The Afloat Rower of the Month for October is John Keohane of Kilmacsimon coastal rowing club, who won the single sculls title at the World Coastal Rowing Championships in Istanbul. The 31-year-old also competes for Lee Valley Rowing Club and won the Intermediate Single Sculls title at the National Rowing Championships in September. He is a worthy winner of the Afloat Rower of the Month award.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, President of Rowing Ireland Anthony Dooley and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2010. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2010 champions list grow.

HEAR THE INSIDE STORY OF KEOHANE’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WIN BY ACCESSING THE PODCAST BELOW

John Keohane of the Kilmacsimon Club in Co Cork took the single sculls' title at the World Coastal Rowing Championships in Istanbul. The tall Corkman finished well ahead of Alberto Exarte of the San Pedro club in Spain, with Guiseppe Alberti of Italy third.

 Keohane rows with Lee Valley in Olympic-class rowing and won the intermediate single sculls title at the National Championships. 

World Coastal Rowing Championhsips, Istanbul

Men’s Single Scull – A Final:  1 Kilmacsimon (J Keohane) 37:13.45, 2 San Pedro, Spain (A Exarte) 37:33.77, 3 Gavirate, Italy (G Alberti) 37:43.15.

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The first ever ‘Bulls and Bears’ Challenge Rowing Race was run at the Castleconnell Head of the River at O’Brien’s Bridge. Pairs from different clubs were formed into two eights which fought it out, with a combination of St Michael’s, Castleconnell, University of Limerick and Fermoy coming out on top.

Castleconnell Head of the River, O’Brien’s Bridge, Clare, Sunday:

Men, Eight – Junior 18: St Michael’s 11:32. Masters: Fermoy 10:58.

Pair – Senior: 1 St Michael’s 11 min 37 seconds, 2 University of Limerick 11:39, 3 UL 11:47. Intermediate: Castleconnell 12:33. Junior 18: Castleconnell A 12:05

Sculling, Double – Junior 16: Shannon 12:01

Single – Senior: Castleconnell (Pidgeon) 12:22. Intermediate: University of Limerick (P Quinn) 13:02. Junior 18: University of Limerick (Prendeville) 12:24. Junior 16: Shandon (Casey) 13:21. Adaptive: Castleconnell (Laffan) 19:58.

Women, Eight – Novice: Clonmel 13:36. Junior 18: St Michael’s 11:40. Junior 16: Clonmel 13:14.

Pair – Junior 18: St Michael’s 13:04.

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior 18: St Michael’s 13:44.

Double – Intermediate: University of Limerick 12:53.  Junior 16: Shandon 14:34

Single – Senior: St Michael’s (Clavin) 13:24, Intermediate: Shandon (O’Mahony) 16:01. Junior 16: Castleconnell (Long) 15:51.

Bulls and Bears: Race won by a combination of crews from St Michael’s, Castleconnell, University of Limerick and Fermoy

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Sean Jacob set a new record when he won his seventh Dublin Sculling Ladder time trial at Islandbridge on Saturday. Fellow UCD student Claire Lambe was the fastest woman and Trinity were the best overall rowing club.

Last weekend’s time trial for the Cork Sculling Ladder drew 155 single scullers,  a new record. Andrew Hurley from Bantry won the trial, with 16-year-old David Collins of Lee Rowing Club a close second. Karen Corcoran-O’Hare of Shandon was the fastest woman.

Dublin Sculling Ladder, Time Trial, Islandbridge, Saturday:

1 Sean Jacob (UCD) 6 min 23.5 secs, 2 C Dowling (Commercial) 6:53.5, 3 M Bailey (Neptune) 6:56.0, 4 P Hughes (Trinity; junior) 6:58.0, 5 I Kelly (Trinity) 7:02.5, 6 I O Loinsigh (Trinity) 7:07.5; 8 C Lambe (UCD; fastest woman) 7:12.0; 18 Siobhan Jacob 7:26.0; R Morris (Commercial) 7:27.0.

Casey Cup (Best Overall Club) Trinity.

Cork Sculling Ladder, Time Trial, The Marina, October 3rd (155 participants):

1 A Hurley (Bantry) 7:09.2, 2 D Collins (Lee) 7:10.1, 3 E Foley (Shandon) 7:19.4, 4 J Casey (Shandon) 7:25.9, 5 E Beechinor (Lee) 7:31.0, 6 B O’Keeffe 7:35.8; 38 K Corcoran-O’Hare (Shandon, fastest woman); 51 G Beatty (Shandon) 8:25.8, 59 S Kearney (Lee) 8:30.3.

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Delegates to the Rowing Ireland agm at Neptune Rowing Club in Dublin decided to hold all the National Championships at their traditional time of mid July. However, the Championshhips will run over four days, from Thursday July 14th to Sunday, July 17th.

Rowing Calendar for 2011

(as voted on at agm; Grand League status to be decided; selected international events added):

January 7th-9th: Rowing Ireland Development Camp, National Rowing Centre; 15th: Kerry Head of the River, Killorglin; 22nd: Sligo Head; 29th: National Two-Blade Head of the River, O’Brien’s Bridge, Clare.

February 12th: Rowing Ireland Ergometer Test, Newry; 13th: Rowing Ireland 5K Assessment, Newry; 19th: Cork Head, Lagan Scullers’ Head. 26th: National Four-Blade Head of the River, Carrick-on-Shannon.

March 4th-6th: Rowing Ireland Development Camp, venue to be chosen. 5th: Dublin Head of the River; 12th: Erne Head of the River, Enniskillen; 19th: Tribesmen Head, Galway city; 26th National Eight-Blade Head of the River, River Lagan, Belfast.

April 2nd: Neptune Regatta, Islandbridge, Dublin; 9th: University Championships and Schools’ Regatta, NRC; 10th: Skibbereen Regatta, NRC; 15th-18th: National Trials, NRC; 16th: Trinity Regatta, Islandbridge, Dublin; 30th: Limerick Regatta, O’Brien’s Bridge.

May 7th: Bantry Regatta; 7th-8th: KRSG Ghent; 14th Queen’s Unversity Regatta, Castlewellan; 21st: Cork Regatta. 22nd: Lee Regatta; 27th: 27th-29th: World Cup One, Munich, Germany. 28th: Metropolitan Regatta, Blessington.

June 5th: Carlow Regatta, Carlow; 11th: Belfast Sprint Regatta; 17th-19th: World Cup Two, Hamburg, Germany; 18th: Athlone Regatta, Coosan Point; 19th: Galway Regatta; 25th: Portadown Regatta; 26th: Castleconnell Sprint Regatta, O’Brien’s Bridge, Clare. 29th-July 3rd: Henley Royal Regatta.

July 2nd: Monkstown Cork Harbour, National Rowing Centre; 3rd: Fermoy Regatta; 8th-11th: World Cup Three, Lucerne. 14th-17th: National Championships NRC; 18th-29th: Rowing Ireland Summer Academy, NRC; 21st-24th: World Under-23 Championships, Amsterdam. 23rd: Home Internationals; 30th Coupe de la Jeunesse; 31st: Carrick-on-Shannon Sprints. 

August 3rd-6th: World Junior Championships, Dorney Lake, Eton. 15th-18th: Lagan Sculling Camp. 27th: Belfast Summer Sprints. 28th-September 4th: World Rowing Championships, Bled, Slovenia.

September 16th-18th: Rowing Ireland Development Camp, venue tbc;  16th-18th: European Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.  24th-25th (provisional): Festival of Rowing, NRC. 

October 1st: Tullamore Time Trials. 21st-22nd: Rowing Ireland Development Camp, venue tbc. 22nd: Castleconnell Head, O’Brien’s Bridge; 24th-27th: Rowing Ireland Academy Camp, NRC.

November 5th: Neptune Head, Blessington; 12th: Bann Head, Coleraine. 19th: Skibbereen Head, NRC; 26th-28th: Rowing Ireland Development Camp, venue tbc.

December 10th: Muckross Head, NRC; 17th: Rowing Ireland Ergometer Tests, Newry; 18th: Rowing Ireland 5k Assessment, Newry.

FORUM discussion on the calendar HERE

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Mark O'Donovan of the Skibbereen quadruple tells the story of how the crew won the title at the National Championships. The crew of Richard Coakley, Gearoid Murphy, O'Donovan and Justin Ryan are the Afloat Rowers of the Month for September.  

The Afloat Rowers of the Month for September are the Skibbereen men’s senior quadruple of Richard Coakley, Gearoid Murphy, Mark O’Donovan and Justin Ryan. The crew won the best race of the National Championships, beating a UCD/St Michael’s composite by .4 of a second to take the title. It has been a terrific year for O’Donovan and Ryan on the international stage as well. They made up half of the Ireland quadruple which took silver at the World Under-23 Championships in Belarus in July.

Rower of the Month Awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, President of Rowing Ireland Anthony Dooley and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2010. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2010 champions list grow.

Skibbereen rounded off a weekend in which they won 10 national titles with a terrific victory in the men’s senior quadruple scull at the National Rowing Championships in Cork. They had just .4 of a second to spare over a composite of St Michael’s and UCD. In the evening session, Shane O’Driscoll and Paul O’Donovan also won the junior doubles title for the west Cork club and Denise Walsh and Shelly Dinneen took the women’s junior double.

The women’s senior quadruple scull went to a composite of Sanita Puspure, Lisa Dilleen, Alice O’Sullivan and Monika Dukarska while Kerry clubs Muckross and Killorglin took the men’s novice single scull and the women’s intermediate double scull.

National Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Farran, Wood, Cork Day Two

Men

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: 1 Skibbereen (R Coakley, G Murphy, M O’Donovan, J Ryan) 6:17.2, 2 St Michael’s/UCD 6:17.6, 3 NUIG 6:36.7.

Double – Senior: 1 NUIG/Skibbereen (N Kenny, M O’Donovan) 6:55.7, 2 St Michael’s 7:03.71. Intermediate: 1 Skibbereen (G Murphy, J Ryan) 6:58.12, 2 UCD 7:03.47, 3 St Michael’s 7:13.13. Junior 18: 1 Skibbereen A (S O’Driscoll, P O’Donovan) 6:54.2, 2 Skibbereen B 7:14.9, 3 Castleconnell 7:23.9.

Single – Novice: 1 Muckross (Prendiville) 7:29.9, 2 Offaly 7:44.7, 3 Trinity 7:47.1. Junior: 1 King’s Hospital (T Hughes) 7:34.9, 2 Skibbereen (S O’Driscoll) 7:36.9, 3 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 7:42.8.

Women

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: 1 Killorglin, University of Limerick, Old Collegians, Tribesmen (M Dukarska, A O’Sullivan, S Puspure, L Dilleen) 7:00.2, 2 Skibbereen, Offaly, St Michael’s 7:05.7, 3 Belfast RC, Carrick-on-Shannon, City of Derry, Methodist College 7:16.5.

Double – Senior: 1 Old Collegians (S Puspure, S Jacob) 7:41.09, 2 Offaly 7:43.78, 3 Tribesmen 7:46.30. Intermediate: 1 Killorglin (M Dukarska, M McGillycuddy) 7:59.9, 2 Cork 8:07.6, 3 UCD 8:11.8. Junior: 1 Skibbereen (D Walsh, S Dineen) 7:57.6, 2 Commercial 8:12.0, 3 Bann 8:17.7.

Single – Novice: 1 University of Limerick (A O’Sullivan) 8:34.8, 2 Bantry (Piggott) 8:39.8, 3 Commercial (Cooney) 8:54.3. Junior 18: 1 Skibbereen (C Fitzgerald) 8:31.0, 2 Skibbereen (S Dineen) 8:32.5, 3 Skibbereen (D Walsh) 8:42.1.

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The senior women’s double scull provided a highlight of the morning session at the National Rowing Championships in the NRC in Cork today. Three boats finished in quick succession, but Sanita Puspure and Siobhan Jacob of Old Collegians were in control, holding off the challenge of Eimear and Joanne Moran of Offaly and Siobhan McCrohan and Lisa Dilleen of Tribesmen.

The senior men’s double was a much tamer affair, with Niall Kenny and Mark O’Donovan well ahead of the St Michael’s crew of Sam Lynch and Peter Hanily at the finish.

Turlough Hughes had to battle to win the men’s junior single scull. The giant King’s Hospital man hunted down and passed Shane O’Driscoll of Skibbereen in the third quarter of the race, but he had just two seconds to spare at the finish.

Skibbereen took the women’s junior single title, through Christine Fitzgerald, and the men’s intermediate double, and Alice O’Sullivan of University of Limerick won the women’s novice single scull.

National Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Farran, Wood, Cork Day Two

Men

Sculling, Double – Senior: 1 NUIG/Skibbereen (N Kenny, M O’Donovan) 6:55.7, 2 St Michael’s 7:03.71. Intermediate: 1 Skibbereen (G Murphy, J Ryan) 6:58.12, 2 UCD 7:03.47, 3 St Michael’s 7:13.13. Single – Junior: 1 King’s Hospital (T Hughes) 7:34.9, 2 Skibbereen (S O’Driscoll) 7:36.9, 3 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 7:42.8.

 Women

Sculling, Double – Senior: 1 Old Collegians (S Puspure, S Jacob) 7:41.09, 2 Offaly 7:43.78, 3 Tribesmen 7:46.30. Single – Novice: 1 University of Limerick (A O’Sullivan) 8:34.8, 2 Bantry (Piggott) 8:39.8, 3 Commercial (Cooney) 8:54.3. Junior 18: 1 Skibbereen (C Fitzgerald) 8:31.0, 2 Skibbereen (S Dineen) 8:32.5, 3 Skibbereen (D Walsh) 8:42.1.

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Sanita Puspure of Old Collegians won the senior single sculls title at the evening session of the National Rowing Championships in Cork. Puspure held off a good challenge by Siobhan McCrohan of Tribesmen. 

Sean Jacob rounded off a very succesful day for him when the teamed up with Cormac Folan to win the senior pairs title. The UCD/NUIG combination came in ahead of Sam Lynch and Kevin O’Connor of St Michael’s.

Skibbereen were again in top form, adding the junior men’s quadruple to the women’s and seeing both their junior women’s pair and lightweight single sculler Richard Coakley take titles.

University of Limerick won the men’s intermediate pair through Stephen Penny and Liam Rice, who had won in the intermediate fours and eights in the July staging of the Championships.

National Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Farran Wood, Cork

Men

Pair – Senior: 1 NUIG/UCD (C Folan, S Jacob) 7:10.3, 2 S Michael’s (K O’Connor, S Lynch) 7:16.2, 3 Galway 7:21.8. Intermediate: 1 University of Limerick (S Penny, L Rice) 7:20.0, 2 St Michael’s 7:22.0, 3 Galway 7:33.0. Junior 18: 1 Presentation College (J Griffin, K Neville) 7:33.60, 2 Skibbereen 7:38.81, 3 Bann 7:51.95.

Sculling,

Quadruple – Junior 18: 1 Skibbereen 4:42.6, 2 Neptune 6:48.1, 3 Colaiste Iognaid 6:54.6.

Single – Senior: 1 UCD (S Jacob) 7:44.52, 2 Skibbereen (R Coakley) 7:53.52, 3 NUIG (D Mannion) 8:01.50, 4 Tralee IT (R O’Connor). Lightweight Single: 1 Skibbereen (R Coakley) 7:39.7, 2 St Michael’s (P Hanily) 7:47.1, 3 Commercial (Murphy) 8:01.4. Intermediate: 1 Lee Valley (J Keohane) 7:32.78, 2 Castleconnell (C Pidgeon) 7:44.31, 3 Commercial (M Maher) 7:50.78.

Women

Pair – Senior: 1 Neptune (E Fitzgerald, C Ludlow) 8:35.77, 2 NUIG/Tribesmen 8:41.48, 3 Skibbereen/St Michael’s 8:42.04. Junior 18: 1 Skibbereen (C Fitzgerald, D Walsh) 8:12.0, 2 Commercial 8:22.5, 3 S Michael’s 8:29.0.

Sculling

Quadruple – Novice, coxed (non Championship): 1 Killorglin A 8:05.41, 2 Garda 8:13.97, 3 Neptune 8:28.48. Junior 18: 1 Skibbereen (L Connolly, C Fitzgerald, D Walsh, S Dinneen) 7:35.71, Cork BC 7:45.06, Bann 7:48.12.

Single – Senior: 1 Old Collegians (S Puspure) 8:12.3, 2 Tribesmen (S McCrohan) 8:26.4, 3 Skibbereen 8:40.6. Intermediate: Cork Boat Club (M O’Neill) 8:20.93, 2 UCD (C Lambe) 8:25.76, 3 Killorglin (M Dukarska) 8:25.80.

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