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Displaying items by tag: May 2018

#Rower of the Month: Sanita Puspure is the Afloat Rower of the Month for May. The Old Collegians sculler had struggled with injury early in the year, but come the Ireland trial at the National Rowing Centre, she was one of the top performers. She would carry that form into the first World Cup Regatta in Belgrade, where she took silver behind world champion Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland and ahead of world bronze medallist Magdalena Lobnig of Austria and Britain’s Victoria Thornley, the silver  medallist at last year’s World Championships.

 May was also an excellent month for Irish juniors. Castleconnell were honoured as the best junior club at the Ghent International Regatta.  Enniskillen, Workmen’s, Bann and Fermoy also shone at the British National Schools Regatta on Dorney Lake. Fermoy’s Gill McGirr and Eliza O’Reilly won gold in the Championship Pair.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2018 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

Tom Dolan, Solo Offshore Sailor

Even when County Meath solo sailor Tom Dolan had been down the numbers in the early stages of the four-stage 2,000 mile 2020 Figaro Race, Dolan and his boat were soon eating their way up through the fleet in any situation which demanded difficult tactical decisions.

His fifth overall at the finish – the highest-placed non-French sailor and winner of the Vivi Cup – had him right among the international elite in one of 2020's few major events.

The 33-year-old who has lived in Concarneau, Brittany since 2009 but grew up on a farm in rural County Meath came into the gruelling four-stage race aiming to get into the top half of the fleet and to underline his potential to Irish sailing administrators considering the selection process for the 2024 Olympic Mixed Double Offshore category which comes in for the Paris games.