ROWING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:LIGHT RAIN and mist swept in from the west at the National Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork yesterday, and three of the main titles of the day headed the other direction as Skibbereen kept up their impressive strike rate. Controversy also arrived, with a dispute about UCD's disqualification from the men's intermediate eight.

The standout race of the day came in the women’s senior quadruple scull. Skibbereen’s Gillian Hosford, Orla Hayes, Christine Fitzgerald and Denise Walsh hunted down an experienced Old Collegians/Three Castles crew and beat them on the line.

Fitzgerald and Walsh added the women’s senior pairs title with little difficulty, and the men’s composite crew of Skibbereen/Lee Valley won the men’s quadruple scull from Queen’s.

The Belfast college notched up two victories: Eoin Mac Domhnaill and Mike Ewing were commanding victors in the men’s senior pair, and Queen’s also won the intermediate eight, beating Trinity into second. The win itself was remarkable because Queen’s stroke man, Charlie Cunningham, rowed with a broken bone in his hand, but this race was overshadowed by the crew that was not there.

UCD were “absolutely fuming”, in the words of club president Colm Daly, about not being allowed row in the semi-finals because their cox was late weighing in. UCD maintain that the cox was told that she had to have her registration card to do this and when she returned she was just four minutes late.

UCD lodged an unsuccessful objection but Daly said they would be taking the matter further.

The rise of young talented winners has impressed at this event: the St Michael’s junior women’s 18 eight; the Commercial intermediate women’s double; the Castleconnell junior double scull of Dylan Quigley and Adrian Sheehan which ran away with their final. But the most astounding win was by 16-year-old Hilary Shinnick of Fermoy in the the women’s junior 18 single scull.