Deaglan O Drisceoil and Tom Brennan, winners of the Liffey Descent 2012

Two K2 boats with a very marked combination of experience and youth led the way home at the Liffey Descent today. Deaglan O Drisceoil (47) and Tom Brennan (20) won in a fine time of one hour 47 minutes and 54 seconds, while the father-and-son combination of Malcolm Banks (50) and Liam Banks (20) followed them just 16 seconds later. The K2 of Irish Peter Egan and British international paddler Jon Simmons were third, although they suffered two capsizes, one of them at Straffan weir, where there were a series of chaotic collisions that you can check at the videos linked at the end of this article. Great comeback from them.

Mickie Brennan of Thomastown Paddlers was an impressive winner in the K1 class, taking this title for the first time. Kevin Pierce of Wildwater Kayak Club was second, with Brennan’s clubmate Anthony Forristal third. But second position overall in K1 was for a well known paddler from this website: Gary Mawer, showing once again his worldclass paddling.



Main results:

K1 Senior Men: 1 M Brennan (Thomastown Paddlers) 1:54.33, 2 K Pierce (Wildwater KC) 1:55.10, 3 A Forristal (Thomastown Paddlers) 1:59.11.

K1 Senior Women: A Smith (Wildwater KC) 2:18.35.

K1 Masters: 1 G Mawer (Salmon Leap) 1:55.09

K2 Senior: 1 D O Drisceoil, T Brennan (Salmon Leap) 1:47.54, 2 M Banks, L Banks 1:48.10, 3 P Egan, J Simmons 1:48.49.

K2 Mixed: 1 J Egan, B Farrell (Salmon Leap) 1:56.07.

K2 Junior: 1 B O Casaide, R Brady (Salmon Leap) 2:11.40.

K2 Masters: A Seaford, J Treadgoud (Reading) 2:06.34.

K2 Veteran: 1 T Dillon, P Moroney (Wildwater KC) 2:04.04.

Touring Kayak Double: 1 P Scott, M Cooper 2:06.17, 2 S Martin, A Martin (Richmond) 2:06.49, 3 G Collins, B Gallagher (Salmon Leap) 2:12.07.

Wildwater – Senior Men: 1 A Hamel 2:04.16, 2 I Mac Giolla (Salmon Leap) 2:05.07, 3 J Gallagher (Galway KC) 2:13.57.

Canadian Triple: 1 S Doyle, M McGrath, D Doyle (Tullow) 2:53.31, 2 D Carroll, L Griffin, C Cullen 3:01.47, 3 C Slevin, N Slevin, M Slevin (32nd Limerick Scouts) 3:03.52.

Canadian Double: 1 B McNulty, D Bradburn (Chester) 2:39.36, 2 A Magrath, P Tennant (Paddleplus) 2:35.10, 3 N Canavan, T Marron (Mid Antrim) 2:38.47.

Canadian Single (ICF): 1 A Hales (Czech Canoe Team) 2:04.33, 2 D Jirka (Czech) 2:05.01, 3 M Novak (Czech) 2:05.40.

Canadian Single: 1 C Smith 2:54.08, 2 K McCabe (Lisburn City) 3:16.47, 3 A Redmond 3:24.20.

General Purpose – Senior Men: 1 S Hendrick (Ribbontail Paddlers) 2:21.33, 2 D Horkan (Moy) 2:21.48, 3 M Redmond (Wildwater KC) 2:26.28. Senior Women: 1 H Clarke 2:32.56, 2 J Kilbride 2:39.39, 3 E Kelly (Castleknock College) 2:40.19. Junior: R Mac Ghiolla Rua (Celbridge) 2:28.59, 2 P Deering (ICU) 2:29.47, 3 G Doolan (Celbridge Paddlers) 2:36.41. Junior Women: C Nic Ghiolla Rua (Celbridge) 2:56.26. Masters: R Vincent (Saor Valley) 2:17.05, 2 J Keegan 2:23.33, 3 N Butler (DBSC) 2:25.30.

Here you can cehck the pass at Straffan Weir in two nice videos:
The K2
The K1