Video: Ryan Monaghan reflects on his first World Championship experience

Oklahoma City resident, Ryan Monaghan, represented the United States in the Men's Pair event at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand this month. Monaghan, with teammate Deaglan McEachern,earned their berth to the team with a win at the 2010 World Championships Trials. Monaghan is a first-time national team member, while McEachern finished ninth in the quadruple sculls at the 2007 World Rowing Championships.

In their first race of the regatta, the duo advanced to Semi-Final A of the Men's Pair event by placing 3rd in Heat 2 with a time of 6:37.20. The defending World Champions from New Zealand finished in first place with a time of 6:25.12, followed by Serbia in 6:35.32.

Despite a hard fought race, Monaghan and McEachern did not qualify for the A final of this Olympic class event, finishing fifth in a time of 7:20.64. From the 500-meter mark, the top three crews – New Zealand, Great Britain and Italy – separated from the pack and pushed into a lead of several boat lengths of open water. New Zealand won with a time of 6:50.88.

In Final B of the Men'a pair the crew started in fourth and rowed into third through the middle 1,000 meters, finishing behind Spain for an ninth place world ranking in a time of 6:39.34.