Now for some medals. After moving day at the European Rowing Championships, blessed again by glorious racing conditions on Lake Bled in Slovenia, six Irish boats will contest the A-finals over Saturday and Sunday’s concluding sessions.
Leading that medal charge are Fintan McCarthy and Hugh Moore, in the lightweight men’s double, although they certainly won’t have it all their own way. From their semi-final, the top three boats progressed, McCarthy and Moore nailing third behind Switzerland and Greece.
Moore, from the Queens Boat Club in Belfast, is sitting in for Paul O’Donovan, who is missing due to college commitments at UCC. McCarthy, the reigning Olympic, World and European champion, is chasing a third successive European title, the Skibbereen man last winning with O’Donovan in Munich last August.
Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey are also into the lightweight women’s double final, finishing second in their repechage, two seconds behind the Greek pair of Dimitra Eleni Kontou and Zoi Fitsiou.
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In the women’s four, Eimear Lambe, Tara Hanlon, Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh finished in third place behind Denmark and the Netherlands, their time 6:40.26 also plenty good for Saturday’s final.
While some crews raced at the recent World Rowing Cup in Zagreb, for many, Bled is the first major international event of the season.
Siobhán McCrohan of Tribesmen Rowing Club had a fine morning, winning the repechage of the lightweight women’s scull. Leading from the first stroke, she powered down the 2km course, taking a qualifying position for the A final without any doubt, finishing three seconds clear of Switzerland’s Eline Rol. On Sunday she’ll be fighting for the medals against Romania, Greece, Czech Republic, Turkey and Switzerland.
The women’s double of Zoe Hyde and Sanita Puspure also won their repechage. They led from the start, before France and Great Britain started to press; all three crews finished within a second and a half of each other but Hyde and Puspure held their nerve and finished in front.
The Para Mixed Double of Katie O’Brien and Steven McGowan also booked their place into the A Final, after a fourth-place finish in their repechage. On Sunday, the Galway duo are up against the current World Champions, Laroslav Koiuda and Svitlana Bohuslavska of Ukraine.
The men’s four of Fionnan McQuillan-Tollan, Nathan Timoney, Ross Corrigan and John Kearney just missed out on their A Final in the repechage after a fourth-place finish. There were only two spots up for grabs, Netherlands and Switzerland coming out on top, the Irish crew slipping to fourth, Ukraine ahead by just .07 of a second.
Natalie Long and Imogen Magner also improved in their in the repechage of the women’s pair, dropping 12 seconds from their time in Thursday’s heat. It was Ireland, Croatia and Great Britain at the top of the field throughout the race, but only two spots to the A Final. Croatia won in a time of 7:12.34 followed by Britain in second, less than a length ahead of Ireland. The Irish crew will race the B Final on Sunday morning.
University of Galway rower Brian Colsh finished fourth in his repechage, sending him through to the C/D Semi in the afternoon, where he placed second, qualifying for the C Final on Sunday.
The new pair of Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch had already booked their spot in Saturday’s men’s double sculls semi-final, winning their with heat on Thursday convincingly from France, finishing in 6:23.73. This combination raced in April at Memorial Paolo D’Aloja International Regatta in Piediluco, coming away with silver medals.
Saturday final race times (Irish)
Men’s Double Sculls A/B Semi 9:56am
Women’s Four A Final 11:22am
Lightweight women’s double sculls A Final 12:57pm
Lightweight men’s double sculls A Final 13:13pm
