National Rowing Championships

Siobhan McCrohan , 23-year-old lightweight rower who moved from her native Galway to Cork to train full-time at the National Rowing Centre, confirmed the benefit of the move when she won the single sculls title at the National Trials at the National Rowing Centre on Saturday.

McCrohan took control of the A Final in the third quarter and confidently held off the late challenge of heavyweight rival Lisa Dilleen.

Claire Lambe’s third place gave the under-23 lightweight a rating of 93.5 per cent of projected world gold medal winning time in her grade. The selectors now have the task of deciding how to balance the chance of medalling at the World Under-23 Championships – another under-23 athlete, Sarah Dolan, finished fifth in the final – with the desire to gain Olympic qualification for the lightweight double at this year’s World Championships.

Last year Lambe and McCrohan teamed up to form a successful lightweight double which made World Cup and European Championship A Finals.

The men’s single scull final was won by Mark O’Donovan, who led in Michael Maher, Niall Kenny and Justin Ryan – the three men who joined him in the lightweight quadruple scull which took silver at the World Under-23 Championships last year. O’Donovan and Maher have now moved up to senior.

Source: Liam Gorman Irish Times