# ROWING: Sanita Puspure was withdrawn from the A/B semi-final of the single sculls at the European Rowing Championships in Seville today. Ireland Performance Director, Morten Espersen said that the decision was made this morning because the 31-year-old had flu-like symptoms. Puspure was very unwell and could not race.

John Keohane finished fifth in his C Final, 17th overall, while the Ireland lightweight double of Niall Kenny and Justin Ryan finished 21st overall with third pace in the D Final behind Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In the C/D semi-final they were competitive early but lost out when the second half of the race became a scramble for second and third places behind dominant winners Hungary. Ireland struggled to deal with the head wind and finished fifth.

European Rowing Championships, Seville, Day Two (Irish interest)

 Men

Single Sculls – C Final (places 13 to 18): 1 Hungary 7:56.08; 5 Ireland (J Keohane) 8:03.54.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C/D Semi-Finals Two (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Hungary 7:15.12, 2 Slovenia 7:18.43, 3 Bulgaria 7:18.64; 4 Slovakia 7:20.27, 5 Ireland (N Kenny, J Ryan) 7:26.76. D Final (places 19 to 22): 1 Slovakia 7:20.10, 2 Czech Republic 7:20.44, 3 Ireland 7:25.26, 4 Armenia 8:59.40.

Women

Single Sculls – A/B Semi-Final One: Ireland (S Puspure) Did not start.

# ROWING: John Keohane fought to the very end of his race but just missed out on a place in the A/B Semi-Finals of the men’s single sculls at the European Championships in Seville today. The Corkman, making his debut at this level, finished fourth of six in this evening’s repechage.

The Ireland lightweight double had to take a top-two place in their repechage but finished third behind Poland and Turkey.

European Rowing Championships, Seville – Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Four (One Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 Italy (A Micheletti, P Ruta) 6:39.92; 2 Austria 6:44.49, 3 Ireland (N Kenny, J Ryan) 6:47.43, 4 Bulgaria 6:48.89, 5 Czech Republic 6:51.76. Repechage Three: 1 Poland 6:22.93, 2 Turkey 6:25.31, 3 Ireland 6:32.54, 4 Portugal 6:38.49.

Single Sculls – Heat One (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 Germany (M Hacker) 7:03.91, 2 Lithuania (M Griskonis) 7:08.15; 3 Italy 7:19.44, 4 Greece 7:22.19, 5 Ireland (J Keohane) 7:25.67, 6 Russia 7:27.89. Repechage Two: 1 Bulgaria 6:56.69, 2 Greece 6:57.73, 3 Ukraine 6:57.99, 4 Ireland 6:58.94, 5 Switzerland 7:05.56, 6 Belarus 7:08.61.

Women

Single Sculls – Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ukraine (N Dovgodko) 8:04.02, 2 Norway (T Gjoertz) 8:04.65, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:09.24; 4 Bulgaria 8:18.54, 5 Armenia 9:41.08.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat One (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Austria (M Tauper-Traer) 7:25.35, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:58.09; 3 Czech Republic 8:06.09, 4 France 8:09.57, 6 Cyprus 8:10.61.

# ROWING: Ireland had a good start at the European Rowing Championships in Seville today. Claire Lambe nailed the second place she needed to qualify directly for the A Final of the lightweight single sculls and Sanita Puspure qualified for her semi-final of the single sculls by taking the third of three qualification places.

Ireland’s two other crews face into repechages later today. Niall Kenny and Justin Ryan took third in a heat of the lightweight double sculls won by Italy, who took the one semi-final place on offer, repelling a challenge by Austria. Ireland won a mini-battle with Bulgaria for third.

John Keohane finished fifth in his heat of the single sculls. Germany’s Marcel Hacker had his expected win, with Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania taking the second qualification place. Keohane, who is new to this level, held off Russian Denis Kleshnev, who finished sixth.

European Rowing Championships, Seville – Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Four (One Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 Italy (A Micheletti, P Ruta) 6:39.92; 2 Austria 6:44.49, 3 Ireland (N Kenny, J Ryan) 6:47.43, 4 Bulgaria 6:48.89, 5 Czech Republic 6:51.76.

Single Sculls – Heat One (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 Germany (M Hacker) 7:03.91, 2 Lithuania (M Griskonis) 7:08.15; 3 Italy 7:19.44, 4 Greece 7:22.19, 5 Ireland (J Keohane) 7:25.67, 6 Russia 7:27.89.

Women

Single Sculls – Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ukraine (N Dovgodko) 8:04.02, 2 Norway (T Gjoertz) 8:04.65, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:09.24; 4 Bulgaria 8:18.54, 5 Armenia 9:41.08.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat One (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Austria (M Tauper-Traer) 7:25.35, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:58.09; 3 Czech Republic 8:06.09, 4 France 8:09.57, 6 Cyprus 8:10.61.

# ROWING: A team of 13 Ireland hopefuls will travel to the World Junior Championships this season. Hilary Shinnick and Bridget Jacques team up in a promising junior double scull, and Bernadette Walsh will represent Ireland in the single scull in Lithuania.

Ireland will also take big teams to the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Lucerne, Switzerland, in August and the Home International Regatta in Nottingham in July.

Home International, Nottingham, July 27th

Men – Junior, Sweep: C Hennessy, L Carroll, E Murray, K Anderson, R McKenna, A Chadfield (plus four to be chosen). Sculling: N McCarthy, E Whittle, K Keohane, D Synnott, S Kearney (plus two to be decided). Women – Junior, Sweep: V Sheehan, Z Madden, K Healy, E Coll, H McCarthy, A Luke (plus four to be chosen). Sculling: S Murphy, K Turner, C O’Sullivan, C Kelly, Z Sohun, A Griffin (plus one other).

# ROWING: Skibbereen Regatta was today given a new posting of Sunday, June 30th, opening up the prospect of a bumper weekend of rowing at the National Rowing Centre in Cork. Skibbereen Regatta was originally to open the eFlow Grand League Series but had to be postponed because of poor weather. It will now end the series, directly following Cork Regatta on the Saturday. The Irish Schools’ Regatta, also rescheduled, will begin three days of action at the NRC on Friday, June 28th.

The new date for Skibbereen became available because Fermoy Regatta cancelled, citing flood relief works on the traditional course.

#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.    

 #rowingireland – The 130th Galway Regatta will take place on Sunday 16th June 2013 at the NUIG Sports Facilities at Dangan, Galway.

The announcement was made at a recent meeting of the Galway Regatta Committee held at the Galway Rowing Club based at the Waterside in Woodquay, Galway.

The meeting unanimously agreed to elect James Casserly as an Honorary Life Chairman for his outstanding contribution in previous years to the success of the Galway Regatta.

A call was made by the newly elected Chairman John Forde Snr for the people of Galway to once again come along on Sunday 16th June to the pavilion at Dangan and enjoy a great days rowing at this unique of Galway sporting events.

Entries for the Galway Regatta are expected from all four provinces and many of the top rowing clubs in Ireland are likely to participate. Regatta day is always a special event in the Galway sporting calendar and holds an exceptional place in the history of Galway rowing.

# ROWING: Padddy Hegarty of Skibbereen and Bridget Jacques of Belfast Boat Club topped the rankings among the junior athletes at the Irish Trials in the National Rowing Centre in Cork. The announcement of results and the squads for the World Junior Championships and Coupe de la Jeunesse was delayed for hours after a computer problem. There were a number of queries of the original selection and changes were made. A decision on Home International squads will be made in the coming weeks.

Time Trial, National Rowing Centre (Selected Results)

Men - Senior/Under-23/Lightweight single sculls and pairs (1900 metres; ranked on per centage of projected world best time for each class). Selected Results.

1 P O’Donovan (lightweight) 6 mins 40.85 (94.8 per cent), 2 G O’Donovan (lwt) 92.7, 3 J Keohane (heavyweight) 6:40.76 (92.4), S O’Driscoll (lwt) 6:52.87 (92.0), 5 F McQuillan-Tolan/S O’Connor (heavyweight pair) 6:25.33 (91.2), 6 D Neale (hwt) 6:46.49 (91.1), 7 L Prendergast (lwt) 7:04.10 (89.6), 8 J Mitchell/M Wray (hwt pair) 6:35.16 (89.0), 9 A Burns (lwt) 7:07.79 (88.8), 10 A Boreham (hwt) 7:04.84 (87.2).

Junior

Men – (chosen for World Championships and Coupe squad):

Single Sculls: 1 P Hegarty (Skibbereen) 6:52.9 (95.26), A Harrington (Shandon) 6:55.9 (94.56), 3 D O’Malley (St Michael’s) 6:57.9 (94.11), 4 J Mitchel (Lee) 7:01.0 (93.42), 5 C Carmody (Shannon) 7:01.7 (93.26), 6 J Casey (Shandon) 7:02.8 (93.0), 7 M Ryan (Skibbereen) 7:06.5 (92.21), 8 R O’Sullivan (Lee) 7:09.5 (91.5), 9 E Stone (Lee) 7:09.5 (91.12), 10 S Murphy (Cork BC) 7:12.2 (91.0), 11 G McKillen (RBAI) 7:12.5 (90.93), 12 W Yeomans (Commercial) 7:15.7 (90.27), 13 D Buckley (Lee) 7:16.8 (90.05).

Pairs: 1 K Fallon, J Smyth (St Joseph’s) 6:44.3 (92.81), 2 D Keohane, B Keohane (Presentation) 92.5, 3 C Hennessy, L Carroll (Shandon) 6:50.3 (91.74), 4 E Murray, K Anderson (Portora) 90.86.

Women - (chosen for World Championships and Coupe squad):

Single Sculls: 1 B Jacques (Belfast BC) 7:43.1 (93.14), 2 H Shinnick (Fermoy) 7:55.4, 3 F Murtagh (Galway RC) 7:55.5 (90.70), 3 B Walsh (Skibbereen) 7:56.1, 4 L Hamel (Cork BC) 7:58.4 (90.15), 5 M McClaughlin (Cork BC; jun 17) 8:02.0 (89.48), 6 P Mulligan (Portora) 8:04.2 (89.07), 7 E Barry (Bann, jun 16) 8:09.4 (88.13), 8 C Beechinor (Cork BC, jun 16) 8:09.6 (88.09), 9 K O’Connor (Muckross, jun 16) 8:17.0 (86.78), 10 E Lambe (Commercial, jun 16) 8:17.2 (86.74), 11 L Kilbane (Cork BC, jun 16) 8:17.3, 12 Z Hyde (Killorglin, jun 16) 8:19.2 (86.39).

Pairs: 1 R Gilligan/L McHugh (Shannon) 7:51.5 (87.85); 2 C Scannell/D Callanan (Shandon) 7:55.9 (87.03)

Group B (Trials for Home International) – Winners: Junior Men - Pairs: R McKenna, A Chadfield (Clonmel) 6:49.9 (91.56). Single: D Synnott (Lee) 7:20.4 (89.3). Junior Women – Pairs: V Sheehan, Z Madden (St Michael’s) 7:40.2 (89.99). Single: C Kelly (Carrick-on-Shannon) 88.68.

# ROWING: John Keohane was the fastest man at the Ireland Trials at National Rowing Centre in Cork today. However, the Lee Valley heavyweight was just nine hundredths of a second ahead of lightweight sculler Paul O’Donovan in the Time Trial. The 19-year-old from Skibbereen was assessed to have a percentage of world’s best time in his grade of 94.8 per cent – albeit with a strong tail wind. The conditions were forecast to deteriorate as the day went on and on-the-water work was done early in the morning.

Time Trial (Selected Results)

Men - Senior/Under-23/Lightweight single sculls and pairs (1900 metres; ranked on per centage of projected world best time for each class). Selected Results.

1 P O’Donovan (lightweight) 6 mins 40.85 (94.8 per cent), 2 G O’Donovan (lwt) 6:50.10 (92.7), 3 J Keohane (heavyweight) 6:40.76 (92.4), S O’Driscoll (lwt) 6:52.87 (92.0), 5 F McQuillan-Tolan/S O’Connor (heavyweight pair) 6:25.33 (91.2), 6 D Neale (hwt) 6:46.49 (91.1), 7 L Prendergast (lwt) 7:04.10 (89.6), 8 J Mitchell/M Wray (hwt pair) 6:35.16 (89.0), 9 A Burns (lwt) 7:07.79 (88.8), 10 A Boreham (hwt) 7:04.84 (87.2).

Global wind and solar company, Mainstream Renewable Power today announced its sponsorship of a rowing expedition attempting a world first through the infamous Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic this summer. Three experienced Irish adventurers and one Canadian are attempting to become the first ever people to cross the 3,000 km passage by human power alone in a single season – a feat which is only possible due to the melting ice which normally renders it impassable.

Irishmen Paul Gleeson, Denis Barnett and Kevin Vallely along with Canadian Frank Wolf will set off from Inuvik in the North West Territories on the first of July in their 25ft long customized rowing boat "The Arctic Joule". The four men will row in continuous shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week as the route will be in constant daylight for the majority of the journey which is expected to take two to three months, ending at Pond Inlet in Nunavut.

Eddie O'Connor, Chief Executive of Mainstream Renewable Power said: "Mainstream is proud to sponsor this expedition because it draws attention to the disasters of global warming. The expedition can only happen because the polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate. The melting of the permafrost and the release of methane hydrate is perhaps the biggest single calamity that mankind faces and it's all down to human-induced global warming. This expedition allows us to demonstrate to the world that there is an answer to global warming. We don't have to do without electricity. We can have our electricity supplied by renewable sources.

He continued: Just last month, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said that if we have any hope of keeping climate change below two degrees Celsius, the peak year of carbon emission has to be 2016. I hope this expedition will show world leaders that we need to act now."

This announcement comes as EU Environment Ministers met at Dublin Castle last week to discuss a range of important environmental and climate issues as part of the Irish Presidency agenda.

The rowing boat for the passage under construction

Speaking about the expedition Paul Gleeson said: "We are very pleased that such a successful, Irish renewable energy company with a global presence feels as passionately about this as we do. It wasn't long ago that the Northwest Passage was the sole domain of steel-hulled ice-breakers. We hope by making this traverse completely under human power in a row boat, without sail or motor, in a single season we will be able to demonstrate first-hand the profound affects climate change is having on our world."

The Northwest Passage is a route through the various islands of the Canadian archipelago which over the years has witnessed some incredible tales of courage, disaster and hardship. In 1845, fellow-Irishman, Francis Crozier from County Down joined Sir John Franklin on the same expedition in the HMS Terror, an expedition which ended in disaster and to this day remains unsolved.