FOR the first time since 2019, Enniskillen rowers represented Ireland at the end of season in the under-19 European (Coupe de Jeunesse) and World Championships.
The Coupe event took place in Linz, Austria, with the Irish rowers all training in Enniskillen beforehand under local coaches Aaron Johnston and Chloe Thompson.
The format starts with time trials over 2000m, which then determine whether crews qualify for one of the A or B finals. They also race each other in the same event twice over.
The Irish eight, which included Enniskillen rowers Luke Bailey, Evan Donaghy, Austin Cassidy, Ryan Topping and cox Abbey Wilson, qualified in the heats for the A Final against stiff competition on the second day, and came sixth which was strong result given the sixteen countries participating.
Naomi Robinson in the Junior Women’s Pair won their B Final on the first day, with a blistering last 500 metres to beat Netherlands and Sweden.
The World Championships took place in the beautiful location of Trakai, Lithuania, where Isabella Wright was in the coxless four event.
They came second in their heats to qualify for the semi-final and then just missed out on place in the A Final by 0.2 second to Poland. In the B Final, they were leading at the 1000m mark against a strong head wind, but were unable to hold off a strong Croatian crew who beat them into second place.
It was a fantastic experience for all the crews who had also enjoyed success in the Irish Championships in early July. Isabella is the first rower from Enniskillen to participate in the World championships since Holly Nixon in 2011. They now enjoy a well-earned rest before next season starts again in September.