Portora Boat Club Masters rower Gerry Murphy won double gold at the Euro Masters Rowing championships in Germany at the weekend. 
The multiple Irish champion was in fine form to win at the  Regatta which took place at the Munich Regatta course, especially built for the 1972 Munich Olympics. 
Gerry started the weekend with a fine win in the Over 55 Men’s Lightweight catgeory (under 72.5kgs). 
Gerry explained the story of the race. 
“The final on Friday was rowed in 30 degrees with a strong headwind. I controlled the race from the start with 0.7 second lead at the halfway mark which I maintained for the second half to take gold.” 
France finished in second with Great Britain in third. 
On Saturday the heat was again 30 degrees but this time the win had turned around and was help the rowers.
Gerry was struggling to keep his boat straight on the start and being a little nervous, he was awarded a false start and the race brought back to start again. 
He added: “Knowing another false start would leave me disqualified, I had to hold back off the start and started a little behind. By the halfway mark, though, I had managed to overturn the deficit and I was leading by one length.  By the finish I had a six second lead over Germany in second and France in third. The conditions meant, I finished the race 20 seconds faster than the day before.”
These were two top class wins for Gerry who part of a 60 strong Ireland team from all parts of the island and almost 3,000 competitors took part over all the different age groups.