Ireland’s women’s pair won their B Final and single sculler Brian Colsh raced to a very good second place in his C Final at the European Championships here in Bled.
The pair of Imogen Magner and Natalie Long had been put together late in the day, but they showed they were up for the fight through the competition and won their B Final to place seventh overall.
The Czech Republic held a small lead over Ireland and Italy until the third quarter, when Long and Magner grabbed control. The Czechs kept them honest (the picture is from the closing stages), but Magner and Long would not let them back into it.
Twenty-year-old Colsh showed outstanding self-belief to take second in the C Final of the men’s single sculls, placing him 14th of the 23 single scullers who competed in these European Championships.
Poland’s Piotr Plominski all but owned the race and won. Colsh came from the very back of the field in the first third of the race and then picked off each of the other competitors, bar the Pole.
The men’s four also raced hard in a close B Final. With just 500 metres to go, they held second to Germany, though there was very little between them and Italy and Ukraine, who came through to push Ireland into fourth.