Young men and women showed fortitude and control in sometimes extremely difficult conditions on the first day of the Irish Rowing Championships at the NRC. As wind assailed the course, racing was originally postponed by three hours, and the finals then had to be suspended after four races.
The suspension was later extended into a cancellation for the day. The four remaining finals of the session – and 18 more finals in a condensed programme – are set to run between 6.30 and around midday on Saturday. The forecast for later in the day is poor.
The final of women’s senior four, run just before racing was halted, was a fine race. University of Limerick had a good morning, and their composite with Castleconnell passed and beat University of Galway, who encountered difficulties in the white-horse conditions.
Alex Gillick of Neptune was the dominant winner of the junior men’s single sculls.
The Dubliner is not the biggest of rowers, but in really challenging conditions he took control of this race. In the closing stages only Lochlann Crooks, also from Neptune, tested him.
Joe Tanner of University of Limerick held off a great challenge by Christopher O’Donovan of Skibbereen to win the lightweight single sculls, which had been pushed up to be the first final of the day.
As the conditions deteriorated, Coláiste Iognáid did brilliantly to find enough to win the junior women’s pair.
First final on Saturday at 6.30 am! The Irish Rowing Championships has to work around the weather; the Friday winds and the prediction of a bad day on Saturday have seen a radical redraw. The men’s senior four final, the fourth of the day, set for 6.50, and then 18 more finals before midday – if all goes well.