Four Skibbereen rowers in action in Glasgow on Friday
DENISE Walsh and Aoife Casey will compete in the B final of the women’s lightweight double at the European Championships in Glasgow on Sunday.
The Skibbereen double kept a solid third place throughout the repechage on Friday but the skilled lightweight doubles from Switzerland featuring Patricia Merz and Ferderique Rol, who recently took third place at World Cup III in Lucerne, won convincingly. The British boat of Eleanor Piggott and Francesca Rawlins who won a bronze medal at World Cup II took second place. The Irish double will now go into Sunday’s B final.
Meanwhile, in the men’s pair, Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan finished fifth in their A/B semi-final to qualify for Saturday’s B final.
However, the Skibb pair are coming up on the field after switching from lightweight to open weight. With big weight differences still between the rest of the class the pair pulled off a gutsy performance and held their own in this difficult field. In a faster second half and a sprint finish with their renowned high rate the pair came in fifth only two seconds behind the Italian world champions who took a third placing to go through to the A final. The pair will now race the B final tomorrow at 9.36am.
Also on Saturday morning, Gary O’Donovan and Paul O’Donovan compete in a semi-final of the men’s lightweight double sculls.
