ROWING:The international rowing committee (IRC) of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union (IARU) and head coach Harald Jahrling came in for heavy criticism at the annual general meeting of the union in Park West in Dublin on Saturday.

Two elite athletes, Eugene Coakley and Tim Harnedy, were among those who expressed dissatisfaction with the structures at international level.

Delegates from 52 clubs were present in the packed meeting room, and change was in the air.

Gordon Reid, from Lagan Scullers, was voted in to replace honorary secretary Denis O'Regan, and another new member of the board, Leinster selection for vice-president Gerry Farrell, said the IRC's role needed to be looked at.

Harnedy said that in two years as the athletes' representative on the IRC he had been informed only once of a meeting, and when one athlete rang him to complain of how he had been dealt with when he came before the IRC, "I had no answer because I hadn't been at the meeting".

The chairman of the IRC, John McGeehan, who submitted a one-page report to the agm, said it was sometimes difficult to convene meetings because members were abroad. Only two meetings had been held since the last agm.

He accepted that change was needed.

Coakley said it looked like the head coach had a free hand, "with a body in the background which does not meet".

Later, Harnedy asked whether it was an "ideal situation" that the head coach was a representative for one of the boat companies. Jahrling is listed on the Empacher website as its Irish contact.

Jahrling, whose hard-hitting reports to the IRC have been circulated at recent agms, is on holiday and has not submitted a report "at this stage", IARU president Frank Durkin told the delegates. After complaints from the floor, Durkin accepted that a report for the coming season should be available to delegates to next year's agm.

Delegates decided to split the junior championships away from the other grades this year - but not in the way originally suggested.

Dublin club Commercial had proposed the junior championships be moved to September, but this proposal was defeated. However, they will now be held on the weekend before the other grades (June 5th and 6th) to give the international selectors a chance to work with athletes for two weeks before the Coupe de la Jeunesse, a European junior championships, which will be held in Cork this year.

Jonny Baird, one of the consultants on the proposed new world-class regatta course in Portadown, said he was "very optimistic" it would be built.

"It will only be a success with cross-Border support," he added.

Durkin told delegates the IARU executive had been supportive from early on, and the meeting agreed by acclamation to continue to back the project.

PRESIDENT'S AWARDS - Senior Men: Seán O'Neill, Cormac Folan, Seán Casey, Alan Martin (Ireland heavyweight four); Senior Women: Orlagh Duddy. Junior Men: Conor Doorley. Junior Women: Ciara O'Connor. Coach of the Year: Damien Pinkert. President's Prize: Michael R Hughes. Provincial Awards - Munster: Jim Hackett (Fermoy). Ulster: Derek Holland (Portora). Leinster and Connacht did not choose an award winner.