# ROWING: The Irish Universities Championships, which fell to the weather last month, have been rescheduled to Friday, May 24th, the eve of Metro Regatta, at Blessington. The event will run on a very pared-down version of the original programme. The Irish Schools’ Regatta becomes a separate event to be run on Friday, June 28th.

Hopes of rescheduling Skibbereen Regatta have faded due to the lack of a suitable date.

# COASTAL ROWING: The univsersities celebrated as the oldest rowing rivals will celebrate the oldest traditional regatta when crews drawn from Oxford and Cambridge alumni compete at Killarney Rowing Festival on Lough Lein on July 28th. The boat used will be the Killarney Six, a wooden boat with a fixed seat which was originally designed and built by Salters in Oxford. The event is part of ‘The Gathering’ and Queen Victoria’s stay in Killarney in 1861 will be marked. The Killarney Regatta itself is set for June 30th.

#Rowing - St Michael's Rowing Club in Dun Laoghaire has posted the above video giving an oar's eye view of one of their regular evening coastal rowing training sessions.

As the description says, the three-and-a-half-minute clip was shot with a miniature GoPro camera attached to the end of an oar which "caught they action from warm-up to interval training to clubhouse".

It's certainly a unique perspective - though maybe not suitable for anyone prone to motion sickness!

# ROWING: Young crews took full advantage of the absence of some of the big guns at Queen’s Regatta at Castlewellan today. The women’s Division One eights of the first eFlow Grand League regatta of the season gave Galway Rowing Club the chance to showcase their ambitious tyros – all but cox Aifric O’Regan are juniors – and they won from UCD’s intermediates and Portora’s junior eight. The men’s Division One single sculls was won by 18 year old Andy Harrington from clubmate Jack Casey, who is just 17. The two later teamed up to win the Division One double sculls’ title.

The top prize on the day, the Division One men’s eights, was taken by the Queen’s University senior crew, but they got quite a battle from the junior eight from St Joseph’s of Galway.   

Queen’s Regatta, Castlewellan, Co Down (1500 m), Saturday (Selected Results: Division One comprises senior (open, under-23 and lightweight), intermediate and junior 18A grades; Division Two comprises novice, junior 18 B and junior 16 grades.

Men

Eight, Division One – A Final: 1 Queen’s (sen) 4:54.68, 2 St Joseph’s (jun 18) 4:58.83, 3 Portora (jun 18) 5:11.50; 5 Queen’s (u23) 5:29.67. Division Two – A Final: 1 UCC (nov) 4:46.02, 2 Queen’s (nov) 4:47.92, 3 Belfast (nov) 4:53.10; 4 Portora (jun 16) 4:54.56; 6 Coleraine AI (jun 18B) 5:10.46. B Final: RBAI (jun 18B) 5:00.66.

Four, coxed, Division One – A Final: 1 Queen’s (sen) 5:01.13, 2 UCC (inter) 5:06.40, 3 Galway (jun) 5:10.30. B Final: Commercial (inter) 5:23.13. Masters: 1 Belfast BC/Belfast RC 5:48.15, 2 Bann 5:54.23, 3 Portadown 6:33.67. Division Two – A Final: 1 UCC (nov) 5:47.67, 2 Queen’s (nov) 5:57.21, 3 Blackrock (jun 18B) 6:01.14; 4 Methodist (jun 16) 6:06.18. B Final: Queen’s (nov) 6:03.00. C Final: Belfast RC (nov) 6:02.89.

Pair, Division One – A Final: 1 Queen’s (u23) 5:24.30, 2 Queen’s (sen) 5:27.59, 3 Queen’s (sen) 5:31.41. B Final: 1 Commercial (sen) 5:38.89; 2 Shandon (jun 18) 5:40.43; 5 Neptune (inter) 5:57.68. C Final: Portora (inter) 5:44.35. D Final: Commercial (sen) 5:47.30.

Sculling,

Quadruple, Division One – A Final: 1 Commercial (sen) 5:09.64, 2 Lee (jun 18) 5:14.69, 3 Garda (inter) 5:23.44. B Final: Neptune (jun 18) 5:27.68.

Division Two, coxed – A Final: 1 Cork (jun 16) 5:30.30, 2 Commercial (jun 18B) 5:33.79, 3 Lee (jun 18B) 5:34.68. B Final: RBAI (jun 18B) 5:53.44. C Final: 1 Portadown (jun 18B) 6:20.67; 2 Sliog (nov) 6:25.96.

Double, Division One – A Final: 1 Shandon (jun 18) 5:28.89, 2 UCC (sen) 5:39.42, 3 Queen’s/Skibbereen (sen) 5:40.43; 4 Garda (inter) 5:50.04. B Final: Commercial (inter) 5:55.04. Division Two – A Final: 1 Skibbereen (nov) 6:00.22, 2 Cork (jun 18B) 6:00.81, 3 Lee (jun 18B) 6:05.43. B Final: UCD (nov) 6:02.19; 5 Galway (jun 16) 6:55.56. C Final: Commercial (jun 16) 6:31.34. D Final: Belfast RC (jun 18B) 6:55.86.

Single, Division One – A Final: 1 Shandon (A Harrington, jun 18) 5:39.79, 2 Shandon (Casey, jun 18) 5:41.78, 3 Lee (Mitchell, jun 18) 5:43.58; 5 Skibbereen (Murphy, sen) 5:45.40. B Final: Lee (Buckley, jun 18) 5:45.19; 3 Commercial (McKenna, inter) 5:52.13. C Final: Commercial (Dowling, sen) 5:40.29; 6 UCC (Griffin, lwt) 6:05.03. D Final UCC (O’Leary, lwt) 5:56.23. E Final: Carrick-on-Shannon (Cox, inter) 6:01.09.

Division Two – A Final: 1 Sligo (Patterson, nov) 5:50.62, 2 UCC (Stanton, nov) 5:51.69, 3 Lee (White, jun 18B) 5:58.15; 5 Cork (O’Connell, jun 16) 6:01.16. B Final: Cork (Dennehy, jun 18B) 5:56.0. C Final: Portadown (McKeown, nov) 5:50.70. D Final: Skibbereen (McCarthy, jun 16) 6:00.19. E Final: Lee (Larkin, nov) 6:02.12. F Final: Commercial (Meade, nov) 6:18.68. G Final: Cappoquin (Buckley, jun 16) 6:09.72.  

Women

Eight, Division One – A Final: 1 Galway (u23) 5:16.95, 2 UCD (inter) 5:18.53, 3 Portora (jun 18) 5:19.02; 5 Queen’s (inter) 5:31.06. Division Two – A Final: 1 Queen’s (nov) 5:50.98, 2 Portora (jun 16) 5:55.82, 3 UCD (nov) 6:01.23. B Final: Commercial (jun 18B) 6:21.01.

Four, Division One – A Final: 1 Portora (jun 18) 6:18.20, 2 Methodist Col (jun 18) 6:35.28.

Four, coxed, Division One – A Final: 1 UCD (inter) 5:44.98, 2 Commercial (inter) 5:50.63, 3 Commercial B (inter) 5:51.29. B Final: Queen’s B (inter) 5:56.77.

Pair, Division One – A Final: Bann (inter) 6:32.44, 2 Skibbereen (u23) 6:34.73, 3 Shandon (jun 18) 6:40.69; 4 Commercial (inter) 6:41.64. B Final: Cork (sen) 7:00.21.

Sculling, Quadruple, Division One – A Final: 1 Galway (jun 18) 5:31.91, 2 Shandon (inter) 5:34.77, 3 UCD (inter) 5:49.23.

Division Two, coxed – A Final: 1 Galway (jun 18B) 5:52.76, 2 Lee (nov) 6:00.32, 3 Bann (jun 18B) 6:02.19; 4 Methody (jun 16) 6:03.27. B Final: Cork (nov) 6:01.03. C Final: Athlunkard (nov) 6:18.70. D Final: Portadown (jun 16) 6:33.53.

Double, Division Two – A Final: 1 Muckross (jun 18B) 6:02.82, 2 Skibbereen (jun 16) 6:09.52, 3 Lee (jun 18B) 6:20.55; 5 Skibbereen (nov) 6:34.51. B Final: Methody (jun 18B) 6:25.72. C Final: Portadown (jun 16) 7:06.44.

Single, Division One – A Final: 1 Skibbereen (O Hayes, lwt) 6:49.79, 2 Commercial (Dolan, lwt) 6:59.90, 3 Skibbereen (Dinneen, u23) 7:05.76; 5 Skibbereen (Hegarty, jun 18) 7:13.89; 6 Lee Valley (Corcoran-O’Hare, inter) 7:26.55. B Final: Shandon (Horgan, inter) 7:09.86.

Division Two – A Final: 1 Bann (E Barry, jun 16) 6:46.61, 2 Commercial (Foley, nov) 6:48.65, 3 Commercial (Lambe, jun 16) 6:57.22. B Final: Offaly (Mooney, jun 16) 7:04.65. C Final: Belfast BC (Cameron, nov) 7:29.49.

# ROWING: Peter Chambers won the battle of the brothers in the British rowing trials at Caversham. He beat his elder brother, Richard, in the lightweight single sculls final. He led early in the race and kept the chasing crews at bay through the second half.

Richard was in that chasing pack as was last year’s champion Adam Freeman-Pask.  At 1400 metres it looked as if the battle between Freeman-Pask and Richard Chambers might assist the duo in closing the gap on the leader only for the younger Chambers sibling to edge out further in front.

“I found it especially difficult that the event was at Caversham,” said Peter Chambers, who clocked six minutes 58.12 seconds for the 2,000 metres. “It’s where we train everyday.  I needed to psyche myself up more. Once I was in the mind-set it became a lot easier.”

Peter Chambers was one of the Ireland team’s top junior athletes before he moved to Britain. He and crewmate Peter Hanily won gold at the Coupe de la Jeunesse, the European junior rowing tournament, at the National Rowing Centre in Cork in 2008.

Alan Campbell was gracious in defeat to Charles Cousins in the men’s single sculls’ final in which many thought that the seasoned international and Henley winner Peter Lambert might be the main challenger.

Campbell led for three-quarters of the race.  He looked well placed in the final quarter to unleash his trademark sprint but had clearly used up more energy than apparent in keeping ahead of Lambert and Matt Langridge who once again had a storming first 900m as in yesterday’s semi-finals.

Campbell, in the centre, was ideally placed to see Lambert and Langridge but was perhaps unaware in the dying stages just how quickly Cousins was coming up on the outside with Graeme Thomas coming into the top four in those closing stages, too.

It looked as if Campbell might hold on until the final 100 metres when Cousins just kept applying the pressure to come through and win in 6:51.49.

“I’m really pleased for Charles,” said Campbell afterwards.  “I felt that I gave a good account of myself especially after a bit of time away and training away from the squad. Tactically, I feel that I went too early and I went with Peter Lambert. It was a question of tactics rather than anything else. I’ll live to fight another day.”

British Trials, Caversham (Selected Results)

Men

Single sculls: 1.  Charles Cousins (Leander) 6:51.49, 2.  Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers’) 6:53.44, 3.  Peter Lambert (Leander) 6:53.52, 4.  Graeme Thomas (Agecroft) 6:54.32, 5.  Sam Townsend (Reading Uni) 6:59.58, 6.  Matt Langridge (Leander) 7:02.85.

Lightweight Single: 1.  Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes) 6:58.12, 2.  Adam Freeman-Pask (Reading Univ) 7:01.18, 3.  Richard Chambers (Leander) 7:02.37, 4.  William Fletcher (Leander) 7:04.39, 5.  Jamie Kirkwood (Leander) 7:08.10, 6.  Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College) 7;09.01.

# ROWING: Delegates at the Rowing Ireland agm in the Garda Boat Club in Dublin gave overwhelming approval to the proposal to revamp the grading system. The new system, which will be introduced next year, will allow competitors from different grades to compete in the same boat, with the grade of the boat being decided by the weighting given to each athlete. Former rowers can also come back to the sport at a lower grade than that at which they left it. Rowing Ireland hope the new rules will aid in a drive to retain adult athletes in the sport.

# ROWING: UCD won 11 of the finals at Trinity regatta at Islandbridge in Dublin today, including the men’s senior eights, fours and single sculls – with Dave Neale in each of the winning crews. The big controversy of the day concerned the women’s senior eights, where a re-row was ordered after a clash early in the race. UCD decided not to compete – prompting anger from some Trinity mentors. Trinity won on a row over.

Trinity Regatta, Islandbridge, Dublin (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Senior: UCD bt Trinity 5l. Novice: UCD A bt Trinity B 3½ l. Intermediate: UCD A bt UCD B 3l. Junior 18: Neptune bt Portora 2l. Junior 16: Portora A bt Portora B 2l. Masters: Old Collegians bt Shannon 3l.

Four – Senior, coxed: UCD A bt Trinity 3l. Intermediate, coxed: UCD A bt UCD B 1½ l. Novice, coxed: UCD A bt UCD B 1½ l. Junior 18, coxed: Portora bt Athlunkard ½ l.

Pair – Senior: UCD bt Commercial B 1l.

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: Neptune A bt Trinity A 1¼ l. Junior 18: Neptune bt Athlone easily. Junior 16, coxed: Killorglin bt Commercial, disqualified.

Double – Intermediate: Carlow bt Garda A easily. Junior 16: Waterford bt Shannon 5l.

Single – Senior: UCD (D Neale) bt Carlow (A Bolger) 3l. Intermediate: Garda A bt Three Castles 3l. Junior 18: Shannon bt Commercial 3½ l. Junior 16: Athlone bt Waterford A 2 ½ l. Masters: Commercial A bt City of Derry 3l. Lightweight: Carlow B bt Trinity 2l.

Women

Eight – Senior: Trinity row over UCD. Intermediate: UCD bt Commercial 1¼ l. Novice: Trinity A bt UCD A disqualified. Junior 18, coxed: Portora bt Commercial, distance. Junior 16: Shannon A bt Portora easily.

Four – Senior, coxed: UCD A bt Trinity 5l. Intermediate coxed: UCD bt Commercial 2½ l. Novice, coxed: Commercial bt UCD A 1l. Junior 18, coxed: Portora A bt Portora B 3l.

Sculling

Quadruple – Novice, coxed: Carlow bt Commercial A easily. Junior 18: Carrick-on-Shannon bt Commercial easily. Junior 16, coxed: Killorglin bt Carrick-on-Shannon 3l. Double – Intermediate: Killorglin row over UCD.

Single – Senior: Trinity (Sinead Dolan) bt Trinity (S O’Brien) 1¼ l. Novice: Fermoy A bt Killorglin easily. Junior 18: Carrick-on-Shannon bt Fermoy 3l. Junior 16: Commercial (Lambe) bt Killorglin 4l. Masters: Carlow bt Neptune easily.

# ROWING: Skibbereen Regatta and the Irish Universities’ and Schools’ Championships, scheduled for Sunday and Saturday respectively, have been postponed. Faced with the forecast of high winds and rain at the National Rowing Centre, the organisers of both events opted to seek a new date. The Domestic Events Committee of Rowing Ireland will make any decision on a new position in the calendar for the regattas. 

 Skibbereen Regatta was set to open the eFlow Grand League series. The event had a huge entry and was to run from 7.15 am to 6.15 pm.   

# ROWING: A decision will be made this afternoon on whether this weekend’s two big regattas at the National Rowing Centre will go ahead. The Skibbereen Regatta is fixed for Sunday and the Irish Universities and Schools’ Championships for Saturday, but both are in doubt because of the forecast of bad weather around the Co Cork venue.

#Adventure - An Irish duo have returned home after crossing the world's largest frozen lake in Russia.

As RTÉ News reports, Mike O'Shea from Dingle and Clare O'Leary from Bandon traversed the 640km-long Lake Baikal in Siberia over 26 days, contending with temperatures 30 degrees below freezing.

The challenge was the second mission in the veteran adventurer pair's 'Ice Project', an attempt to cross the world's main ice caps before the end of 2016.

Their next adventure will be a crossing of either Iceland or Greenland - where another intrepid group of Irish adventurers are headed this summer, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Meanwhile, rower Paul Gleeson writes in The Irish Times about his own upcoming challenge, joining three other men in a 25ft rowing boat to travel the 2,000 miles of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic.

Limerick man Gleeson, who is now based in Canada, compares the trek to the infamous Franklin Expedition through the passage in the mid 1800s - a tragic mission with an Irish connection through its second-in-command Francis Crozier.

The Irish Times has much more on the story HERE.