There was an outstanding finish to the men’s intermediate singles final at the Irish Championships today. Neptune’s Colum Brennan caught and passed long-term leader Brian Colsh of Sligo on the line to win by .257 of a second.
Brennan said the margin was so close he was not sure if he had won. “I hadn’t a clue; neither of us had a clue,” he said.
The men’s novice coxed quad featured a battle between UCD and Trinity and looked set for a similarly tight finish, but Trinity had more coming up to the line and won by over two seconds.
University of Limerick have been one of the success stories of the Championships, and they won two titles in this session: they placed one and two in the men’s senior pair, with Ryan Spelman and Johnny Cuddy the top crew. They won the women’s intermediate pair through Clara O’Brien and Niamh Coffey.
There was a good spread of winners through the other finals – well illustrated in the junior doubles events, with Belfast Boat Club convincing winners of the women’s junior 18 double, and Fermoy taking the women’s junior 19 doubles.
Queen’s University had started the finals session well with a win in the women’s novice coxed quadruple, and the rising form of Athlone was shown when their men’s junior quadruple left the rest behind to win their Irish Championship title.
One of the highlights of the day was to be the women’s senior quadruple final but it was scratched after just one crew was left because of withdrawals, and the men’s junior 19 quad was also not raced.