#ROWING: It is a big weekend in Irish rowing, both at home and abroad. The Ireland team travel to Switzerland today to compete in the third and final World Cup Regatta of 2015. The races will be held on Lucerne's Rotsee regatta course from 10th-12th July, the same three days that the annual Irish Rowing Championships take place at home at the National Rowing Centre, Cork.
Sanita Puspure could win a medal at Lucerne, racing in the women’s single sculls, and the rising lightweight men’s double of Paul and Gary O’Donovan are contenders for at least an A Final place. Former world champion Sinéad Jennings teams up with Claire Lambe in the lightweight women’s double. All are Olympic-class crews.
This year’s Irish Rowing Championships features the largest entry ever recorded, with 893 crews entered for the Regatta. Races will run from 9am-5pm on Friday, 8:30am-6:30pm on Saturday and 8:30am-5pm on Sunday. The Championships is the premier domestic event of the rowing season and is expected to attract over 10,000 spectators across the three day duration of the competition. Over 3,000 competitors are making the journey to the NRC with the hopes of returning home with a title.
The senior eights event is one of the most anticipated of the weekend, as Trinity, who reached the second round at Henley Royal Regatta, face defending champions NUIG/Gráinne Mhaol and a UCD/Old Collegians composite. John Keohane is current holder of the men’s single sculls title, and a win this year will be three in a row for the Lee Valley rower.
