The third and final day of the 2017 Irish Rowing Championships was a fitting end to a fantastic weekend of racing. A jam-packed schedule was fulfilled on time as weather conditions were ideal throughout the day. Racing took place from 7:00am to roughly 6:00pm with races setting off every ten minutes, allowing for races that did not run yesterday (due to high winds) to take place alongside the normal Sunday programme.
The highlight of the Championships is always the senior eights races, which take place last on Sunday evening, and this year’s contests did not disappoint. At 5:00pm the women’s senior eights set off and the UCD/Old Collegians crew took an early lead, extending it to two thirds of a length by the 1000m mark over rivals Skibbereen/UCC, who were attempting to retain their 2016 title. The experience and strength of a boat containing Olympians Sanita Puspure and Claire Lambe proved too much for the Cork side on this occasion, as the Dublin crew produced a final push coming through the final 500m despite Skibbereen/UCC’s best efforts. UCD/Old Collegians won by just over three seconds in the finish.
The senior men’s eights followed and provided another exhilarating race, as a freshly formed Skibbereen crew (including Olympic silver medallists Gary and Paul O’ Donovan and European/World Cup gold medallists Shane O’ Driscoll and Mark O’ Donovan) gave 2016 champions Commercial a fantastic race, despite only forming the crew in recent weeks. Commercial led from the onset and although both Skibbereen and NUIG continued to apply pressure, producing push after push, the Dublin crew were once again crowned Champions of Ireland, crossing the line to a tremendous reception.
Earlier in the day, London and Rio Olympian Sanita Puspure took the title in the senior women’s single sculls, while Skibbereen’s Gary O’ Donovan won the men’s lightweight single sculls.
NUIG emerged as the club winning most titles across the 2017 Championships, nine in all.
Morning Finals
Men’s Novice Eight: 1. QUBBC 06:21.561, 2. UCD 06:25.296, 3. DUBC 06:43.812
Women’s Senior Pair: 1. UCD 07:37.408, 2. Skibbereen 07:47.471, 3. Cork 07:48.002, 4. Bann 07:49.143, 5. Commercial A 08:10.097, 6. Commercial B 08:24.878
Women’s Senior Single Sculls: 1. Old Collegians (S Puspure) 08:02.636, 2. Skibbereen (O Hayes) 08:28.887, 3. Methodist (R McBrinn) 08:52.357
Women’s Junior Pair: 1. Fermoy 07:53.373, 2. Enniskillen 08:04.061, 3. Lee 08:18.374, 4. Commercial A 08:23.624, 5. Commercial B 08:25.749, 6. Galway 08:44.718
Men’s Lightweight Single Sculls: 1. Skibbereen (G O’Donovan) 07:22.320, 2. Skibbereen (A Burns) 07:32.367, 3. NUIG (T Dillon) 07:33.820, 4. Carlow (N Murphy) 07:35.664, 5. Waterford (R O’Mahony) 07:48.680, 6. QUB (M McNamee) 08:08.868
Women’s Intermediate Coxed Four: 1. NUIG 07:23.647, 2. Shannon 07:30.335, 3. Cork B 07:31.976, 4. St Michaels 07:34.038, 5. Cork A 07:38.585, 6. Commercial A 07:41.929
Men’s Intermediate Pair: 1. NUIG 06:56.088, 2. Shandon 06:58.401, 3. Cork 07:07.901, 4. Skibbereen A 07:08.417, 5. UCC B 07:13.776, 6. Commercial A 07:16.667
Women’s Lightweight Single Sculls: 1. Skibbereen (D Walsh) 08:09.960, 2. Bann (A O’Donovan) 08:33.992, 3. Carlow (A Byrne) 08:49.774
Men’s Junior Double Sculls: 1. Three Castles A 06:50.217, 2. Castleconnell A 06:52.061, 3. Clonmel 06:53.639, 4. Carlow A 07:05.562, 5. Lee 07:15.937, 6. Three Castles B 07:24.094
Men’s Club Coxed Four: 1. NUIG A 06:43.381, 2. Enniskillen 06:47.881, 3. Neptune A 06:48.647, 4. St Michaels A 06:50.366, 5. Skibbereen 06:52.663, 6. DUBC 07:06.304
Men’s Intermediate Single Sculls: 1. Clonmel (D Lynch) 07:10.250, 2. St Michaels (D O’Connor) 07:16.578, 3. UCC (R Byrne) 07:18.906, 4. Castleconnell (F Crowley) 07:20.031, 5. Skibbereen (K Mannix) 07:21.610, 6. Sligo (G Patterson) 07:27.407
Women’s Club Single Sculls: 1. Carlow (C Nolan) 08:15.218, 2. Lee Valley (E O’Mahony) 08:32.593, 3. Neptune (E Power) 08:34.328, 4. Kenmare (E Crowley) 08:41.688, 5. Belfast (O Donnelly) 08:43.797, 6. Belfast (E Cassidy) 08:55.438
Evening Finals
Women’s Club Eight: 1. NUIG 06:46.973, 2. DULBC A 06:51.849, 3. Enniskillen 06:55.208, 4. Skibbereen 07:00.333, 5. QULBC 07:05.052, 6. Cork B 07:14.928
Men’s Junior Pair: 1. Enniskillen B 06:52.043, 2. Cork 06:53.184, 3. Shandon B 07:01.044, 4. Methodist A 07:08.810, 5. Waterford A 07:12.075, 6. Commercial B 07:24.013
Women’s Junior Quadruple: 1. Lee 06:54.964, 2. Workmen’s 07:06.230, 3. New Ross 07:25.262, 4. Clonmel 07:33.512, 5. Offaly 07:40.544, 6. Belfast RC 07:49.122
Women’s Senior Eight: 1. UCD/Old Collegians 06:24.836, 2. Skibbereen/UCC 06:27.961, 3. NUIG/Cork 06:33.665, 4. St Michaels 06:42.243, 5. Commercial 06:43.821, 6. DULBC 07:13.588
Men’s Intermediate Double Sculls: 1. Clonmel 06:37.168, 2. UCC 06:44.934, 3. Skibbereen 06:48.479, 4. Castleconnell 06:51.433, 5. Commercial 07:00.606, 6. Cappoquin 07:37.585
Men’s Senior Eight: 1. Commercial 05:46.307, 2. Skibbereen 05:47.948, 3. NUIG 05:48.385, 4. DUBC 05:53.714, 5. UCD B 05:55.979, 6. UCD A 06:03.308
Women’s Intermediate Single Sculls: 1. Bann (H Scott) 07:55.583, 2. Bann (A O’Donovan) 08:13.709, 3. Commercial (R Morris) 08:17.865, 4. Neptune (C Feerick) 08:19.037, 5. Garda (B Larson) 08:29.553,
