Ronan Byrne (above) teamed up with Adam Murphy to win the senior double at the Irish Rowing Championships
The first day of the Irish Rowing Championships saw internationals, rising and established, come to the fore at the National Rowing Centre in Cork.
A big Ireland team at U-19 and U-23 has just been named for the World Championships next month in Canada, and Rian Claffey of Athlone and Moya Knowles of Skibbereen had eye-catching wins in the men’s and women’s junior single sculls to set them up nicely for the Canada trip.
Coming to the end of the day, Lee Valley’s Holly Davis – who travels to the Olympics as a spare before heading for Canada to compete at U-23 level – teamed up with Sophia Monohan to win the women’s senior double.
Skibbereen’s Jake McCarthy – whose twin Fintan will defend his lightweight double gold medal in Paris – was a big winner of the lightweight single sculls.
UCC bettered Skibbereen’s tally on the day, with three wins. Tokyo Olympian Ronan Byrne teamed up with Adam Murphy to win the senior double; Cliodhna Nolan took the lightweight single, and the Cork college won the final race of the day, the club two coxed four.
The two senior fours races were highlights.
In the men’s final, Cork Boat Club saw off UCD, who are set to be big rivals in the eights on Sunday. University of Galway’s women beat University of Limerick, and added the women’s intermediate eight for good measure.
Galway’s St Joseph’s won the best race of the day, the men’s junior 18 pair. They resisted tremendous pressure from Presentation and then, coming to the line, Skibbereen.
More than 900 crews have entered the championships, and there were 16 champions crowned on the day. The action continues through to Sunday.
