UCD Men finish the season with 5 National Championships. Ladies and OC add 4 more.

UCD Boat Club captured a total of five titles at the 2014 Irish Rowing Championships, with UCD Ladies Boat Club also winning the Womens Intermediate 8+. Alumni Club Old Collegians took three titles – a composite win with Commercial in the Mens Senior 4x and two sculling titles for Claire Lambe in the Womens Senior 1x and Womens Lightweight 1x.

The first win of the weekend came from the Mens Club 8+ where a strong UCD crew finished 8 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Skibbereen Rowing Club.

Four of this crew (Colm O’Riada, Darren O’Neill, Brendan Crosse, Andrew Griffin and cox Lee Mulvihill) also recorded a convincing win in the Mens Club 4+, finishing 8 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Cork Boat Club.

UCD’s next win came in Mens Senior 2- where Ad Astra Elite Athlete Niall Kenny joined up with Mark O’Donovan. The lightweight combination faced stiff opposition from U23 Heavyweight athletes in the NUIG boat but raced well and finished 4 seconds in front. Niall and Mark will be racing this boat for Ireland at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam at the end of August.

Next up was Mens Novice 8+, an event where UCD and Trinity Boat Club had produced a great rivalry over the course of the season. UCD took the lead early and never looked back, winning by 3 seconds over QUBBC who forced Trinity into 3rd.

In the Mens Intermediate 1x, Sam Toland produced some great racing in the heat and semi-final to line up alongside fellow UCD man Turlough Hughes in the final. However, it was Turlough who would dominate the race, having returned to rowing this season after a year out. Turlough powered home to win by 8 seconds over St. Michaels Rowing Club and follow in the footsteps of recent UCD Intermediate 1x Champions Anthony English (2011) and David Neale (2012). Sam finished 6th in the final but, combined with his 3rd place finish in Mens Lightweight 1x behind seasoned internationals, has shown strong development this year. Turlough produced another great performance in Mens Senior 1x to finish in 4th, just 4 seconds off winner John Keohane from Lee Valley who raced this event at World Cup II in France in June. Ad Astra Elite Athlete Paul O’Donovan was just pipped into 2nd place by Keohane.

Old Collegians Sean Jacob and Con Collis combined with Commercial Rowing Club’s Albert Maher and Michael Maher to capture Mens Senior 4x, winning by just under a second over Castleconnell/ULRC. UCD Ladies Boat Club had a tight finish in Womens Intermediate 8+, winning by 0.6 seconds over NUIG Boat Club.

Claire Lambe took both the Womens Lightweight 1x and Womens Senior 1x for Old Collegians. The Lightweight race was a great competition between Claire and Siobhan McCrohan of Tribesmen, with Claire winning out by 2 seconds. The two lined up against each other again in the Senior race but McCrohan withdrew before 500m and Claire went on to win by 15 seconds over Catriona Jennings of Commercial.

UCD Boat Club would like to thank our athletes and coaches for the huge effort they have put in this season, especially Pat McDonagh and Martin Feeley (coaching Club/Inter/Senior) and Alan Thomas (coaching Turlough Hughes).

Finally, best of luck to our athletes selected to represent Ireland this summer –

• Paul O’Donovan (LM1x U23 World Rowing U23 Championships – Varese, Italy 23 July – 27 July)
• Sam Toland (LM2x Home Internationals – Cork, 26 July)
• Niall Kenny & Mark O’Donovan (LM2- World Rowing Championships – Amsterdam, Netherlands August 24 – August 31)

 

Other UCD results over the weekend were:

• 3rd Mens Senior 8+ (Niall Kenny, Mark O’Donovan, Sean Jacob, Con Collis, Peter Grogan, Paddy Cole, Michael Bailey, Paddy Moore and Cox Lee Mulvihill)
• 2nd Mens Senior 4- (Peter Grogan, Gearoid Duane, Sean Jacob, Con Collis)
• 3rd Mens Intermediate 8+ (Michael Bailey, Patrick Moore, Vincent Manning, Brendan Crosse, Andrew Griffin, Paddy Cole, Colm O’Riada, Mark McShane and Cox Lee Mulvihill)
• Elim Heat Mens Intermediate 2- (Niall Farrell, Mark McShane)