Fermanagh's Ryan Ballantine helped secure a superb fifth place finish for the Irish Lightweight quad in the A Final at the World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria today (Friday).
This was another excellent performance from the young Irish crew who were cutting their teeth for the first time at this level and certainly did not disappoint.
Ireland finished fifth five seconds behind winners Germany and two and half seconds off a medal.
Nevertheless this was a wholly encouraging regatta for the crew including former Enniskillen Royal Boat Club rower Ballantine as he makes the transition to senior competitive rowing.
The crew, who are all under 23 years old, made the final after finishing third in their heat which saw them qualify for the repechage.
The lightweight boat stroked by UCD athlete and Waterford man, Andrew Goff, with Skibbereen twin brothers, Fintan and Jake McCarthy, and Enniskillen man, Ballantine on board, showed excellent form in the repegchage, breaking away from the field in the early stages of the race to secure second place behind Turkey to qualify for today's final.
Ballantine won silver at the World Rowing U23 Championships in July and no doubt Tokyo 2020 will be a very realistic goal for this emerging crew after these performances.
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