rowing

Lauren Henry said she was “sad” to miss out on a first ever women’s single sculls gold for Great Britain after being edged out by Ireland’s Fiona Murtagh in a photo finish on the final day of the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.

Henry’s silver medal was Britain’s eighth of the championships, the most of any competing nation, with a total of three golds, four silver and one bronze.

Only the Netherlands finished with more gold medals – with four.

Henry, 23, had won a medal in every international race she competed in this year, while 30-year-old Murtagh had never before won a major regatta.

But after opening a big lead with a blistering start, Murtagh hung on as Henry reeled her in in the final 500m, with the Briton eventually losing by just 0.03 seconds.

“Obviously, I’m really pleased to come away with a medal, but it is disappointing,” said Henry.

“I said I was coming here for the gold and it’s sad to miss out by less than a centimetre.

“I’m going to use this during the winter and come back better and stronger next season. Hopefully I can win that elusive women’s single sculling gold for Great Britain at a World Championships.”

The GB men’s quad – Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Matthew Haywood and Rory Harris – have had a superb season becoming European champions and winning the World Cup in Lucerne and they continued that form, dominating the second half of their heat to take their place in Tuesday’s semi-finals.

Ireland’s Ronan Byrne, Brian Colsh, Adam Murphy and Andrew Sheehan failed to qualify.

It is a new combination in the women‘s pair for Great Britain and Lizzie Witt and Jade Lindo acquitted themselves well, coming third in their heat behind Serbia and Chile but fast enough to claim one of the six fastest-loser places in the semi-finals.

Lindo was introduced to rowing through the Discover Your Gold talent ID programme and soon joined the GB Start pathway at Twickenham Boat Club. Witt was inspired to take up the sport when she went to see the 2012 Olympics at Eton Dorney. This is her first season of full-time rowing.

Ireland’s Emily Hegarty and Aoife Casey failed to progress.

In the men’s pair, James Vogel and Harry Geffen stormed off the start and were leading with 250m to go.

The Leander club duo were then caught by the experienced Spanish pair of Jaime Canalejo and Javier Garcia, along with Sweden.

Third place meant an anxious wait but they too progressed into Tuesday’s semi-finals as one of the quickest non-automatic qualifiers.

The County Fermanagh pair of Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, representing Ireland, made it through as an automatic qualifier after finishing second behind Romania in their heat.

This was their first race since the Olympic final in Paris where they finished sixth but they are the defending bronze medallists from the World Championships two years ago.

Aug. 30 (UPI) — Ewan, Jamie and Lachland Maclean of Edinburgh, Scotland, set a new record by completing a 9,000-mile row from Peru to Australia that lasted nearly 140 days.

They bested the prior record of 162 days by solo Russian rower Fyodor Konyukhov in 2014 by posting a time of 130 days, five hours and 52 minutes during their non-stop and unsupported row across the Pacific Ocean, the BBC reported.

“It’s still slightly surreal,” Ewan, 32, told the BBC. “It’s going to take a wee while for our feet to touch the ground, but what an amazing reception we’ve had in Cairns.”

They intended to arrive in Sydney, but several tropical storms forced them to end their journey in Cairns, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

One storm swept Lachland overboard, but his brothers pulled him back to their boat, as they rowed from Lima, Peru, to Cairns, Australia, where they landed on Saturday.

They battled seasickness and a defective water converter, caught fish and ate freeze-dried meals to stay fed, but they ran out of the meals on Friday.

About 100, including friends and family, watched and cheered as Ewan, Jamie, 31, and Lachlan, 26, arrived at Cairns Marlin Marina and were greeted to the sound of bagpipes playing, the Cairns Post reported.

They set foot on land for the first time since departing Peru on April 12 and rowing across the ocean.

The brothers raised the equivalent of about $920,000 in U.S.funds in contributions to provide clean water for people in Madagascar, with more possibly being donated.

“It’s foundational for everything, Lachland said. “You need clean water to live a flourishing life, to bring communities out of poverty.”

He estimated 40,000 people in Madagascar will get clean water for the rest of their lives if they reach their goal of about $1.3 million in equivalent U.S. funds.

The brothers previously rowed unassisted across the Atlantic Ocean, which took 35 days to complete in 2020.