ROWING:Irish rowing will receive another shot in the arm next week with the announcement of sponsorship of the lightweight crews by Anglo Irish Bank.

"We're absolutely thrilled," Martin Corcoran, the chief executive of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union (IARU), said yesterday. The figure involved is a five-figure sum. "It's substantial," said Corcoran.

Late last year Merc Partners announced sponsorship of the heavyweight crews.

The deal for the lightweights will be reviewed after the World Championships in Munich in August. The 2008 season, which features the Olympics in Beijing, could be the main focus if things go according to plan.

On a darker note, the sponsorship was due to be announced on Tuesday at Garda Boat Club in Islandbridge but had to be switched to Commercial Boat Club because of a fire which destroyed the members' bar at Garda.

Graham Tolan, the secretary of Garda club, said the fire in the bar on December 17th had done "extensive damage" and the area would be closed for months.

The attractive bar was often used for IARU functions. Garda completed a fine revamp of the gym and boathouse in recent years, and the best way forward might be to now work on new dressing-rooms and a new bar - but this would require a big investment. Where the money would come from is the "million dollar question," Tolan said.

The millions already invested in the National Rowing Centre at Inniscarra Lake in Cork will be fully on show in the next few months. An official opening is pencilled in for the spring, and the centre will stage its first international event, the Home International regatta, in July.

The administrator of the IARU for the last four years, Rachel Maher, finishes in the position today. She will move on to work with Horsesport Ireland, but is not severing her links to rowing.

"I'm definitely going to continue on in rowing," she said yesterday. She hopes to compete with Helen Walshe of UCD this season in a double scull.

Sinéad Jennings and Niamh Ní Cheilleachair, who finished seventh in the world in the lightweight double scull last year, will be among the nominees for The Irish Times 2006 Sportswoman of the Year at a reception in Dublin today.

The elite international athletes head off to St Moritz for a camp next week, but on-the-water competition in Ireland continues. The St Michael's Head of the River at O'Brien's Bridge is set for January 27th, and the closing date for entries is next Wednesday.

The Neptune Head follows on Saturday, February 10th. Closing date for entries is Wednesday, January 31st.