The Irish men's heavyweight four (M4-)of Cormac Folan, Sean Jacob, new addition Con Collis, and Alan Martin also progressed to the tomorrow's semi-finals of their boat category (3.40pm Irish time) at the first leg of the Rowing World Cup in Munich, by finishing a very close second behind the Czech Republic in their repechage.
The result keeps their goal for this regatta of reaching the A final on track however they face the high profile British four, and the top Canadian and German crews, in addition to Slovenia and Italy in their semi-final.
NIUG club man Alan Martin was pleased with how they performed: "We're fairly satisfied with how we fared today, with Con coming in for Sean we're effectively a new combination but we're beginning to gel well together".
The Irish men's lightweight four (LM4-)of Gearoid Towey, Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin comfortably won their heat this morning to advance directly to tomorrow's semi-finals, at 4.20pm Irish time.
"They were happy with how they went today, you have to remember they're also a new combination and it's their first International outing together. There's a strong tailwind out there, it is rowable, but it's tricky", remarked Irish team manager Mick O'Callaghan.
Sinéad Jennings and her partner Niamh Ni Cheilleachair narrowly failed to qualify for the semi-finals of their event; the lightweight women's double sculls (LW2x) when they missed out on the a vital top two spot in their repechage. Their C final starts at 10.18am tomorrow. The three Chinese crews competing in their event, who did not race in last year's World Championships, have caused somewhat of a stir and impressed onlookers in Munich, two of the three winning their heats to advance directly to the semi-finals and the third winning their rep to progress.
The newly formed men's heavyweight pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Sean O'Neill, finished third in their repechage, in this their first regatta together, and will contest the C final of the category tomorrow at 9.54am Irish time.
Both men's lightweight doubles (LM2x) will contest tomorrow's D final at 9.12am Irish time. In her first regatta as part of the senior set up Garda's Caroline Ryan contests the C final of the heavyweight women's single sculls (W1x) tomorrow at 9.36am Irish time following her 4th placing in her repechage. For Kildare native Ryan, the two men's lightweight doubles, and the Under 23 heavy four, who put in a good row in their rep finishing fifth, this regatta is primarily about gaining experience at the top end of the sport internationally. The U23 heavy four race in the C final at 10.12 Irish time tomorrow.
The overall World Cup champions are determined after a series of three regattas (Munich, Poznan in June & Lucerne in July) with the centrepiece of the International season the World Championships in Eton, Great Britain beginning August 20th.
