds behind at the finish, with Cork not much further back.

The women's eights went, as expected, to UCC, while Holly Davis, who is just 14, won the Division Two single sculls by a huge margin.

#Rowing: Dublin City Council and Waterways Ireland have backed a new Corporate Regatta in Dublin, the first of a planned series.

The Rowing Ireland event will be held on May 10th in the Docklands. Crews from companies will compete, with the aim of encouraging team spirit. A learn-to-row session, lunch and a drinks and awards presentation are part of the deal.

The next stage of the series is set to be held in Cork in October.

A North Cork sailor recently reunited with the people who saved his life after he was electrocuted while moving his sailboat.

As Echo Live reports, it’s now a year since Noel Moloney was hit with a 10,000-volt electric shock when the mast from his boat connected with overhead power lines as he was moving it out of a field behind his home.

Noel’s family immediately sprang into action, with his son Shane pulling him away from the boat by his clothing, while his wife Debbie was assisted by neighbours in giving him CPR.

Noel was finally revived with a defibrillator by first responders — and he took the opportunity to thank them and everyone else who had a hand in bringing him back as part of the Big Push to Save Lives campaign.

The campaign will see emergency personnel in North Cork push an ambulance for a marathon distance around Mallow’s Cork Racecourse this April, in aid of first responder schemes in Ballyclough, Liscarrol and the Mallow area.

Echo Live has more on the story HERE.

#RNLI - The hugely successful Cork RNLI charity lunch and auction is set to return after an absence of five years.

The revamped fundraiser for Baltimore, Crosshaven and Kinsale’s RNLI lifeboat stations will take place in the 18th century mansion now home to the Maryborough Hotel in Douglas on Friday 5 October.

Cork has a long and proud association with the RNLI which goes back generations. The men and women who volunteer as lifeboat crew come from local communities and give hours of their time and dedication to the charity.

From the rescue of the Rambler crew by Baltimore RNLI during the Fastnet Race, to rescues of fishermen, divers, swimmers and boaters, the lifeboats and their crew provide an invaluable service.

Last year the Baltimore, Crosshaven and Kinsale RNLI lifeboat stations launched 86 times and brought 116 people to safety. Not every callout is life and death, but to the people involved in every mission, the lifeboats are their lifeline in times of trouble on the water.

The lunch and auction will get underway at 12.30pm with guests welcomed in the Orangery to the accompaniment of live music from Conor Ocean. This will be followed by a three-course lunch in the Sherrard Suite at 1.30pm.

Master of ceremonies Alan Shortt will provide the entertainment and lead the post-lunch auction and draw. The event will finish at 4pm.

RNLI fundraising committee members Avril O’Brien and David Doherty are looking forward to what promises to be an event to remember.

“We are delighted to reintroduce the RNLI lunch and auction,” Avril said. “It was always a popular occasion and as well as raising vital funds it became a highly anticipated social and networking event.

“Volunteer lifeboat crew give so much to the RNLI in terms of their time and dedication to the service and they need to be supported with the best in kit and equipment. Every person who buys a ticket to the fundraiser or bids on an auction item will have the knowledge that they are helping save lives at sea.”

Tickets priced at €65 are now on sale online via Eventbrite and will be sold in tables of 10. For more information about the event contact RNLI Munster community fundraising manager Mary Creedon at [email protected]

#Rowing: UCC brought their title tally to three as they added the club coxed four to their club eights and intermediate single sculls pots at the Irish Rowing Championships today. The four was tested by four other crews coming to the line but broke free and won. The morning session on the Sunday was held in intermittent light rain.

Margaret Cremen won the women’s lightweight single sculls. The Lee woman looked dominant through much of the race, but as she approached the line she was hunted down by Orla Hayes of Skibbereen, who closed to just a few seconds on the line. Hayes’s clubmate, Aodhan Burns, left no doubts as to his intentions in the men’s lightweight single. He left the rest behind and won well.

The men’s intermediate pair gave Shandon a chance to demonstrate the depth of their talent pool. Stephen O’Sullivan and Colm Hennessy teamed up to win. The Castleconnell junior double of James Desmond and Rory O’Neill came under pressure from Lee in their win.

One of the closest races in the Championships so far came in the women’s intermediate four. Leaders Trinity were pipped on the line by Cork, whose winning margin was under a third of a second (.312).

Killorglin’s Anna Tyther and Rhiannon O’Donoghue gave Fermoy a test in the women’s junior pair. Gill McGirr and Eliza O’Reilly are an excellent crew, however, and held off their Kerry rivals.

Irish Rowing Championships, Day Three (Selected Results)

Men

Four – Club, coxed: UCC A 6:38.03.

Pair – Inter: Shandon A 6:56.07.

Sculling, Double – Junior: Castleconnell (R O’Neill, J Desmond) 6:49.97.

Lightweight Single: Skibbereen (A Burns) 7:20.56.

Women

Four – Inter, coxed: Cork 7:22.36.

Pair – Junior: Fermoy (E O’Reilly, G McGirr) 7:48.69.

Sculling, Lightweight Single: 1 Lee (M Cremen) 8:06.97.

#Rowing: Records fell in race after race in the final Saturday session of the Irish Championships. The Skibbereen senior quadruple of Fintan McCarthy, Aodhan Burns, Kealan Mannix and Jake McCarthy smashed the Championship best of 5:59.10 as they won in 5:50.696.

The Shandon junior quadruple of Eoin Gaffney, Luke Hayes-Nally, Jack Dorney and Alex Byrne – all set to compete at the World Junior Championships – set a new time of 5:58.26. This beat the old Championship record of 6:07.97.

In both cases the crews were bettering times set by their own club.

Lisa Dilleen’s win in the women’s senior single scull was emphatic. The Cork Boat Club sculler set a Championship course record of 7:34.282, bettering Monika Dukarska’s time of 7:35.07.

Ronan Byrne of UCC took the intermediate single, under some pressure from Niall Beggan of Commercial. Byrne’s time of 6:55.898 bettered Kealan Mannix’s time of 7:03.51, set last year.

Enniskillen took the women’s junior eights, in 6:30.753, bettering their own time from last year of 6:36.24.

In the women’s senior pair, Aine McCarthy and Niamh Casey shattered the old Championship record of 7:23.78, setting a new time of 7:17.176.

Joan Poh of Neptune also won the club single sculls in a new record. The old figure was 8:09.22. Poh won in 8:06.13.

UCD continued their fine run in eights by adding the men’s novice title to the intermediate one.

Irish Championships, Day Two (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Inter: UCD 5:43.70. Novice: UCD 6:03.599.

Four – Junior, coxed: Enniskillen 6:22.66.

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: Skibbereen 5:50.696. Jun: 1 Shandon 5:58.26

Single – Inter: UCC (R Byrne) 6:55.898. Club: Carlow (F O’Driscoll) 7:25.3.

Women

Eight – Novice: Queen’s 7:04.49. Jun: Enniskillen 6:30.75.

Pair – Senior: Skibbereen 7:17.18.

Sculling, Double – Inter: Skibbereen 7:09.09. Single – Senior: Cork BC (L Dilleen) 7:34.28. Club: Neptune (J Poh) 8:06.1. Jun: Coleraine GS (M Curry) 7:53.46.

#Rowing: Skibbereen won three of the four Division One titles on offer in the first session of finals at Cork Regattat at the National Rowing Centre. However, the final of the men’s pair belonged to David O’Malley and Shane Mulvaney of UCD. They raced well in the hot weather and finished well clear of Skibbereen’s Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan.

Gary O’Donovan followed his brother Paul O’Donovan over the line in the men’s single sculls, while Denise Walsh got the better of Cork’s Lisa Dilleen in the women’s single.

The women’s pair was won by Aine McCarthy and Niamh Casey of Skibbereen.

Cork Regatta, National Rowing Centre (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Div Two: Neptune (club two) 6:22.95; 4 Trinity (nov) 6:34.32; 5 Col Iognaid (jun 16) 6:35.63; 6 Shandon (jun 18B) 6:43.79.

Pair – Div One: 1 UCD (S Mulvaney, D O’Malley; sen) 6:53.31, 2 Skibbereen (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll; sen) 6:59.98, 3 Enniskillen (jun 18A) 7:06.75; 6 Cork A (inter) 7:23.68. B Final: 6 Neptune A (club one) 7:24.50.

Single Sculls: 1 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan; sen) 6:59.73. B Final: UCC (H Sutton; lwt) 7:20.63. C Final: 1 Shandon (E Gaffney; jun 18A) 7:28.92; 2 Queen’s (N Hull; inter) 7:29.86

Women

Pair – Div One: 1 Skibbereen (A McCarthy, N Casey; sen) 7:49.73; 4 Col Iognaid (Jun 18A) 8:07.86; Shandon (club one) 8:08.78. C Final: 4 Shandon (inter) 8:36.00.

Sculling, Quadruple – Div Two: 1 Cork A (club two) 7:50.05; 3 Carlow (jun 16) 8:03.97. B Final: Carlow (jun 18B) 8:13.43; 4 Queen’s (nov) 8:25.47.

#Rowing: Two NUIG crews made it through time trials on the first day of Henley Women’s Regatta and will compete on Saturday. In the Championship Eight, NUIG will take on Yale University (scheduled for 2.40), while the Development Coxed Four have been drawn to take on Aberdeen C at 2.04. Tribesmen were allowed only to compete in the time trial of the Championship Eight.

 Three Irish crews made their exits: UCD’s eight, the four from Queen’s University and Cork’s Boat Club’s Championship Double. Commercial’s Championship Lightweight Pair have a bye into the semi-final and go into action first on Sunday (10.20).  

Henley Women’s Regatta (Irish interest)

Friday

Championship Eight: NUIG made it through Time Trial.

Aspirational Academic Eight: Bath Univ/Bristol Univ bt UCD, 2 ½ l.

Aspirational Academic Four: Exeter Univ bt Queen’s A, nro

Development Coxed Four: NUIG made it through Time Trial.

Championship Doubles: Leander bt Cork A (C Deasy, J Rigothi) 4 ½ l.

#Angling - Scientists at the Marine Institute’s Fish Health Unit are conducting further testing on sample carp from The Lough and Belvelly in Cork after the recent outbreak of suspected carp edema virus.

The tests include sequencing of the viral DNA to confirm its identity, and until confirmed the current findings shall be regarded as preliminary, according to a statement from the Marine Institute.

Molecular tests for Koi Herpesvirus Disease (KHV), a listed disease under European Fish Health legislation, were negative for all fish sampled. Additional molecular tests for cyprinid herpesvirus (other than KHV) were also in progress as of yesterday, Thursday 17 May.

The gills and skin of the sampled fish revealed an extremely high infestation of trichodinid parasites along with a fungal infection. White spots on the scales were also microscopically examined but there was no evidence of Ichthyophthirius multifilius infection.

Virological screening for Spring Viraemia of Carp is still ongoing with no virus observed to date. Bacteriological tests have revealed no growth of bacteria.

“While we’ve identified the presence of CEV — known to cause koi sleepy disease — in all the samples tested to date at the Marine Institute, we are still carrying out further tests for confirmation of the cause of the carp mortalities at The Lough and Belvelly lake,” said Dr Neil Ruane from the Fish Health Unit.

Dr Jeff Fisher, director of marine environment and food safety service at the Marine Institute, added: “Though the ultimate cause of the introduction of the disease agent into the loughs cannot be determined from current information, the loss of significant numbers of carp in these two lakes highlights the need for vigilance among anglers and other recreational users of Irish waters in the cleaning of their equipment and gear thoroughly after use, and also for the need for fishery owners and members of the public to be aware of the potential risk of transferring fish that may carry disease into the wild, and to never release ornamental fish into lakes or rivers.

“We’re continuing to work closely with Inland Fisheries Ireland and Cork City Council, and the Cork Carp Anglers Club to determine the cause of this fish kill, contain the incident, and identify appropriate biosecurity measures for the future.”

More than 750 carp were lost in the outbreak at The Lough in Cork city centre earlier this month, with the Cork Carp Anglers Club estimating the cost of replacing even a fraction of this number at €200,000 or more.