ROWING: The Ireland lightweight men’s double took a bronze medal and Sanita Puspure finished fifth in the women’s single on the first day of A Finals at the Memorial Paolo D’Aloja international regatta in Piediluco in Italy today.

This was a first medal in a senior event for the lightweight double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny, who hope to represent Ireland at next month’s Olympic Qualifier in Lucerne. They did it by maintaining a high rate through a race which was won by Nuno Mendes and Pedro Fraga of Portugal – a crew which qualified for London 2012 by finishing 10th at last year’s World Championships.

Puspure, who is also targeting the Qualifiers, finished third in a group of three which disputed third in the closing stages of her race, with a second covering all three crews. The race was won by Serbia’s Iva Obradovic.

Justin Ryan finished fourth in the A Final of the lightweight single scull. The race was won by Lorenzo Bertini of Italy.

Memorial Paolo D’Aloja International Regatta, Piediluco, Italy

Day Two - Saturday (Selected Results)

Men

Lightweight Double Scull – A Final: 1 Portugal (N Mendes, P Fraga) 6:30.21, 2 Spain 6:32.14, 3 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:34.26.

Lightweight Single Scull – A Final: 1 Italy Two (L Bertini) 7:11.50, 2 Italy (L La Padula) 7:14.10, 3 Egypt (AM Massoud) 7:18.50; 4 Ireland (J Ryan) 7:24.39.

Women

Single Scull – A Final: 1 Serbia (I Obradovic) 7:36.94, 2 Lithuania (D Vistartaite) 7:42.03, 3 Sweden (F Svensson) 7:45.34); 4 Serbia (I Filipovic) 7:46.18, 5 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:46.20.

ROWING: Ireland’s two Olympic-class crews, the lightweight men’s double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny and single sculler Sanita Puspure, qualified for today’s first day of finals at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja in Piediluco. Both finished second in their heats. Justin Ryan’s third place in the heat of the lightweight single scull also saw him qualify.

 The lightweight women's double scull of Claire Lambe and Siobhan McCrohan, who were entered in this event, were withdrawn and will also not go forward to the Olympic Qualifier next month. The head of the High Performance programme, Martin McElroy, said the crew had had consistent difficulities with making the required weight.

Memorial Paolo D’Aloja International Regatta, Piediluco, Italy

Heats (first three to today’s finals)

Men

Double Sculls – Heat One 1 Italy Four 6:35.41; 6 Queen’s University (Ireland) 6:56.68.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Two: 1 Portugal 6:53.66, 2 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:55.08.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat One: 1 Italy (L Bertini) 7:46.06; 3 Ireland (J Ryan) 7:52.75; 4 Queen’s (D Evans) 7:57.75. Heat Two: 4 Ireland (M Maher) 7:51.85.

Women

Single Sculls – Heat One: 1 Serbia (I Obradovic) 8:19.01 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:24.84.

ROWING: The prizegiving at the National Assessment Regatta at the NRC in Cork contained an announcement by Martin McElroy of the High Performance Programme that  two Irish teenagers have landed full scholarships at American universities. Holly Nixon, a silver medallist at last year’s World Junior Championships, will be going to the University of Virginia, while Katie Cromie has been granted a scholarship to the University of Michigan. Nixon has now moved up from junior.

Rowing Ireland Prize-Giving

Men

Under-23 Pair: Sean O’Connor, Eddie Mullarkey. Junior: Joel Cassells, Chris Black

Single Scull – Senior: Justin Ryan. Junior: Paul O’Donovan

Women

Pair – Junior: Hanna McCarthy, Hanna O’Sullivan

Single Scull – Senior: Sanita Puspure. Junior: Bridget Jacques

Irish Assessments, National Rowing Centre, Cork – Day Two

Selected Results (includes projected per centage of gold-medal winning time in athletes’ class)

Men

Pair – A Final: 1 S O’Connor/E Mullarkey (under-23) 7:25.6 (85.6), 2 J Cassells/C Black (junior) 7:27.1 (87.4), 3 H Millar/L Seaman (junior) 7:34.0 (86.0). B Final: K Keohane/N Crowley (jun) 7:43.0 (84.4). C Final: D McCarthy/M Kelly (jun) 8:00.8 (81.2).

Single Sculls – A Final: 1 J Ryan (under-23 lightweight) 7:57.4 (85.9), 2 M Maher (lightweight) 7:58.7 (83.6), 3 A English (lightweight) 7:59.2 (83.5), 4 P O’Donovan (junior) 8:04.0 (85.1), 5 Jonathan Mitchell (under-23 lightweight) 8:15.0 (82.8), 6 D Quinlan (jun) 8:32.4 (80.3). B Final: 1 S O’Driscoll (under-23 lightweight) 7:56.2 (86.1), 2 A Griffin (jun) 7:56.4 (86.4), 3 M Ryan (jun) 8:03.1 (85.2). C Final: A Burns (jun) 7:53.1 (87.0). D Final: F Manning (sen) 7:58.7 (83.1). E Final: G McKillen (jun) 8:16.3 (82.9).

Women

Pair – A Final (all juniors): 1 H McCarthy/H O’Sullivan 8:28.5 (84.7), 2 B Edgar/E Hutchinson 8:29.0 (84.6), 3 A Cooper/K O’Connor 8:31.8 (84.1).

Single Scull – A Final: 1 S Puspure (heavyweight) 8:25.6 (84.1), 2 B Jacques (jun) 8:37.7 (86.1), 3 M Dukarska (under-23 heavyweight) 8:38.1 (84.0), 4 S Dolan (under-23 lightweight) 8:50.3 (85.1), 5 H Shinnick (jun) 8:53.6 (83.6), 6 K Cromie (jun) 8:59.1 (82.7). B Final: K O’Brien (jun) 8:42.7 (85.3). C Final: F Murtagh (jun) 8:38.1 (86.1). D Final: M McLaughlin 8:56.5 (83.1).

ROWING: Under-23 athlete Justin Ryan won the men’s A Final of the single sculls at the Irish Assessment Regatta at the National Rowing Centre in Cork. Fellow lightweights Michael Maher and Justin Ryan were second and third.

Sanita Puspure was dominant in the women’s single, where surprise packet Bridget Jacques, who is just 17, took second.

Sean O’Connor and Eddie Mullarkey of NUIG, an under-23 crew, beat Bann juniors Chris Black and Joel Cassells into second in the men’s pair. The Bann pair have not competed this season as Black has had glandular fever.

The A Final of the women’s pair, an all-junior affair, was won by Hanna McCarthy and Hanna O’Sullivan of St Michael’s after a terrific battle to the line with Brooke Edgar and Emily Hutchinson of Bann.

ROWING: Today’s semi-final stages of the National Assessment regatta at the National Rowing Centre in Cork provided the stage for good wins for Sanita Puspure in the women’s single, and Justin Ryan and Michael Maher in the men’s single. Junior athlete Paul O’Donovan was second to Ryan in his semi.

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT REGATTA, NRC, Cork

Selected Results (includes projected per centage of gold-medal winning time in athletes’ class)

Men

Pair – Time Trial: 1 J Cassells/C Black (junior) 6:43.9 (91.9), 2 S O’Connor/E Mullarkey (under-23) 6:45.0 (89.5), 3 H Millar/L Seaman (junior) 6:50.1 (90.5), 4 F McQuillan-Tolan/J Egan (junior) 6:58.6 (58.6), 5 W Yeomans/C O’Riada (junior) 6:59.8 (88.4), 6 G Thornton/C Alcorn (junior) 7:00.5 (88.3).

Pair – A/B Semi-Final One: 1 Cassells/Black 7:07.0 (91.5 per cent), 2 F McQuillan-Tolan/Egan 7:16.7 (89.4), 3 Yeomans/O’Riada 7:18.6. Semi-Final Two: 1 O’Connor/Mullarkey 7:08.6 (89.0), 2 Millar/Seaman 7:14.5 (89.9), 3 Thornton/Alcorn 7:21.0 (88.6).

Single Sculls – Time Trial: 1 J Ryan (lightweight) 6:57.1 (93.4), 2 A English (lightweight) 6:59.0 (90.7), 3 M Maher (lightweight) 7:00.5 (90.4), 4 P O’Donovan (junior) 7:03.7 (92.3), 5 Jonathan Mitchell (under-23 lightweight) 7:03.9 (91.9), 6 D Quinlan (junior) 7:07.6 (91.5), 7 A Griffin (junior) 7:10.1 (90.9)

Single – A/B Semi-Final One: 1 Ryan 7:23.3 (92.5), 2 O’Donovan 7:24.1 (92.7), 3 Jonathan Mitchell 7:25.2 (92.1). Semi-Final Two: 1 Maher 7:19.8 (90.9), 2 English 7:21.5, 3 Quinlan 7:31.4 (91.2).

Women

Pair - Time Trial (all juniors): 1 J McCarthy/H O’Sullivan 7:42.7 (88.4), 2 B Edgar/E Hutchinson 7:44.5 (88.0), 3 R Gilligan/L McHugh 7:52.6 (86.5).

Single Sculls – Time Trial: 1 S Puspure (heavyweight) 7:23.2 (91.1), 2 M Dukarska (under-23) 7:41.1 (89.6), 3 H Shinnick (junior) 7:47.8 (90.6), 4 B Jacques (junior) 7:48.9 (90.4), 5 S Dolan (under-23 lightweight) 7:51.7 (90.8), 6 K Cromie (junior) 7:54.3.

Single Sculls A/B Semi-Final One: 1 Puspure 7:59.3 (88.7), 2 Dolan 8:15.2 (91.1), 3 Jacques 8:17.1 (89.7). Semi-Final Two: 1 Dukarska 8:09.1 (88.9), 2 Shinnick 8:15.6 (90.0), 3 Cromie 8:19.6 (89.3).

ROWING: Rowing Ireland, the governing body for Irish rowing that represents over 70 clubs around the country, today launched the eFlow Go Row national grand league at the Dublin Municipal Rowing Club, Islandbridge.

The grand league is a series of four major regattas taking place across the country over the coming months. Almost 1,500 athletes, 300 crews and 350 boats will participate in Dublin Metropolitan, Queen's University, Cork and Skibbereen regattas. 

Rowing Ireland and eFlow were joined by Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring at the launch.

The prepared address for Minister Ring said he was very pleased to formally launch the eFlow Go Row grand league. “I am sure that competitors and enthusiasts alike are looking forward to the major events taking place across the country this year. 

“Rowing Ireland has worked hard to develop rowing as a competitive sport in Ireland and over the last five years, has received funding of over €4.6m from the Irish Sports Council, not to mention the €6.1m from my Department under the Sports Capital Programmes, towards the development of the National Rowing Centre in Cork.

“I understand that work has already commenced on the enhancement of facilities at the National Rowing Centre for the provision of an eight-lane course with electronic timing and a finishing tower.  I wish Rowing Ireland every success with the national league this year and the best of success to our prospective Olympic Rowers at the next qualifying event in May.”

In his prepared address, Frank Coghlan, the acting chief executive of Rowing Ireland said: “Rowing Ireland is delighted to have such a prestigious sponsor as eFlow supporting our flagship regatta events.    

“Participation in rowing in Ireland has been growing strongly over the past number of years and sponsorship of this nature is vital in allowing Rowing Ireland to continue its work in developing the sport and in supporting over 70 clubs and 3,000 rowers throughout the island.  

In his prepared address, Simon McBeth, Director of Communications and Customer Relations, eFlow said the company was delighted to support the league which marks the beginning of eFlow’s sponsorship of Rowing Ireland.

“The upcoming grand league is aimed at promoting rowing and encouraging greater participation in the sport throughout the country.

“Immense talent exists within Irish rowing clubs and teams. eFlow is proud to show our support in developing and nurturing this talent through the eFLow GoRow grand league and through supporting community clubs throughout the country.”

ROWING: The board of Rowing Ireland was forced to withdraw a major proposal without a vote at the agm of the body in Dublin today. Delegates were being asked to adopt new articles of association with the purpose of bringing them into line with company law, but Ruadhan Cooke of Grainne Mhaol pointed out a new provision which would allow the board “in its sole discretion” to disaffiliate a club. He said this was “offensive”. The officers of the board apologised for the oversight, saying that there was no intention of introducing such a new power.

 RI president Anthony Dooley - who along with treasurer Gerry Farrell and secretary Frank Coghlan was elected unopposed - told the delegates that among the upgrades planned for the National Rowing Centre this year will be an adjustable start, which will be brought from the Olympic venue, Dorney Lake. Farrell said that Rowing Ireland spent €6,000 more than it took in in 2011, but was planning for a "small surplus" in 2012.

AWARDS: President’s: John McGeehan, Athlone

Vice Presidents’ – Connacht: Paddy Lally, Galway RC; Leinster: Eric Nolan (New Ross); Munster: Jimmy Fennessy (Clonmel); Ulster: Gordon Reid (Lagan Scullers’)

ROWING: Ireland’s Michael Maher had a fine win at the British Indoor Rowing Championships at Nottingham on Sunday. The Dubliner, who is part of the Rowing Ireland squad based at the National Rowing Centre in Cork, won gold by over three seconds in the men’s open lightweight category. Maher recently rejoined his long-time club, Commercial from Three Castles.

The British Indoors, which also incorporated the Euro Open, is a huge event. The organisers say it is the largest parrticipant indoor sporting event in the United Kingdom.

British Indoor Rowing Championships, Nottingham, Sunday (Selected Result)

Men’s Open Lightweight: 1 M Maher (Commercial, Dublin) 6:20.1, 2 I Aristotelis (Limassol Nautical Club, Cyprus) 6:23.2, 3 J McAvoy (Chislehurst) 6:26.0.

ROWING: UCD’s men’s senior eight clocked 10 minutes 29 seconds in excellent conditions to claim the title of fastest crew at the Dublin Head of the River. Trinity took the Diane Cook trophy for best overall club. 

Dublin Head of the River 2012 – Selected Results

Overall: 1 UCD senior eight 10 minutes 29 seconds, 2 St Michael’s sen eight 10:35, 3 Neptune, Carlow, Offaly sen eight 10:44, 4 Trinity intermediate eight 10:48, 5 UCD inter eight 11:00, 6 Trinity novice eight 11:05.

Pennants – Men, Eight – Senior: 1 UCD 10:29, 2 St Michael’s 10:35, 3 Neptune, Carlow, Offaly 10:44. Intermediate: 1 Trinity 10:48, 2 UCD 11:00, 3 Queen’s. Novice: 1 Trinity 11:05, 2 Queen’s 11:21, 3 Neptune 11:21. Junior: 1 Commercial 11:26, 2 Neptune 11:27, 3 Blackrock 12:29. Masters: 1 Commercial 11:24. Fours, coxed – Senior: Commercial 13:01.

Women, Eight – Senior: 1 St Michael’s, University of Limerick 12:05, 2 Queen’s 12:21, 3 UCD. Intermediate: 1 Trinity 12:14, 2 UCD 12:41, 3 Commercial 13:05. Novice/Junior: Shannon 13:29.

ROWING: UCD took three of the four titles on offer at a lively set of Colours Races in Dublin today. Trinity’s novice women denied the college a second consecutive clean sweep in perfect conditions.

In the men’s senior race, the Gannon Cup, Trinity took a surprise early lead. The bigger UCD eight reeled them in and as the crews passed the Four Courts, UCD had taken a lead they were not to lose. This gave Turlough Hughes of UCD a win over his twin brother Patrick, who rowed for Trinity.

The Corcoran Cup for senior women saw UCD lead all the way, though Trinity exerted serious pressure in the closing stages.

The two novice races were notable for different reasons. In the men’s race, UCD got off to an astounding start and won much as they liked. The women’s was the best contest of the day. Leaders UCD could not hold off the late surge of Trinity, who won by over a length.

Colours Races 2012

Senior Men (Gannon Cup): UCD bt Trinity  1l

Novice Men (Dan Quinn Shield): UCD bt Trinity distance

Senior Women (Corcoran Cup): UCD bt Trinity 1¼ l

Novice Women: Trinity bt UCD 1¼ l