Irish still happy as silver turns bronze

ALTHOUGH they won a bronze medal at the World Rowing Championships at Dorney Lake, Eton, yesterday, the Irish men’s lightweight four were left ruing the loss of a potential second consecutive silver after being pipped on the line by France.

The Irish crew of Gearoid Towey, Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin performed very strongly throughout the race which was won by China in a time of 5.49.43, with France in second place 1.5 seconds behind, just snatching silver from the Irish four by a mere nine hundredths of a second.

Although they had to accept the disappointment of being caught on the line by the French, the Irish were at least able to reflect on a great season which saw them win the World Cup as well as securing a second consecutive top three placing in the World Championships.