ROWING/National championships preview: The international crews gave rowing in Ireland a big boost in the World Cup series last weekend, and over the next few days Ireland's club rowers get their days in the sun at the National Championships at Inniscarra Lake in Cork.
There are hundreds of competitors, with a marked strength at underage level, a programme which runs from 8am to 6.30pm each day - and a hot talking point in the highest profile event of the weekend.
The men's senior eight has five composite crews, including a Galway Rowing Club, Skibbereen crew which features a number of oarsmen from the strongest rowing club in Britain, Leander.
Rowers can represent more than one club, and once an athlete is properly registered with a club they can represent it at the Irish national championships whatever their nationality or other club loyalty.
Two years ago Commercial won the senior eights title with British international Danny Harte in the stroke seat, though he was not a regular competitor for them. While this drafting in of rowers for the biggest event of the year can make for a high level of competition it raises questions in regard to club loyalty and the value to the club of a pot won in this way.
One way forward might be to require a competitor at the national championships to have represented his or her club in at least one other regatta earlier in the season.
NUIG's return after suspension should give the regatta a lift. They have long targeted the senior eights title and have a strong-looking entry this year - and a composite with Galway Rowing club which features a number of the same personnel. At least one of the crews must change order or drop out on the day.
John Forde is listed as stroke in the two senior eights in which Galway are a component part, and is also entered as stroke in three senior coxless fours! These talking point aside, the battle for the senior eights pot should be a keen one, and a number of the competitors in the entry of nine crews have recent Henley experience.
Belfast's wonderful run to the semi-final of the Thames Cup has prompted an entry, and Neptune and the composite including St Michael's also got to test themselves at the ultimate club event. Trinity's run in the Temple Cup may also have brought them along.
However, the crew which may take beating has the composite of defending champions Commercial, along with Fermoy's David Wallace and the Shannon men who exited at the quarter-final stage of the Visitors Cup.
Commercial's Albert Maher and Ciarán Lewis have an unmatched run of wins in this event. They are the old heads in the middle of the boat and if they can reproduce their form of the last decade this may be the crew which lifts the pot tomorrow evening.
In the men's senior fours, coxed and coxless, the various component parts of the eights clash, and it will be interesting to see how the Galway Rowing Club coxed four with Serryth Colbert in the bow seat and a strong Leander feel, does against home-based units.
In the women's senior eight, UCD's surprise exit from the Remenham Cup at Henley should drive them on to win, while Heather Boyle could crown a sometimes disappointing season in the women's senior single scull - although she faces a rising international star in Orla Hayes. Another entry, UCD's Helen Walsh, also looked set for international recognition until injury intervened earlier this season.
The men's senior single scull has one extraordinary entry. Pat Gannon is a fit man who had a fine international career, but at 47 he has 20 years on the likes of Eoghan Garvey and Rob Michael - and almost 30 on 19-year-old Rory O'Connor!
UCD coach John Holland will be a busy man over the next few day. After taking charge of the college's crews this weekend, he heads off to Greece to coach the Japan men's lightweight four for World Championships at Eton.
Those Championships, in five weeks' time (August 20th to 27th) will be sponsored by electronics giant Siemens, the world governing body, Fisa, announced recently. Siemens has also pledged to "partner" the British rowing team until the end of 2012, to the tune of €4.8 million.
Britain won two gold medals and three silvers in Olympic events at the Lucerne World Cup. Ireland, with a fraction of the funding, won one gold and just missed out on a bronze medal. It seems hard to understand why no big sponsor has come on board for the IARU and the Irish team.
National Championships, Inniscarra Lake, Friday and Saturday, July 14th and 15th. Men's Senior Eight: Belfast; Trinity; Neptune; NUIG; NUIG/Galway; Queen's University/Bann; Skibbereen/Galway; St Michael's/Castleconnell/Cork BC/University of Limerick; Shannon/Commercial/Fermoy. Women's Senior Eight: UCD; Queen's University; Tribesmen/NUIG.
