#Rowing: NUIG overtook Commercial and won the men's senior four at the Irish Rowing Championships in Cork today. The other senior title on offer in the second session of finals at the National Rowing Centre went to Mark O'Donovan in the single sculls. The 26-year-old Skibbereen man, rating much higher than his rivals, established an early lead and was not caught. It was his first senior singles sculls crown.

 Portora also took the lead early and won the junior 18 eights - but the Cork Boat Club challenge was severe. This fine race lasted right to the line and was decided by under half a second.

 Neptune added the women's novice coxed quadruple title to their men's title, won earlier in the day, while UCD won the women's intermediate eight. The Dublin college also took the men's club eight.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork, Day One (Selected Results)

Men

Eight - Club: UCD 5:56.392. Junior: 1 Portora 5:59.419, 2 Cork 5:59.84, 3 St Joseph's A 6:10.731.

Four - Senior: 1 NUIG 6:03.081, 2 Commercial 6:05.925, 3 Portora 6:09.284. Inter, coxed: 1 NUIG 6:26.811.

Sculling, Quadruple - Novice, coxed: Neptune 6:44.559.

Double - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:32.773, 2 UCD 6:34.914, 3 Castleconnell 6:39.727.

Single - Senior: 1 Skibbereen (M O'Donovan) 7:04.162, 2 UCD (T Hughes) 7:10.256, 3 Portadown (S McKeown) 7:12.256. Junior: 1 Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:04.040, 2 Shandon (R Byrne) 7:04.462, 3 Shandon (S O'Sullivan) 7:23.197.

Women

Eight - Intermediate: UCD 6:38.722. Four - Senior: 1 UCD 6:54.652, 2 Skibbereen/UCC 6:58.902, 3 Trinity 7:04.715. Club, coxed: Fermoy 7:16.116.

Four - Junior: 1 Skibbereen 7:05.645, 2 Shandon A 7:13.661, 3 Galway 7:19.145.

Pair - Intermediate: Cork 7:36.488

Sculling, Quadruple - Novice, coxed: Neptune A 7:55.460.

Double - Junior: 1 Skibbereen B 7:19.682, 2 Bann 7:91.995, 3 Neptune 7:33.305.

 Skibbereen brought their tally of title for the day to four with a win in the women's junior four.

#Rowing: Two outstanding races brought the first session of the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre to a close today. Daire Lynch of Clonmel won the junior single sculls. He caught and passed Shandon's Ronan Byrne in the final quarter, but Byrne refused to give in easily and the two swept towards the finish line with a small margin separating them - Lynch won by just over four tenths of a second.

 The junior women's double had a similar profile: Skibbereen hunted down and caught leaders Bann and held off their late charge to win by just over three tenths of a second.

 UCD had a surprisingly emphatic win over a Skibbereen/UCC composite in the women's senior four - a first senior win for bow woman Eimear Lambe. In the men's double, Shane O'Driscoll and Mark O'Donovan were similarly impressive in their win over Old Collegians.

 Neptune had started the session with their first Championships win in years, in the novice coxed quadruple. Fermoy won the women's Club coxed four, while Cork and NUIG won hte women's intermediate pair and men's intermediate coxed four respectively.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork, Day One (Selected Results)

Men

Four - Inter, coxed: 1 NUIG 6:26.811.

Sculling, Quadruple - Novice, coxed: Neptune 6:44.559.

Double - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:32.773, 2 UCD 6:34.914, 3 Castleconnell 6:39.727.

Single - Junior: 1 Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:04.040, 2 Shandon (R Byrne) 7:04.462, 3 Shandon (S O'Sullivan) 7:23.197.

Women

Four - Senior: 1 UCD 6:54.652, 2 Skibbereen/UCC 6:58.902, 3 Trinity 7:04.715. Club, coxed: Fermoy 7:16.116.

Pair - Intermediate: Cork 7:36.488

Sculling

Double - Junior: 1 Skibbereen B 7:19.682, 2 Bann 7:91.995, 3 Neptune 7:33.305.

#Rowing: NUIG's senior eight led in the intermediate crews from UCD and UCC in the division one men's final at Cork Regatta today. Cork took fourth - the fastest junior eight. The UCC/Skibbereen composite crew were far and away the best women's eight at the National Rowing Centre. Behind them, Commercial won their battle with Galway Rowing Club to take second and prove the best of the junior 18 eights.

Cork Regatta (Coillte Grand League), National Rowing Centre, Sunday

Men

Eight - Division One - A Final: 1 NUIG (sen) 5 mins 52.609, 2 UCD (inter) 5:56.374; 4 Cork (jun 18) 6:03.13; 5 Commercial (club 1) 6:04.72.

Four - Div One - A Final: 1 NUIG (senior) 6:15.798. Div Two, coxed - A Final: 1 Cork (club 2) 6:45.96; 4 Presentation (jun 18) 7:01.82. B Final: 5 Pres (jun 16) 7:45.27.

Sculling - Quadruple - Div Two, coxed - A Final: 1 Lee (club 2) 6:38.53; 4 Shandon A (jun 16) 6:50.31; 5 Workmans (jun 18) 6:58.04. C Final: 2 New Ross (nov) 7:16.61.

Double - Div One - A Final: 1 Skibbereen (M O'Donovan, S O'Driscoll; sen) 6:35.19, 2 Shandon/Clonmel 6:42.47; 6 Shandon A (inter) 7:07.91. B Final: 2 Shandon (jun 18) 6:51.83. C Final: 5 Cork (club 1) 7:51.21.

Single - Div Two - A Final: 1 Skibbereen (K Mannix; jun 18) 7:30.79, 2 Carlow (J Keating; jun 16) 7:32.62; 4 Lee (H Sutton; club 2) 7:38.78.

Women

Eight - Div One - A Final: 1 Skibbereen/UCC (sen) 6:38.217, 2 Commercial (club 1) 6:56.12, 3 Cork (jun 18) 7:01.12. 

Four - Div One - A Final: 1 UCC (sen) 7:08.25; 3 Shandon (jun 18) 7:17.69. Div Two, coxed - A Final: 1 Fermoy (club 2) 7:25:19.

Sculling, Double - Div One - A Final: 1 Skibbereen (E Hegarty, A Casey; jun 18) 7:13.15, 2 Bann (jun 18) 7:22.69; 5 Belfast BC (club 1) 7:34.93. B Final: 2 Commercial (inter) 7:47.37; 3 Skibbereen (sen) 7:47.68.

Single - Div Two - A Final: 1 Kenmare (G O'Brien; jun 18) 8:25.59; 3 Skibbereen (A Keating; jun 16) 8:27.898; 6 Queen's (R Brown; club 2) 6:49.93.

#Rowing: Young, ambitious, crews impressed in the second set of finals at Cork Regatta at the National Rowing Centre. The Ireland under-23 lightweight quadruple were outstanding in their win - setting a time of six minutes 4.37 seconds - and the prospective women's Coupe de la Jeunesse quadruple also had plenty to spare in their victory.

 UCD's men and Commercial's women won the division one coxed fours. Skibbereen, with a mix  of experienced and younger oarswomen, won the division two eight.

Cork Regatta (Coillte Grand League), National Rowing Centre, Day One

Men

Eight - Div Two - A Final: 1 UCD (Club 2) 6:10.51; 3 Neptune (jun 18B) 6:26.949; 5 UCD (nov) 6:35.449; 6 Shandon (jun 16) 6:36.01.

Four, coxed - Div One - A Final: 1 UCD (inter) 6:35.94; 3 UCC (sen) 6:43.51; 4 Cork (jun 18) 6:43.94. B Final: 1 Commercial (club 1) 6:49.11.

Pair - Div One - A Final: 1 Skibbereen (M O'Donovan, S O'Driscoll; sen) 6:47.31, 2 Portora (inter) 7:00.21, 3 Portora (sen) 7:03.97. B Final: 4 Methodists (jun 18A) 7:27.72. C Final: 5 Cork (Club 1) 7:39.03.

Sculling, Quadruple - Div One - A Final: 1 UCC, Tara, UCD, Skibbereen (sen) 6:04.368; 3 Portora (inter) 6:21.93; 4 Lee (jun 18) 6:23.62. B Final: 4 Lee (Club 1) 6:44.75.

Double - Div Two - A Final: 1 Queen's A (club 2) 7:09.19, 2 Workmans B (jun 18) 7:17.83, 3 Neptune A (jun 16) 7:21.53.

Single - Div One - A Final: 1 UCD (P O'Donovan; sen) 6:55.78, 2 Skibbereen (G O'Donovan; sen) 7:03.98, 3 Portadown (S McKeown; sen) 7:20.81; 4 Shandon (R Byrne; jun 18) 7:21.20; 5 St Michael's (D O'Connor; inter) 7:21.58. B Final: 6 NUIG (T Dillon; lwt) 7:39.37. C Final: 2 Carlow (L Keating; Club One) 7:30.86.

Women

Eight - Div Two - A Final: 1 Skibbereen (club 2) 6:58.49; 3 Shandon (jun 18) 7:11.02; 6 Col Iognaid (jun 16) 7:19.29. B Final: 4 Neptune (nov) 8:22.96. Four, coxed - Div One - A Final: 1 Commercial (sen) 7:27.80, 2 St Michael's (inter) 7:35.00, 3 Fermoy (club 1) 7:36.35.

Pair - Division One - A Final: 1 Cork A (jun) 7:49.19, 2 UCC (sen) 7:53.55, 3 Bann (inter) 7:59.863. B Final: Queen's/UCC (sen) 8:01.37. C Final: St Michael's 8:21.57.

Sculling, Quadruple - Div One - A Final: 1 Belfast, Bann, Lee, Skibbereen (sen) 6:53.96; 3 Carlow (jun18) 7:29.68. Div Two, coxed - A Final: 1 New Ross (jun 16) 7:40.26, 2 Cork B (Club 2) 7:41.14; 5 Carlow (jun 18B) 7:48.997. C Final: 3 Castleconnell (nov) 8:24.174.

Double - Div Two - A Final: 1 Clonmel (jun 18) 7:53.74; 3 Workmans (jun 16) 8:06.90; 4 Lee Valley (club 2) 8:10.26.

Single - Div One - A Final: 1 Skibbereen (D Walsh; sen) 7:51.57, 2 Tribesmen (S McCrohan; sen) 8:04.30, 3 Skibbereen (O Hayes; sen) 8:09.94; 4 Belfast BC (O Blundell; inter) 8:21.16. B Final: Belfast BC (C Deyermond; club 1) 8:25.96; 2 Neptune (C Feerick; jun 18A) 8:28.71. C Final: Carlow (A Byrne; lwt) 9:05.89.

#Rowing: For the second day in succession, Ireland’s under-23 lightweight crew won the elite quadruple at London Metropolitan Regatta. The Skibbereen/UCD/UCC/Shandon combination had 1.4 seconds to spare over Tees Rowing Club. The crew is Fintan McCarthy, Shane O’Connell, Stephen O’Connor and Colm Hennessy

London Metropolitan Regatta, Dorney Lake (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Sunday

Men

Sculling - Quadruple - Elite: 1 UCC, Skibbereen, UCD, Shandon 6:29.52.

Saturday

Men

Eight – Senior:  1 Eton College 5:56.69, 2 St Paul’s School 5:58.86, 3 Commercial 5:59.70; 4 Trinity 6:04.59.

Fours – Elite, coxed: 3 Trinity (P Moreau, M Corcoran, L Hawkes, M Kelly; cox: C Flynn) 6:34.88. Intermediate Two, coxed: 1 UCC (S Murphy, T Power, B Keohane, D Keohane; cox: R O’Leary) 6:48.31.

Sculling – Quadruple – Elite: 1 UCC, Skibbereen, UCD, Shandon (F McCarthy, S O’Connell, S O’Connor, C Hennesy) 6:07.64.

Double – Elite/Senior: 5 Skibbereen/UCC (J McCarthy, D Synnott) 7:02.57.

Single – Elite Lightweight: 2 UCD (Andrew Goff) 7:33.27. Senior: 4 UCC (A Harrington) 7:28.87. Intermediate One: 1 UCC (Harrington) 7:33.35; 5 Garda (D Kelly) 7:47.49. Inter Two: 4 Trinity (S Addison) 7:46.58.

Women

Four – Combined: 3 UCD intermediate one (E Lambe, A Crowley, S Bennett, K O’Connor) 7:22.46. Intermediate, coxed: 3 Commercial (Sinead Dolan, M Bracken, A O’Leary, E Gary; cox: E Moody) 7:38.08.

#Rowing: Skibbereen had an excellent couple of days on Continental waters at the weekend. Gary and Paul O’Donovan (a UCD man) won gold in Germany, while at the International Regatta at Ghent, Emily Hegarty and Aoife Casey won the junior double on Saturday and finished second in the under-23 double on Sunday. Aoife Casey is the daughter of Dominic Casey, coach of the Ireland lightweight double.   

 The Cork Boat Club junior 18 coxed four won on Sunday, and Commercial quadruple matched the feat. Jack Keating of Carlow won the junior 16 single sculls – ahead of 29 other competitors.

International Regatta, Ghent (Irish interest; selected results)

Saturday

Men

Four – Junior, coxed: 2 Cork BC 7:14.28.

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior: 3 Carlow 6:41.75.

Women

Eight – Junior: 2 Commercial 7:58.48. Pair: 2 UCD/Queen’s (R Maguire, S Bennett) 8:49.09. Junior Pair: 2 Cork (A Mason, T Hanlon) 8:26.06.

Sculling, Double – Under-23: Belfast BC/UCD (A Crowley, E Lambe) 8:07.09. Junior: Skibbereen (A Casey, E Hegarty) 8:09.44. Single – Junior: 2 Skibbereen (E Hegarty) 8:36.86.

Sunday

Men

Four – Junior 18, coxed: 1 Cork BC 7:30.35.

Pair – Senior: 3 Commercial 8:00.52

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior: 1 Commercial 6:51.30, 2 Carlow 6:51.67. Junior 16: 3 New Ross 8:37.29. Single – Junior 16: Carlow (J Keating

Women

Eight – Junior: 3 Commercial 8:34.60.

Four – Junior: 3 Cork 8:20.55.  

Pair – Senior: 3 UCD (E Lambe, O Finnegan) 9:11.89.

Sculling, Double – Under-23: 2 Skibbereen (A Casey, E Hegarty) 8:26.01, 3 Belfast BC/UCD (Crowley, O Blundell) 8:34.18.

#Rowing: Philip Doyle of Queen’s University beat Daire Lynch of Clonmel by three tenths of a second in the Division One A Final of the men’s single sculls at Skibbereen Regatta today. Monika Dukarska won the women’s equivalent, with lightweight oarswoman Denise Walsh second. Trinity took the men’s senior pair through Patrick Moreau and Michael Corcoran and their men’s novice eight won the Division Two A Final. Cork Boat Club won the women’s Division One pair with their junior crew.  

Skibbereen Regatta, National Rowing Centre, Cork, Saturday (selected results)

 Men

Eight – Division Two – A Final: 1 Trinity A (novice) 6:18.4; 2 UCC (club two) 6:22.0; 4 Cork (jun 18B) 6:30.7. B Final: Shandon (jun 16) 6:33.9.

 Pair – Division One – A Final: 1 Trinity (sen) 6:56.8, 2 Commercial A (sen) 7:00.0, 3 Commercial C (sen) 7:01.2; 5 UCC (inter) 7:11.3. B Final: 1 Trinity A (sen) 7:12.4; 4 Queen’s (club one) 7:27.1.

Sculling,

 Single – Div One – A Final: 1 Queen’s (P Doyle, sen) 7:18.2, 2 Clonmel (D Lynch; jun 18A) 7:18.5, 3 Queen’s (C Beck; lwt) 7:24.3; 4 Skibbereen (F McCarthy; inter) 7:26.4. B Final: 1 Garda (D Kelly; sen) 7:32.8; 5 UCC (D Synott; club one) 7:46.2. C Final: Portadown (S McKeown; sen) 7:25.0

 Women

Pair – Div One – A Final: 1 Cork (jun 18A) 7:55.47, 2 UCC (inter) 8:08.1, 3 Queen’s (inter) 8:14.8; 4 Trinity (club one) 8:21.6.

Sculling,

Quadruple – Div Two – A Final: 1 Cork A (jun 18B) 7:46.4; 2 Workman’s (jun 16) 7:49.0; 6 St Michael’s (club two) 8:15.6. C Final: 5 Univ of Limerick (nov) 8:56.2.

 Single – Div One – A Final: 1 Killorglin (M Dukarska; sen) 7:55.4, 2 Skibbereen (D Walsh; sen) 7:58.9, 3 Skibbereen (S Dolan; sen) 8:05.8; 4 Skibbereen (E Hegarty; jun 18A) 8:12.6, 5 UCD (A Crowley; inter) 8:20.4. B Final: 1 Skibbereen (O Hayes; lightweight) 8:27.7; 4 Belfast BC (O Blundell; club one) 8:32.8. C Final: 1 Garda (B Larsen; inter) 8:36.81. 

#Rowing: Coillte and Rowing Ireland have announced that Coillte will sponsor the Grand League regatta series. Coillte is a forestry management company which owns about seven per cent of the land cover of Ireland. It is also involved in renewable energy and panel products.

 The first leg of this year’s Coillte Grand League series is Skibbereen Regatta which is set for this weekend at the National Rowing Centre in Cork. Around 700 crews and 2,000 athletes compete at Skibbereen Grand League Regatta every year, with a six-lane race running every four minutes over two days – if the unpredictable Irish weather permits. It is a mammoth event and takes up to 100 volunteers to run successfully each year.

 Ciarán Fallon, Director of Stewardship and Public Goods at Coillte said: “Coillte is delighted to be supporting Rowing Ireland with this year’s Grand League series ahead of the Rio Olympics in August. Two of the three regattas in this year’s series are taking place at the National Rowing Centre,  located in Coillte’s Farran Forest Park in County Cork, one of our flagship parks, so we are encouraging people to turnout in large numbers to support this fantastic event. We are pleased to be able to extend our existing relationship with Rowing Ireland to be the title sponsor for this exciting series as the athletes prepares for Rio.”

 Hamish Adams, the chief executive of Rowing Ireland, said: “We have a long established and close relationship with Coillte through our location of the National Rowing Centre in Farran Forest Park. The development of further support from Coillte for the Grand League series further endorses our relationship and we welcome all to attend the upcoming events to experience a day of competitive racing in the majestic setting of Farran Forest Park.”

 The 2016 Coillte Grand League will include three regatta events that will each attract up to two thousand rowing competitors as well as five thousand plus spectators each day.

 The Coillte Grand League will take place at the following dates and venues:

9th and 10th April: Skibbereen Regatta, National Rowing Centre, Farran Forest Park, Co. Cork.

28th May: Metropolitan Regatta, Blessington Lake, Co. Wicklow.

25th and 26th June: Cork Regatta, National Rowing Centre,  Farran Forest Park, Co. Cork.

 The Grand League regatta series was established by Rowing Ireland in 2010 and has since become the premier domestic rowing league in Ireland, contributing to the development of numerous athletes at both junior and senior level. The series provides rowers at all levels with the opportunity to perform and develop their racing prowess in a fair and competitive environment.

#Rowing: The West Cork arts centre, Uillinn, is hosting an exhibition of images of Skibbereen Rowing Club. Photographer Debbie Heaphy recorded the action at the club for four years, often accompanying coach Dominic Casey in his launch on early morning training sessions. “Having spent the last four years with these athletes, I am totally in awe of the resilience, focus and commitment of these young people. I have watched them strive to achieve what, at times, would seem to be unreachable goals,” Heaphy said.

 The year 2015 was a very successful one for the club, with 17 Skibbereen athletes rowing for the Irish national squad, and two rowers, brothers Gary and Paul O’Donovan, qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

 This exhibition is a compilation of what Heaphy regards as her best photographs from her time at the club. “I hope to portray the intensity of training and the essence and sense of place of the Ilen River, and also a snap shot of the unique and extraordinary journey of the boys and girls from Skibbereen who are determined to take on the world.”

 There is a limited-edition book of photographs and essays on sale. Sales of this publication and the photographs on exhibition will go towards raising funds for the club.

 The book also be purchased directly from www.skibbereenrowingclub.com  or www.debbieheaphyenvironment.com

#Rowing: Shandon had an excellent day at the Skibbereen Head of the River at the new venue of the Marina in Cork on Saturday. Their men’s senior eight were the fastest winning crew. Competing in the fourth fixed head, they clocked 10 minutes and 50 seconds. UCC’s senior eight were six seconds further back. 

The fastest women’s single sculler was the outstanding junior, Emily Hegarty of the host club.

Skibbereen Head of the River, Saturday, The Marina, Cork (Selected Results, Fixed Head):

Men – Eight, Senior: Shandon 10 mins 50 secs. Inter: UCC 11:04. Masters: Muckross 11:52. Jun 18A: Cork 11:11. Jun 16: Shandon 11:44.

Four – Four: 11:04. Inter: UCC 11:15. Inter (coxed): Cork 11:29. Jun 18, coxed: St Brendan’s 12:36. Jun 16, coxed: Pres, Cork 12:44.

Pair – Jun 18A: Pres, Cork 13:31.

Sculling, Quadruple: Skibbereen 11:03. Jun 18A: Lee 11:27. Jun 16, coxed: Cork 11:47.

Double – Sen: Skibbereen A 12:17. Inter: Skibbereen 13:11.  Jun 18A: Lee 12:31.

Single –Sen: E Rowan 12:21. Inter: F McCarthy 12:19. Club One: D Larkin 12:41. Jun 18A: K Mannix 13:01. Jun 16: B O’Flynn 12:57. Masters: H Mertz 13:08.

Women

Eight, Inter: UCC 12.17. Jun 18A: Shandon 12:38. Jun 16: Shandon 13:48.

Four – Sen: Skibbereen 13:34. Inter: UCC 13:26. Jun 18A: Skibbereen 13:35.

Pair – Inter: UCC 13:46.

Sculling, Quad – Inter: UCC 12:56. Jun 18A: Skibbereen 13:14. Jun 16, coxed: Workman’s 13:44.

Double – Inter: 13:39. Nov: St Brendan’s A 15:26. Jun 16: Lee 13:18.

Single – Sen: O Hayes 13:46. Inter: E McCarthy 14:24. Club: M Cremen 14:09. Jun 18A: E Hegarty 13:44. Jun 16: C Synott 14:22.