The event was cancelled after this preview was completed
Three crews have entered the women’s U23 pairs at this weekend’s on-the-water trial. Rowing Ireland have not produced many women’s U23 sweep boats since the famous silver medal in the coxless four in 2019. The athletes entered this trial are looking to buck this recent trend.
University of Galway A
This University of Galway A pair has already shown strong form, on and off the water. The bow-woman of this University of Galway A crew, Emma Fagan, won the recent Irish Indoor Rowing Championships, with a powerful score of 7:01.9. Her partner, Madison Donnelly, was not too far behind either, with a still impressive score of 7:18.6, which placed her fourth. This crew showed on-the-water speed to win St. Michael’s Head of the River last weekend. This crew appear to be quite unstoppable.
University of Limerick
This crew has one athlete from the University of Limerick’s winning senior eight crew from the 2024 National Championships, Caoimhe O’Sullivan. She will be hoping to maintain the winning ways of last year into this season. She is partnered with Roisin Byrne, who posted a 7:32.2 at the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships. They will be relying on the high volume of training University of Limerick are famous for to give the crews from University of Galway a competitive race.
University of Galway B
This B crew from University of Galway will be aiming to keep up with their impressive A crew as much as possible down the regatta course. Isabel O’Byrne posted a strong score at the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships, with a 7:27.9. She is joined in the pair by Ethel Rose Murray. This combination did not race at St. Michael’s Head of the River, and I expect they underperformed at the Erne Fours Head of the River relative to their ability, so they come into this trial relatively unknown to their competitors with regard to their true capability on the water.
Prediction
I expect the University of Galway A crew to be the outright winners of this trial and have a relatively comfortable margin of victory. The University of Limerick and University of Galway B crew will be a much closer contest and is very difficult to call who will be runners up to the impressive University of Galway A boat.
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