Fiona Murtagh is well used to making a splash in the world of rowing, having claimed medals at national, European, World, and Olympic levels, but she did so in an unusual fashion at the Irish Rowing Championships last weekend.

The Galway woman – who won Olympic bronze with fellow Galwegian, the now-retired Aifric Keogh, as part of the Irish crew in the Women’s 4s at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 – was leading the way in the final of the women’s single sculls in the Sunday morning session when misfortune struck.

Rowing in what was a strong crosswind, she was about 500 metres from the finish line when she lost the grip on one of her oars after it clipped the water, and her boat tipped over. There was some concern as for a short spell she appeared to have been caught under the boat, before surfacing and then being taken out of the water.

“My blade [oar] clipped the water and just shot out of my hand. It was like a bullet. And by the time I realised it was out of my hand, my face was in the water,” she explained of the incident.

“My heel restraint was quite tight, so my ankle got stuck. I was stuck under the boat for a bit, which was a little bit scary. But the safety launches are great.

“That was my first flip in a single. And it’s been captured on TG4 and on YouTube and on national television – we can teach the kids flip drills [with the video],” she laughed.

However, in a display of her undoubted class as an athlete, she came back to race in the women’s eight final for University of Galway in the evening session, and stroked them to a victory over a Skibbereen/Trinity composite.

That women’s eight win was not the only Galway success over the weekend, which opened on Friday with Siobhan McCrohan of Tribesman BC claiming the second title of the day, crossing the finish line first in the Women’s Lightweight Single Sculls. She went on to finish seocnd in that race in which Murtagh capsized.

The evening session on day one saw eight finals taking place, with Galway success in two of them: Coláiste Iognáid won the Men’s Junior 18 double sculls final; while University of Galway took gold in the Men’s Club 4s.

There were three Galway wins on Saturday, with Zach Meegan of University of Galway taking the Men’s Intermediate Single Sculls in the morning session; the college club took the Men’s Intermediate Double Sculls; and Galway RC landed the Women’s Junior 16 8s, later in the day.

The final day of racing saw Coláiste Iognáid take the Men’s Junior 18 4+ title; and University of Galway won both the Men’s Intermediate Double Sculls and the Men’s Intermediate 4s; before Murtagh rounded off a bizarre weekend by leading home the college club in the Women’s Senior 8s in the Sunday evening session.

Pictured: Fiona Murtagh pictured after the Women’s Single Sculls semi-final at the 2025 World Rowing Cup in Lucerne last month. Photo: Benedict Tufnell/Sportsfile.