Irish crews win bronze at World Cup regatta

ROWING: The Ireland heavyweight four bridged a gap which stretched back decades when they took a bronze medal at the World Cup regatta in Munich yesterday.

The lightweight four, another Olympic-class crew, also took bronze, and to garland an outstanding day for Irish rowing Caroline Ryan won the elite single scull and UCD won the senior eight at Women's Henley.

Britain dominated the open four final at Munich, with Italy well back in second and Ireland's Alan Martin, Seán Casey, Seán Jacob and Cormac Folan holding off two German crews to secure a comfortable third.

Ireland coach Harald Jahrling, who created this crew in the trials process, was at the peak of his powers - he won Olympic gold in 1976 and 1980 - when Ireland last had credible heavyweights. Ireland have never won a medal in an open event in the World Cup series, and one has to return to Lucerne regatta in 1976, when Seán Drea and the Garda four won gold, to find true glory days.

Drea said yesterday it was "magic" to see Irish heavyweights back on the podium at a big event, but Jahrling was much more measured. "Yeah, from where we are right now I was happy," he said. He feels the crew are a long way from the finished article. "When you are learning, you make more progress. We will improve - how much I can't say."

Martin and Folan are on the light side for heavyweights, and the boat does not carry huge amounts of power. The crew is also still working out how to deal with varied conditions - yesterday it was a headwind.

"I just look at it from the perspective of absolute performance, not relative performance," said Jahrling. "We were third today, but I don't know how we would do at a World Championship regatta."

The lightweight four looked certain of silver for much of their race. Eventual winners France had a hugely impressive start, but the Ireland crew of Paul Griffin, Tim Harnedy, Eugene Coakley and Richard Archibald pushed hard to dispute the lead for much of the race, only to fade somewhat over the second half and allow fast-finishing Germany to pip them for second.

Jahrling was critical of the Ireland strategy of attacking into the headwind. It was "not clever" to be headed by a crew you have led for all but the last five metres he said.

The lightweight women's double scull of Heather Boyle and Niamh Ní Cheilleachair ended their campaign with a win in their B final. But they had missed out an A-final spot when they could only finish third in their repechage on Saturday. "I was very angry that they didn't make the final," said Jahrling. The crew has been making progress, but not improving at a fast enough rate.

The two wins at Henley yesterday were a needed fillip for Ireland's women's rowing. Caroline Ryan entered the senior single scull, but was elevated to elite and was at home at this level - she had 3½ lengths to spare over Nicola Easton of Vesta in the final.

UCD, who won the intermediate eight last year, beat Osiris by one and a half lengths in yesterday's senior final.

Back home, domestic rowers finally got the regatta they had been waiting for at Athlone on Saturday. The calmness of the conditions was matched by the competence of the organisers - and there were some terrific races.

One of the last events of the day, the men's junior 18 eights final, was roared home by the Galway and Limerick contingents. St Joseph's pleased the former with a quarter-length victory over St Michael's. The shoe had been on other foot earlier when St Michael's beat NUIG by the same margin in the intermediate eights final.

NUIG had opted to field seven of this intermediate crew, with John Jordan replacing Peter Egan, in the senior eights final. They finished fourth of four in a relatively close race won by Lady Elizabeth, boosted by the addition of Hugh Lynch of St Michael's, who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday. Lynch has joined the club and will be part of Lady Elizabeth's crew for the Thames Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.

University of Limerick are on an upward curve, and won the men's senior four, novice eight and intermediate pair titles, along with the women's novice four.

One of the surprises of the day was the defeat of the Ireland's men's pair for the World Junior Championships, Vincent Ruane and Matthew Carroll, but the trials for places at the Home Internationals demonstrated the depth of junior talent.

Tadhg Moriarity of King's Hospital bridged a gap for his club in winning a place in the men's sculling panel and Debbie Allen and Leonora Kennedy became the first representative from Enniskillen Rowing Club to qualify to represent their country.