Sanita dons the skull and crossbones

World Champion and three-time Olympian Sanita Puspure has been appointed as UCC Sport’s new head coach for rowing.

Ms Puspure, a world champion in the single skulls in 2018 and 2019, is a Level 3 qualified rowing coach and recently completed a degree in sport science and conditioning with Setanta College.

She will be working closely with coaches Martin Kilbane and David Breen to develop the new crop of rowers who are just starting out on their journey wearing the ‘Skull & Bones’ in a bid to become Ireland’s next Olympians.

UCC Rowing Club has in the region of 220 registered members for 2021/22 across novice, intermediate, club and senior crews, both male and female.

The club has won National Championship events and boasts several Olympians as current members including gold medal winner Paul O’Donovan, bronze medal winner Emily Hegarty, and rowers who were part of team Ireland in the Tokyo games such as Ronan Byrne, Aoife Casey, Margaret Cremen, Lydia Heaphy and Tara Hanlon.

The club also has several international rowers such as club captain Hugh Sutton, John Kearney, Alex Byrne and Will Ronayne who have competed at Junior, U23, and Senior Level for Ireland.

Ms Puspure said: “I'm very excited to accept this role as a rowing head coach in UCC and I'm looking forward to sharing all my knowledge and skills with all the athletes and helping them to reach their goals in sport.”

Morgan Buckley, Director of Sport and Physical Activity in UCC, added: “We extend a warm welcome to Sanita joining our team of coaches in UCC and bring her drive, passion and expertise to work with our very successful rowing programme.”