From there to here: Women to the fore as Irish rowing finds its stride

Twelve of the 15 Irish rowers here this week are female. Four of the six crews through to A finals today and tomorrow are in female categories

POWER OF EIGHT: Ireland’s Leah O’Regan, Eimear Lambe, Emily Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh, Aifric Keogh, Sanita Puspure, Tara Hanlon, Natalie Long and Zoe Hyde. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Ireland’s rowing contingent has opted to do more or less all of its talking on the water since arriving in Bavaria for these European Championships, but Eimear Lambe needed no more than a tweet on Thursday to capture the extraordinary strides the sport has taken in recent years and the role which women have played.

Lambe’s post dropped after her part in a women’s 8 race in which Ireland had finished second. Aifric Keogh, Natalie Long and Tara Hanlon, her colleagues in the women’s fours this week, were also among the crew. The other half was made up of Sanita Puspure and Zoe Hyde from the women’s double sculls and Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty from the women’s pair.