# ROWING: Martin McElroy, the Ireland High Performance Director, will not be seeking renewal of his contract when it finishes at the end of next month. The Galway man took up work as HPD in 2009, stressing that his priority was to build a sustainable system, and one which would outlast him.

Forming a strong under-23 group was a priority, and there were successes here, including a silver medal for the men’s lightweight quadruple at the World Under-23 Championships in 2010. Ten athletes represented Ireland at this year’s World Under-23 Championships.

A team of coaches was also formed and the National Rowing Centre became the base for an ambitious group of athletes.

However, just one senior athlete competed for Ireland at the Olympic Games - Sanita Puspure finished 13th in the single sculls. The strong hopes for the lightweight double scull of Siobhan McCrohan and Claire Lambe ended controversially when McCrohan was cut because of difficulties making the weight.

Rowing Ireland has advertised for a new HPD, with entries closing on September 14th.

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).