ROWING HENLEY REGATTA:MARTIN WALSH won his first Henley title in fine style yesterday. The 23-year-old Dubliner stroked Isis, four men from Oxford University, to a convincing victory over American crew Mercyhurst College in the final of the Visitors' Cup.
“It’s the greatest feeling,” said Walsh. “I saw (NUIG oarsman) Paul Giblin win it in 2005 and he said it was the best feeling. And it is.”
This year’s NUIG crew, with Giblin again on board, fell to Walsh’s men in Saturday’s semi-final. “That was our best row of all,” said Walsh. “It was a fantastic race. NUIG really attacked us. We were rowing well, and they came at us. We put on a sprint – it got better and better.”
By the closing stages, NUIG could find no more and the decision was three and three-quarter lengths, but Walsh said it did not reflect the battle that had gone on.
Yesterday’s win was more straightforward. Mercyhurst were a much lighter crew rowing into a roaring headwind, and once Isis headed them – they were two-thirds of a length up after 500 metres – it was a done deal.
The Irish challenge suffered grievous blows in Saturday’s semi-finals, as Fermoy fell to Agecroft – the eventual winners of the class – in the Britannia for coxed fours, and the composite crew of Old Collegians (UCD’s old boys’ unit) and London Rowing Club fell to Leander in the Prince of Wales for quadruple sculls.
Con Collis had to withdraw with a back problem from the Old Collegians’ boat (he was replaced by Olly Mahony of London RC) – but the crew were competitive and lost by only three feet.
Fermoy gave away weight in their semi-final. The rowers from Manchester averaged 14st 9lb (almost 89 kig), while the Fermoy four averaged 13st 8 (82.6 kg), and when the British crew got an early lead it left Fermoy with a lot to do.
The Irish crew fought hard all the way down the course, and got the margin back to just half a length at the one-mile mark, but Agecroft had increased it again to one length at the enclosures. A Fermoy push at the finish cut into the lead but could not eliminate it and Agecroft were given the verdict by two thirds of a length.
Saturday’s Diamond Sculls semi-final was a triumph for Alan Campbell. The 26-year-old from Coleraine slugged it out with double Olympic and World Champion Olaf Tufte and came home a two-length winner.
In yesterday’s final, however, Mahe Drysdale was the man in the charge, and again, size was on the side of the winner. The New Zealander is 201 cm (6ft 7in) tall, a full 10 centimetres taller than Campbell and has a long, almost languid, style which belies the sheer power he generates. He had a significant lead by the Barrier and extended it to a three-length victory.
A number of Irish crews can, like the Fermoy crew, take consolation from having been beaten by the eventual winners. Princeton, who beat UCD A in the quarter-finals, won the Temple Cup; Sydney, conquerors of Commercial in the first round, the Wyfold; Molesey, who overcame Commercial in the Thames Cup quarter-finals, went on to win yesterday’s final by one and a half lengths.
What this tells us about next weekend’s National Championships will only be known come the races themselves. Walsh, who rows for Neptune, will be there – but most likely just cheering his clubmates on. He doesn’t see himself being parachuted into crews which have been training all year for their day in the sun.
He’s just had his.
