The Rowing Ireland team for the 2021 European Rowing Championships has been confirmed by Rowing Ireland's high performance director Antonio Maurogiovanni.
Eight senior Irish crews will feature in Varese from 9-11 April
Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne will be competing in the Men's Double in Italy. The duo qualified the Men’s Double by winning silver at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz.
Daire Lynch will row in the Men’s Single. He had a very successful 2020, winning Under-23 European gold and bronze alongside Ronan Byrne.
The crew of Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty will be taking part in the Women’s Four.
Aileen Crowley and Monika Dukarska have been selected for the Women’s Pair race.
Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy will be competing in the Lightweight Men’s Double. They won gold at the 2019 World Rowing Championships and qualified the boat for the Olympics.
Gary O’Donovan will row in the Lightweight Men’s Single. Along with Paul, Gary won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won a World Championship in 2018.
Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey will be racing in the Lightweight Women’s Double after winning silver in the same category at the European U-23 Rowing Championships last year.
Lydia Heaphy will be competing in the Lightweight Women’s Single.
She had a successful 2020 after winning Gold alongside Cliodhna Nolan in the Women’s Lightweight Pair at the Under-23s.
Sanita Puspure will not be racing and will instead travel with the team for training camp to compete at later competitions.
A total of 17 athletes will be representing Ireland, with world champion Sanita Puspure travelling with the squad for the purposes of a training camp.
The team have been training together over several months in the National Rowing Centre in Cork. Alongside the Senior Athletes, there have been additional athletes training with an eye for the U-23 and Junior World Championships this year and the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Irish Crews
M2x
Ronan Byrne (UCC)
Philip Doyle (Belfast Boat Club)
Daire Lynch (Clonmel)- Reserve
M1x
Daire Lynch (Clonmel)
W4-
Fiona Murtagh (NUIG)
Eimear Lambe (OCBC)
Aifric Keogh (UCC)
Emily Hegarty (UCC)
W2-
Monika Dukarska (Killorglin)
Aileen Crowley (OCBC)
W4-/W2- Reserve
Tara Hanlon (UCC RC)
Claire Feerick (Neptune RC)
LM1x
Gary O'Donovan (Skibbereen)
LM2x
Paul O’Donovan (UCC)
Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen)
LW2x
Margaret Cremen (UCC)
Aoife Casey (UCC)
LW1x
Lydia Heaphy (UCC)
