#Rowers of the Month: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan are the Afloat Rowers of the Month for July. This may have been the busiest month ever for Irish rowing. There were a string of outstanding performances during a frenetic month at the National Rowing Centre. At the huge Irish Championships, Commercial took their third consecutive senior eights title in a nail-biting race; the Home International saw the Ireland senior men’s team win for the first time this century; the Coupe de la Jeunesse provided a platform for the class of Odhran Donaghy and Nathan Timoney and Aoibhinn Keating and Molly Curry as well as the junior men’s coxed four.
The World Under-23 Championships in Poznan provided rivals for the O’Donovans in terms of July winners. Four Ireland crews reached finals and the lightweight quadruple took silver. David O’Malley and Shane Mulvaney raced to gold in the lightweight pair, a fitting reward for this talented duo.
Sanita Puspure also had a brilliant July. She took silver at the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne, just a few feet away from catching the World Champion, Jeannine Gmelin.
But one Ireland crew took gold at the Rotsee. Gary and Paul O’Donovan had started the month by reaching the final of the Double Sculls on their first competitive visit to Henley Royal Regatta. In the early days of August they would take a silver medal at the European Championships. But the golden moment came at the lake of the gods, Lucerne. The Skibbereen men are the Afloat Rowers of the Month for July.
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.
