The Irish Indoor Rowing Championships in Limerick saw Katie O’Brien (pictured) and Denis Crowley set new world records, while Holly Davis minted a new Irish junior women’s mark.
Galway woman O’Brien had a wonderful World Championships last year, winning the PR2 single sculls, and she duly added the world record to her list of achievements, recording 7 minutes 56.5 seconds. She had considered missing the event due to sinus trouble.
Crowley, who has a remarkable record in the World Masters Championships – he has more than 30 medals – became the fastest lightweight man over 60 with a time of 6:40.9.
Davis, who turned 18 in January, targeted the Irish record for junior women and beat it well, with 6.56.1. She says her year will be built around the Leaving Cert and – hopefully – competing at the World Junior Championships. She won a bronze medal at the World Juniors in 2021. The Lee Valley woman is pictured below with coaches Noel Monaghan and Ross O’Donovan.
Andrew O’Leary won the men’s junior title in Limerick, while Donagh Claffey took the Under-23 honours. Michael Hourihane of Skibbereen was the fastest on the day. The big man won the men’s open class in a time of 6:02.5.
University of Limerick rowers Caoimhe O’Sullivan, who is under-23, and Kate Healy topped the women’s rankings, with times of 7:10.1 and 7:10.5, while Siobhan McCrohan of Tribesmen was the fastest lightweight woman in a good time of 7:13.1.
The rescheduling of the event saw many of the top Ireland internationals ruled out, and while Gary O’Donovan was entered in the men’s lightweight class he withdrew. He has been suffering from a foot injury.
