Rowing/Henley Regatta: Three young men from Galway and one from Skibbereen put a smile on the face or Irish rowing last evening as Henley Royal Regatta, so admired but so rarely conquered by Irish crews, yielded up its charms on the double to the Irish, writes Liam Gorman.
The NUIG/Skibbereen composite crew won the Visitors' Cup, giving Ireland an historic second win to add to Commercial's fine victory in the Quadruple Sculls earlier in the day.
It was only the second time in 130 years that Ireland had two winning crews at this Mecca of the sport. In 1974 UCD won the Ladies Plate and Neptune's Seán Drea won the Diamond Sculls.
One has to cast back over a century to 1873 for the only other double, when Trinity won the Visitors' and Kingstown Harbour (now the National Yacht Club) won the Wyfolds.
"It is one of those things to win here," said NUIG/Skibbereen number three man Marc Stevens. "Scores of Irishmen have reached finals here and never won."
The day was made all the sweeter because Alan Campbell, a 20-year-old from Coleraine rowing for English club Tideway Scullers, became the first Irishman since Drea to lift the Diamond Sculls title.
This regatta emphatically proved that Irish heavyweight oarsmen can take on and beat overseas opposition.
Both Commercial and NUIG/Skibbereen had set records in the semi-finals on Saturday. The NUIG/Skibbereen crew beat ARSR Skadi from Holland in a race where the Irish built a lead of one length only to lose it and seem doomed to failure with only metres to go. But as Skadi veered off course, the Irish produced a last, unconventional push to win by a foot.
Yesterday, against Cambridge, the crew of Alan Martin (22), Stevens (21), Paul Giblin (20) and Skibbereen's Kenny McCarthy took an early lead and were never headed.
The cohesion in the crew is remarkable, as they only came together last month to form a heavyweight four for the World under-23 Championships. Each race has brought them along and they may have a real chance of glory in the under-23 World Championships, assuming they qualify through the trial race still to come.
Commercial's win, by contrast, was the culmination of a season-long strategy. Early in the year the sculling group of five came together under coach Mick Desmond with this task in mind: to win the Quadruple Sculls at Henley.
"The one fellow I really feel sorry for is Con Collis," said Desmond yesterday, speaking of the man who didn't make the crew.
The path to yesterday's win had some twists. Three of the crew, Albert Maher (30), Seán Jacob (30) and Ciarán Lewis (31), controversially left Commercial's arch-rivals Neptune to join the group and James Mangan (24) and Collis left UCD.
When Jacob quit the group after being given a chance to represent his country, the dream seemed shattered, but he returned after Maher had beaten him in a trial and effectively ended his chance of international competition this year. Asked about his topsy-turvy year yesterday, Jacob, a soft-spoken giant winning his first Henley title, said: "You just have to look forward. Not looking back is good."
Although Maher had been part of the Neptune eight which won the Thames Cup in 1996, Commercial, formed in 1856 and one of the great Irish clubs, had never won at Henley. "We had a world champion (Niall O'Toole in 1991) before we had a Henley win," said Desmond yesterday.
The Irishmen led all the way and won by a length in the final against Leander, but as fans gathered to congratulate them they were not blowing their own trumpets. Stroke-man Mangan said: "We were shocked to be up (early in the race). We had a cat start."
Coach Desmond agreed: "They rowed poorly, they admit that themselves. They took time to settle. It wasn't the same type of race as the semi-final. But to win like that is just as good."
Saturday's semi-final had been extraordinary. Desmond had deemed the clash against Molesey as the meeting of the two best crews and his charges shattered the course record - by nine seconds - with a time of six minutes, 31 seconds.
Yesterday's win, against one of the other big names of English rowing - with Irishman Serryth Colbert in the number two seat - was just finishing the job.
Campbell, the new Diamond Sculls champion, won the Irish junior 16 single sculls title in 1999. Already being touted as a necessary lift for British rowing, which had a lacklustre regatta, he cut a distinctive figure at Henley, his powerful frame topped by hair died yellow, with a dab of red.
Now based in Britain under the tutelage of Bill Barry, he is part of the British under-23 team.
Two Irish crews made their exits at the semi-final stage. The old boys crew of Trinity, Lady Elizabeth, bowed out to London Rowing Club in the Thames Cup by half a length, while the young lightweights of UCD lost to Goldie in the Britannia.
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The Details:
(Irish interest)
Sunday Finals
Visitors' Cup (Club and College Fours, coxless): NUIG/Skibbereen (K McCarthy, P Giblin, M Stevens, A Martin) bt Cambridge University 1l, 6:53.
Quadruple Sculls (Club): Commercial (C Lewis, S Jacob, A Maher, J Mangan) bt Leander 1l, 6:35.
Diamond Sculls: A Campbell (The Tideway Scullers' School) bt B Hopkins (Curtin University, Australia) 1½l, 8:03.
Saturday Semi-Finals
Thames Cup (Club Eights): London RC bt Lady Elizabeth BC ½l, 6:27.
Visitors' Cup: NUIG/Skibbereen bt ARSR Skadi, Holland 1ft, 6:41 (course record).
Britannia (Club and College Fours, coxed): Goldie bt UCD 2/3l, 7:06.
Quadruple Sculls: Commercial bt Molesey BC 2½l, 6:31 (course record).
Diamond Sculls: A Campbell (Tideway Scullers) bt S Goodbrand (Rob Roy BC) ½l, 7:40.
