Aidan smashes record on way to European title
The 14th European championships ended at a damp Fenile di Fano, near Pesaro, Italy with Ireland winning five individual gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
The big winners of the weekend were Aidan Murphy, with a gold in the Dutch Moors, and David Murphy, Carmel Ryan, Cian Shorten and Meghan Collins, who all won individual gold on the road yesterday.
A repeat of 2008, when the Irish senior men filled the first nine places on the podium, was never likely to be repeated, but despite 11 hours of travel yesterday, European champion David Murphy was outstanding again and was already guaranteed gold before throwing his final shot.
Raymond Ryan, who had held top spot before Murphy’s last shot, won silver and James O’Donovan was just pushed off the podium into fourth place.
Aidan Murphy set a new European record of 1,524.25m when retaining the European title for Ireland on Saturday. He beat the record set by Holland’s Robert Leussink at Tubbergen in 1996 by 30m and was a full 95m clear of runner-up Frank Goldenstein. Holland’s Rob Scholten was a further seven metres back.
The course at Fano was short but very lively, it was divided into two sections, the longer one 750m. Murphy was the only player to cover that in five, he covered the shorter one in two, which made him the only player on the day to carry three shots back to the longer course.
He was virtually guaranteed gold after seven, but his first shot back on the long course was only 130m. Any prospect that he might be overhauled was quickly dismissed when he delivered two magnificent last shots. That win, coupled with an outstanding set of results throughout the team, gave Ireland the team title with just over 311m to spare on the German FKV team. Eamon Bowen just missed bronze by 35m. Irish players filled all but one of the places from fourth to 10th. Wayne Callanan, Michael Murphy and Gary Daly followed Bowen, then came Dutch bowler Mark Oude Luttikhuis, followed by Edmund Sexton and James O’Donovan.
Carmel Ryan scored an impressive 1,796.2 in winning the senior women’s road gold by almost 200m from Silke Tulk (Holland). Dervla Toal-Mallon won bronze, while the rest of the team went over 1km to ensure that Ireland also won the team title. Ryan’s winning score was ahead of many in the senior men’s event. Tulk’s silver guarantees her the Dutch nomination for Queen of the Roads.
Shane Shorten won the youth gold by almost 200m, with a massive 1,918m—covering almost 300m with a fantastic last bowl. He was at the start of the S-bend in five. Ethan Rafferty won the silver medal and Keno Vogts amazingly won bronze to add to his two gold medals from the lofting and Moors. Solid performances from Brian O’Halloran and Cian Boyle ensured the team gold for Ireland.
Meghan Collins won Ireland’s first medal yesterday with a storming finish — her last shot was 174m — to push Germany’s Hannah Janssen back to silver. Good displays by Ciara Buckley and Catriona Collins ensured team gold. Roberta Rossetti won bronze and thus became the first Italian to win an individual medal.
On Saturday, former Queen of the Roads Tulk also set a new European Moors record when she became the first Dutch bowler to win the title. Catriona O’Farrell-Kidney finished strongly to take bronze, with the Irish women also winning the bronze team prize.
