On the river Mersey, deep in the wilderness of Tasmania, this generation of Irish visitors have received a warmer welcome than their predecessors almost two centuries ago. This has given motivation to our current crop of visitors to Van Diemen's land and their performances have been inspired. On a river reminiscent of the Abhainn Mór or Avonmore, in Wicklow, the paddlers competed in a sprint event and two classic events (the latter classic event is on Wednesday) as part of the six race Hydro-Tastralia World cup series.

The efforts and preparations of the team put them in good stead and their early arrival, a week in advance of the races, helped overcome the jet-lag from their journey of 17,000 km. As Roy Keane might say, succeed in preparation, prepare to succeed. And so to the results: Keith McGuirk took sixth place in World Cup race 1, Irelands best ever result in wild-water racing, with two excellent sprint runs leaving both his team-mate and other World ranked paddlers in his wake. Liz Shouldice finished a superb 7th in the Women's kayak class with all our Men's kayaks performing solidly. Cillian Duggan was best of the Irish in 23rd place with John Gallagher and Sean McIntyre close behind.

These first two events in the World Cup series also doubled up as the Master Championships so paddlers racing the World Cup had a dual mandate. In the sprint event Lukas was first ahead of Keith McGuirk with Tom Weir (USA) in third among the  C1's. The Irish continued to dominate the podium with the Irish anthem echoing around the river where it had likely been heard one hundred and fifty years previously. The tune of Amhrán na bhFiann announced to all that  Liz Shouldice had won the Women's Kayak and then, Cillian Duggan was awarded silver in the Men's K1 class, creating a clean sweep of medals for Ireland. Our forebearers  would be proud of this generation of Irish conquering the island in their own way.

In World Cup race 2, the classic event, Irish based paddler Lukas Novosad took gold for the Czech republic by a fraction of a second from current World Championship medallist from Slovenia. Keith McGuirk paddled solidly to finish 7th position having recovered after tripping on his paddle in the early stages of the event. In Women's kayak Liz Shouldice had an excellent 7th place in a highly competitive field. Our kayaks had an eventful day with Sean McIntyre being interviewed for Channel 9 on overcoming the challenges of the river but all raced well and in the same order as the sprint race.

World Cup Race 3, a classic race on the Mersey,  is on Wed. Oct. 28th. An 11-hour time difference after a journey to the other side of the World now means that the Irish team motto is  duisigh. We wish them luck in their quest for dominance on the island and hope they watch out for the Diabhal Tasmánach.