Paul O’Donovan
Paul O’Donovan won the battle of the Irish scullers at the Head of the Charles in Boston.
The Skibbereen man took third behind New Zealand’s Fin Hamill and Spain’s Javier Garcia Ordonez in the high-profile men’s championship single. The off-season event draws huge crowds and an international entry to the beautiful, autumnal Boston venue.
Hamill (22) went off 16th and was a surprise winner, while Ordonez had been a finalist at the Paris Olympics in the pair and O’Donovan is a double Olympic gold medallist in the lightweight double.
Jake McCarthy, twin brother of O’Donovan’s crew-mate in Paris and Tokyo, Fintan, took ninth, while Fintan was 15th. Paris bronze medallist Philip Doyle, who went off first, was three places ahead of him in 12th.
Ireland also had another good finish. Aoife Casey of Skibbereen and Margaret Cremen of Lee took an impressive third place in the women’s championship double. The two had come fifth in Paris in the lightweight double.
The British crew of Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne and Rebecca Wilde won, while Hannah Scott, who learned her rowing at Bann Rowing Club and won gold for Britain in the women’s quadruple in Paris, teamed up with Iola Anderson to take fourth.
Meanwhile, Rowing Ireland has announced that their Olympic Celebration and Awards Night, fixed for November 16, will be held on January 25 at the Fota Island Resort.
The new chair of the board of Rowing Ireland is Barry McWilliams of Queen’s University, who has extensive rowing experience.