Ireland got off to a good start on its first day at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Racice, Cezch Republic, with all four crews taking to the water for heats.
More than 750 athletes, aged under 18, from 57 countries are taking part in the World Championship regatta which began on Wednesday August 8th and concludes on Sunday August 12th.
Germany and the United States have sent the largest teams, both with 14 crews – one for each boat class. They are followed by Italy with 13 crews while Ireland is represented by 13 athletes from six clubs - Carlow RC, Shandon BC, Castleconnell BC, Fermoy RC, Workmen’s RC and St. Joseph’s RC.
A large contingent of Irish supporters has travelled to Racice to cheer on the junior athletes who are the likely to be the international Irish rowing stars of the future.
The first Irish crew to race today was the junior men’s coxed four of Eoin Finnegan (cox, St. Joseph’s RC), Conor Mulready (bow, Castleconnell), James O’Donovan (Castleconnell), Fintan O’Driscoll (Carlow) and Eoin Gaffney (stroke, Shandon) who qualified directly for the A/B semi-final on Saturday after placing second in their heat, just two seconds behind Canada.
The Irish boat raced off the start, leading the field up to the 1,000 metre mark, with cox, Eoin Finnegan coaxing on his crew. The Irish oarsmen were then challenged by Canada who crept up from third place to take the lead but the Irish crew kept a comfortable pace to maintain second place, with the top three boats qualifying for the semi-finals.
Next up for Ireland was the junior women’s pair of Fermoy RC oarswomen, Gill McGirr and Ellie O’Reilly. Their heat was a battle of the English speaking nations that saw the USA crew storm ahead to lead the field by a huge margin and win by 17 seconds.The Irish women held fourth place throughout the race in a close contest with Canada who took second and GB who placed third. The Fermoy pair have another chance to reach the semi-final during tomorrow morning’s repechage against Hungary, France, Slovakia and Serbia, when the first three boats will qualify.
The Irish junior men’s quad, a Carlow RC / Shandon BC composite crew of Jack Keating (stroke, Carlow), Jack Dorney (Shandon), Alex Byrne (Shandon), Luke Hayes-Nally (bow, Shandon) also placed fourth in their heat that allowed only the first two boats to qualify directly for the semi-finals. The qualifying places were hotly contested by Switzerland, New Zealand and Italy with the latter just missing out on qualifying. Ireland will face Ukraine, Denmark, China and France in the repechage tomorrow morning (Friday) when they will need to place first or second to reach the A/B semi final and have a chance of achieving a medal.
In the last Irish heat of the day, the junior women’s double of Ciara Moynihan (bow) and Ciara Browne (stroke) both of Workmen’s RC, held fifth place throughout the race and go forward to compete in a repechage tomorrow morning against Austria, Japan and GB, when the first two boats will qualify for the A/B semi-final.
Rowing Ireland CEO, Michelle Carpenter, who is team manager for the event, said: “This is an amazing opportunity for these athletes and their clubs. Being selected to go to a world level event is testament to the hard work and dedication that they have put into the run up to Racice 2018.
“Many of these athletes have relocated to Cork since the break-up of school so that they could dedicate themselves to these world standard crews. The support they have been given from their clubs and families has been incredible. I was really impressed to see the large contingent of families and club supporters travel to the Czech Republic in support of these impressive youngsters, it goes to show what a big family we are in Rowing Ireland.”
Race times for Irish Crews on Friday August 9th, 2018:
9.00am: JW2- (Junior women’s pair) Gill McGirr and Ellie O’Reilly (both Fermoy RC)
10.06am: JM4x (Junior men’s quad) Jack Keating (stroke, Carlow), Jack Dorney (Shandon), Alex Byrne (Shandon), Luke Hayes-Nally (bow, Shandon)
10.42am: JW2x (Junior women’s double) Ciara Moynihan (bow) and Ciara Browne (stroke) both Workmen’s RC
For more info on race times and results and details how to follow the event live go to:http://www.worldrowing.com/news/how-follow-2018-world-rowing-junior-championships
The Junior Men's coxed four of (l-r) Eoin Finnegan, Conor Mulready, James O’Donovan, Fintan O’Driscoll, Eoin Gaffney and their coach Fran Keane who today qualified for the semi-finals of their event after placing second in their heat.
