Canoeing Liffey DescentGary Mawer of the Salmon Leap Canoe Club in Kildare was the fastest man home in the K1 senior racing kayak in the Jameson Liffey Descent on Saturday.

In splendid sunshine, Mawer (33) completed the 17.5 miles from Straffan in Kildare to Islandbridge in Dublin in one hour 58 minutes and nine seconds. Jim Morrissey from Galway was second and Dubliner Dermot Hudson third.

It was Mawer's sixth senior win and his fourth in a K1. He said he was feeling a bit flat before the race, after two weeks training in England. "I was below par, but I knew if I had a clear run a win shouldn't be a problem," he added.

Next up on his schedule are the World Marathon Championships in Spain in two weeks' time, where he has targeted a place in the top five.

Saturday's win also qualifies Mawer for the gruelling Fish Marathon in South Africa, and he hopes to take part, although it would mean competing only a week after the World Championships.

Back on the Liffey, South Africans Sven and Deon Bruss piloted their K2 home in one hour 50 minutes and 50 seconds, making it the fastest boat of the day.

The evergreen Eileen Murphy (46) of Salmon Leap won the women's K1 category. Indicating a dent on her boat, she explained she had been lucky to make it past the Straffan Weir. The bow of her craft got stuck in the cockpit of another.

"I had to go with him and I ended up stuck against the wall," Murphy said.

She eventually extricated herself and made it through to win - 30 years after winning the open singles category as a 16-year-old.

A generation on, another 16-year-old, Jenny Egan of Salmon Leap, made her mark on Saturday when she teamed up with her English boyfriend, Jonathan Simmons, to win the junior K2.

It was Egan's debut in the Liffey Descent, although she met Simmons (17) through the sport and is a dedicated canoeist. She shrugged and said: "It's my life, basically."