#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan of UCD won a very very tight battle with Eimantas Grigalius of Three Castles to take the Division One men’s single sculls at Metropolitan Regatta at Blessington Lakes today. O’Donovan, who is a lightweight, got a good start but in testing headwind conditions Grigalius gained on him and drew level in the closing stages. The fight went right to the line, with O’Donovan taking it by .41 of a second.

Gráinne Mhaol had a convincing win in the men’s coxless four.

The women’s Division One double sculls provided a good platform for Catríona Jennings and Sarah Dolan to show their skills in the run-in to the Ireland women’s lightweight tests. Metropolitan Regatta, Blessington (Selected Results) Men Eight – Division Two – A Final: 1 Skibbereen (club two) 7:15.71, 2 UCD (club two) 7:18.21, 3 Cork (jun 16) 7:29.64. Pair – Division One – A Final: Old Collegians (sen) 7:59.92, 2 Commercial B (sen) 8:03.55, 3 Lady Elizabeth (sen) 8:19.36; 5 St Michael’s (inter) 8:37.20. B Final: 1 NUIG (inter) 8:28.86; 3 Offaly (club two) 8:50.19. Sculling Single – Division One: A Final: 1 UCD (P O’Donovan; sen) 8:29.06, 2 Three Castles (E Grigalius; sen) 8:29.47, 3 Old Collegians (D Neale; sen) 8:59.00; 5 Carlow (A Bolger; inter) 9:27.75. B Final: NUIG (O’Connor; sen) 9:12.96; 2 Shandon (Begley; jun 18) 9:17,95; 6 UCD (A Griffin; club one) 10:09.12. C Final: Garda (D Kelly; inter) 8:59.47. Division Two – A Final: 1 Shandon (R Byrne; jun 18) 9:05.35, 2 Waterford (O’Mahony; jun 18) 9:07.15, 3 Shandon (O’Sullivan; jun 16) 9:18.18. B Final: Fermoy (Morrison; jun 16) 9:34.19. C Final: Col Chiaran (Hogan; jun 18) 9:29.64. Women Four, coxed – Division One – A Final: 1 Commercial (inter) 8:41.76, 2 NUIG (club one) 8:48.16, 3 Skibbereen (inter) 8:56.83. Division Two – Final: 1 Shandon B (jun 18B) 9:19.47, 2 Garda (club two) 9:22.23, 3 Commercial (club two) 9:34.41. Sculling, Quadruple – Division One – A Final: 1 Belfast BC, Cork, Skibbereen (sen) 8:12.09, 2 Skibbereen (jun 18) 8:34.11, 3 Neptune (jun 18) 8:48.59. Division Two – A Final: 1 Carlow (jun 18) 8:50.79, 2 Lee (club two) 9:05.08, 3 Fermoy (jun 16) 9:16.40. B Final: NUIG (novice) 9:58.54. Double – Division One - A Final: 1 Commercial (inter) 9:04.53, 2 Cork (jun 18) 9:08.26, 3 Commmercial (jun 18) 9:09.48; 4 Three Castles (sen) 9:23.29; 5 Cappoquin (club one) 10:54.93. .

The Division One women’s eight winners were, predictably, the composite crew with a strong base of international hopefuls. Behind them, Portora won their battle of the junior 18 eights with Northern rivals Bann.

#UNIVERSITY ROWING: UCD took the Wylie Cup for men and the Bank of Ireland Cup for women at the rescheduled Irish University Championships at Blessington Lakes tonight. Trinity won the novice eight categories for both women and men, but UCD won both intermediate and senior eights races. In senior men’s eights, NUIG took second, while UCD vanquished their only rivals, Trinity, in the women’s senior eights.

The weather had forced the postponement of the Championships originally and winds were again a factor tonight, with all but these six races stripped from the programme.    

The organisers of Metropolitan Rowing Regatta will post a decision tomorrow on whether to go ahead with the event. Strong winds are forecast for Blessington on Saturday. There is a huge entry, and Metro is set to serve as a selection event for the Ireland team for the Home Internationals. The team behind Metro have already laid a new course to deal with a very low water level and have had to repair damage done to the course by vandals.

With little over a month to go to the Irish Rowing Championships, the Metropolitan Regatta, which takes place in Blessington on Saturday 12 June, should provide clear indications on the form crews for championship honours come July.

The Metro regatta, with 350 crews and over 900 athletes competing in over one hundred races, is the fourth Grand League Regatta of the season.  To date over a thousand crews have competed in the first three regattas hosted by Skibbereen, Queens and Cork City regattas.

Neptune (Dublin) on home waters have an opportunity to close the gap on Skibbereen for overall points totals.  Skibbereen are currently on 372 points with Neptune on 306, just 66 points behind.  In the Senior Men’s category St Michael’s from Limerick are leading by 31 points from Commercial, Dublin and will be travelling in force to Leinster. 

In the Men’s Senior Eights, two clubs from Connaught and two from Munster compete for the big boat trophy.   NUI Galway, Galway Rowing club, and St Michael’s and Muckross will also compete for the blue riband event of the Regatta, the Men’s Fours, against two Dublin clubs, Neptune and Commercial. 

The leading Grand League clubs going into the Metro regatta are Skibbereen 372, Neptune 306, St. Michael’s, Limerick 252, Commercial, 232, UCD 222.

St Michaels, Limerick still lead the men's senior category on 133 points, with Commercial on 102  points with Neptune overtaking UCD for 89 points.  UCD maintain their lead with 141 points in the women’s senior category ahead of NUI Galway on 101.75 points.
Selection for both men and women for the Home Internationals and the Commonwealth Games will occur in the Division 1 singles sculls and sweep pairs races where up to 70 and 30 crews respectively will be competing for honours.

Note:  The Blue Riband is scheduled for 12.30 pm and the Senior Eights for 6.00pm. There will be races throughout the day at five minute intervals.

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Blessington Sailing Club

Blessington Sailing Club is located on the shores of the 5,600 acre Pollaphuca Reservoir, near Blessington, Co Wicklow. The sheltered bay, with its two slips and sandy beach, faces east and is protected from the prevailing winds.

The Clubhouse, built in 1988, has a recreational area, kitchen, and full changing and shower facilities.

Dinghy sailing predominates in the Club. There are strong fleets of GP14s and Catamarans, as well as Lasers and Mirrors. In recent years, we have a growing fleet of Toppers in which many of our younger members begin their sailing careers. There are also some small cruisers and day boats based at the Club.

Blessington Sailing Club is family orientated and its location is safe and secure for younger family members.

(The above information and image courtesy of Blessington Sailing Club)

 
Blessington Sailing Club, Blessington, Co. Wicklow; and c/o Joe Smyth, Hon. Secretery, 48 Kennington Road, Templeogue, Dublin 6w. Tel: 01 4567130, email: [email protected]  

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