SAILING: JUST A week after Ireland's Annalise Murphy was placed in the top-10 in the Laser Radial Worlds, in addition to the Under-21 World Championship title, there was further positive news from Japan where the youth division in the class was decided.
Philip Doran, from Courtown Sailing Club, placed ninth overall and also took the Under-17 title, progressing from his Under-16 title in the smaller-rigged Laser 4.7 class in 2008.
Oliver Loughead, from Ballyholme Yacht Club, placed 12th and both are tipped as contenders for the senior Laser Olympic class in the 2016 games.
Murphy (19), is, in turn, a strong candidate for the women’s Olympic event at Weymouth, but may have to watch out for Tiffany Brien from the Royal Ulster YC, who performed well in Japan.
The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) is pointing to these results as evidence that the high-performance pathway is delivering results, especially when taken with other results this summer, such as Peter O’Leary and Tim Goodbody winning the spring Star Europeans.
Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks’s recent top showing at the Star World Championship doesn’t feature in the ISA, perhaps unsurprisingly after the acrimony of their unsuccessful challenge to the selection of O’Leary and Stephen Milne for the single Beijing place in 2008.
However, there are early indications that a detente of sorts may be in the offing as, once again, selection for the Star class for London 2012 will be a close-run affair.
As far as the high-performance programme goes, there is a schedule working towards the 2016 Games, and several of the 40 carded athletes in the scheme, which is funded by the Irish Sports Council, have exceeded that.
The next major event in the Olympic calendar is the Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth next month, where the next games will take place. The O’Leary and Goodbody Star duo, 49er sailors Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern plus the Laser Radial women will all be taking part.
Treacy and Shanks have only committed to three major events this year and it will be the 2010 Star North American Championships before this pair is in action again.
The fourth Nora Barnacle Challenge takes place this afternoon on Dublin Bay, where organisers hope to bring the total raised for the Blackrock Hospice to €60,000.
Sailed in Sigma 33-footers, 75 sailors, including at least two newcomers per boat, are expected to take part.
Run in memory Des Rogan, Sigma class captain, a donation will also be made to the Sue Ryder Foundation, of which he is was chairman.
Fastnet Race
WITH VERY light winds off Land’s End, Niklas Zennestrom’s Rán was confirmed as the overall handicap winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race in Plymouth last night, writes David Branigan.
His The 72-footer finished the race in an elapsed time of 63 hours, 1 minute and 33 seconds, which corrected out to 2 hours, 19 minutes ahead of the second-placed Italian America’s Cup team Luna Rossa on board their STP65.
The slow race for the smaller boats meant their opportunity to overtake with fast finishes did not materialise, leaving it looking like a fifth overall place for Mick Cotter’s Whisper from Dún Laoghaire, which enjoyed a strong performance alongside the exotic high-performance entries in Class Super Zero.
The majority of the fleet have rounded Fastnet Rock with the backmarker, Morwenna, midway across the Celtic Sea with just over one third of the race course completed.
