ROWING Irish Off to a Good Start in Munich

Two of the four Irish boats competing at the second leg of the Bearing Point Rowing World Cup in Munich have won their heats in impressive style today. The heavyweight four (M4-) of Cormac Folan, Sean Jacob, Sean Casey and Alan Martin put in a quality performance to win their heat in a time of  6.00.47mins, beating the Italian and Polish crews into second and third respectively.

After the race head coach Harald Jahrling commented: “They were the fastest crew over all the heats in their category this morning and did quite a good job, but have a very tough semi-final ahead”. The win means the four avoid the repechage and proceed straight into semi-finals tomorrow at 3pm Irish time.

The men’s lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Timmy Harnedy, Eugene Coakley and Richard Archibald also won their heat leading from the first four or five strokes all the way to the finish over the 2000m course. They too avoid the repechage, and progress directly to Sunday’s final, due to start at 12.15pm Irish time. A very sharp French crew won the other fiercely contested heat, ensuring Sunday’s final will be incredibly competitive.

Reflecting the race Jahrling said: “The nature of lightweight rowing is that the margins are always very tight, there are never more than a few seconds separating the field at the finish. Our four performed well today, this is the first racing since April for some of this crew”.

The heavyweight pair (M2-) of Marc Stephens and John Forde, in their second senior international regatta together finished 6th in their heat this morning. The duo then raced in this afternoon’s repechage where they narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot by finishing in 4th position. They needed to be in the top three to progress to the semis, and instead will contest the ‘C’ final tomorrow morning at 9.42am Irish time.

The final Irish crew in competition today was the women’s lightweight double (LW2x) of Heather Boyle and Niamh NiCheilleacher who rowed better than at Eton last month to finish fourth in their heat. The twosome will compete in the repechage at 3.30pm Irish time tomorrow, where they must finish in the top two to progress to the ‘A’ final.

Ends

Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union

For Further Information:

Sinéad McElroy            Irish Sports Council 01-8608804 / 087-6338512

smcelroy@irishsportscouncil.ie or irishsportscouncil@yahoo.co.uk (out of business hours)

Additional Information:

Sinéad McElroy of the Irish Sports Council will act as media liaison officer to the Irish team for the World Cup series and the 2005 World Championships in September and can be contacted for results / interviews on 01-8608804 / 087-6338512 or smcelroy@irishsportscouncil.ie

For live results and competition schedules visit www.worldrowing.com

KEY DATES

Bearing Point Rowing World Cup

World Cup 1 Eton, UK 26th – 28th May

World Cup 2, Munich, Germany 17th – 19th June

World Cup 3, Lucerne, Switzerland 8th – 10th July

2005 ROWING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, GIFU, JAPAN 28th Aug-4th Sept.