Rowing Henley regatta: "I want to put a piece in The Irish Times saying 'NUIG/Skibbereen crew demolish four of the Oxford Boat Race crew at Henley'," declared coach Tom Tuohy. It was that sort of day for the Irish at Henley Royal Regatta yesterday.
UCD's young four won a stirring victory in the Britannia, Commercial continued their stately progress in the Quadruple Sculls and an NUIG/Skibbereen Visitors four, only formed a matter of weeks ago, took the scalp of a crew formed from the Oxford eight which had won a famous victory in this year's Boat Race.
NUIG's Paul Giblin, Alan Martin and Mark Stevens and Kenny McCarthy of Skibbereen had two and a half lengths to spare over Oxford in a stunning display. "We had them beaten 20 strokes from the start," said Tuohy.
UCD's one-length victory over Mortlake Anglian and Alpha was of the opposite variety. A crew with an average weight of only 12 stone has shown that a good start can be negated if the opposition are gutsy enough.
"We came from a length down again to win again," said UCD coach John Holland. "They (their opponents) are all big guys so they have to get ahead at the start. We just hang on and hang on and then kick them."
Commercial's formidable crew had their expected win in the Quadruple Sculls, by two and three-quarter lengths over Tideway Scullers, after the race was rescheduled because the English crew had equipment problems.
Today's test against Molesey should yield the eventual winner, said Commercial coach Mick Desmond. "We're capable of beating them, but we need everything right," he added.
NUIG exited the Temple Cup after fighting back from a big deficit to lose to Princeton University B by only half a length. Jonny Curran and James Lindsay-Fynn were well beaten in the Double Sculls, however.
Trinity old boys, Lady Elizabeth, won a sweet victory in the all-Irish clash in the Thames, beating Lady Victoria, the old boys club of Queen's, by three-quarters of a length.
The stroke of the winning crew, Mark Pollock, was characteristically cautious, despite a very fast time of six minutes 30 seconds. "We're only three days into the regatta," he said. "But we were pleased. And there's quite a lot of Irish interest this year, isn't there?"
Details (Irish interest): Thames (Club Eights): Lady Elizabeth bt Lady Victoria ¾l, 6.30. Temple (College Eights): Princeton University B bt NUIG ½l, 6:33. Visitors (Club and College Fours, coxless): NUIG/Skibbereen bt Oxford University 2½l, 7.01. Britannia (Club and College Four, coxed): UCD bt Mortlake Anglian and Alpha 1l, 7.21. Quadruple Sculls: Commercial bt The Tideway Scullers' School A 2¾l, 7.03. Double Sculls: B Mueller and M Weiss bt J Lindsay-Flynn and J Curran easily, 7.22.
