Conneely lies third/SAILING: Eamon Conneely's entry Siemens has become the first of the Transpac 52 fleet to take two rounds of the Med Cup, having won yesterday's Copa del Rey series, off Palma de Mallorca, to place him third overall after four of six events in the inaugural regatta despite a poor final race yesterday, writes David O'Brien.
Conneely and the Siemens team, with British Olympic medallist Ian Walker steering, had a cushion of 11 points and relished the prospect of one race yesterday to finish the 20-boat series.
Britain's Cristabella (John Cook) and America's Rush Valle Romano (Tom Stark) were close to Siemens but they always had more of an eye on each other, and the jostle for second, than victory.
With racing starting after a one-hour delay in five knots of sea breeze, once again the left side of the course paid. Siemens started too close to Rush Valle Romano and had to double tack to find clear air. Unable to find a fast lane to the left, he rounded the windward mark in a lowly 12th place.
The three first boats at the windward mark lined up at the pin end of the start line. First to round was Torbjorn Tornqvist steering Artemis, last year's Copa del Rey class winner, with Russell Coutts calling tactics, just ahead of Caixa Galicia and Pinta. Siemens worked hard and overtook Warpath, who gybed early and lost out on the first run, but there always some pressure with Stark managing to get as high as fourth.
"I felt like it was in the lap of the gods until the finish. We dropped at the start of the last beat and I had my heart in my mouth until the end but we managed to take three or four places and it was okay," explained a relieved Conneely.
"I think you call that winning ugly," smiled Walker, who admitted he was just glad to have got the Galway Bay entry to victory if even only by four points.
Siemens is third overall and has a chance of the Med Cup in the final two series, later this month.
Kürten on form
EQUESTRIAN: Jessica Kürten's assault on the prize fund at the Russian show-jumping fixture in Chernyakhovsk proved fruitful, the world number two netting $45,500 over the weekend, writes Grania Willis. Her biggest pay cheque came in yesterday's Grand Prix, with a $30,000 return for victory on the 12-year-old Danish-bred mare Quibell.
The German-based Irishwoman, who will not be part of the Irish team at this week's Dublin Horse Show after a fallout with team manager Robert Splaine, was one of three through to the timed decider and simply wiped the floor with the opposition. Clocking 36.90 seconds, Kürten finished with a two-and-a-half-second advantage over Swede Rolf-Goran Bengtsson. Estonia's Tilt Kivisild was a further three seconds off the pace. Yesterday's Grand Prix success was Kürten's second win of the weekend, Laurus providing the horsepower for victory in Saturday's speed class.
There was a much narrower margin for Kürten in that one, with Dutchman Marc Houtzager six-hundredths of a second adrift. Kürten and Laurus also took fourth place in Saturday's winning round, Austria's Gerfried Puck claiming the honours.
At the European young rider eventing championships in Pardubice, Czech Republic, Sam Watson missed an individual medal by just .4 of a penalty. The Irish team finished seventh.
Roche in fourth
CYCLING: Cofidis professional Nicolas Roche finished in the main bunch on the final stage of the Paris- Corrèze race in France yesterday, holding onto fourth place overall, writes Shane Stokes.
Roche finished five seconds behind stage winner Marcus Ljungqvist (Team CSC) at the end of the 186.5km stage to Chaumeil. He placed 16th.
Elsewhere, Mark Scanlon is 138th overall heading into today's sixth stage of the Tour of Germany.
Defending champion Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) won yesterday, while Jens Voigt (CSC) leads overall.
Paul Griffin won the Gene Moriarty Cup in Listowel yesterday.
