ROWING: WILLIAM GOLDMAN'S assertion about the movie business seems appropriate today as 100 athletes head for Cork for four days of national trials: nobody knows anything.
Martin McElroy will oversee his first big show as performance director of Irish rowing with plenty of work done, but no preconceived ideas as to what crews will travel to which regattas this season.
He goes so far as to say that if no crew can be formed which is up to the standard of the international circuit, then the money will be spent on developing athletes and crews.
Outgoing head coach Harald Jahrling – now coaching in the Belgian system – and five of the nine men who competed in Beijing have left the stage, and our top woman rower, Sinéad Jennings, will be absent this weekend because of final medical exams. The list of over 100 invitees this weekend is heavily skewed towards juniors and under-23s.
“That’s part of the problem, and part of the challenge,” says McElroy. And there are new financial pressures.
“Last year the international rowing programme spent a considerably larger amount of money than we have this year.
“I am much more focused on development; on developing crews,” he said.
Sustainability, and a focus on performances in Olympic Games are the key drivers for McElroy, rather than chasing marquee results in any one year.
“We’ve been down that road before. We thought we were great – and two years later we were nowhere.”
Among the proven male athletes who are set to compete are Olympians Seán Casey, Cormac Folan, Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley, along with Martin Walsh, the Neptune man who stroked the Isis crew to victory in the reserve Boat Race.
The lightweight men’s group could be very competitive.
Some talented club athletes will be out to make their mark: Anthony English (UCD), Peter Hanily (St Michael’s), Dave Heffernan (Shandon), Stuart King (Neptune), Mark O’Donovan (Skibbereen) and Michael Maher (Commercial) all have reason to believe they can move up a gear.
Key players from the form crews of Queen’s University and UCD are entered at heavyweight level.
Queen’s looked impressive in their relatively comfortable win over UCD at Neptune Regatta last weekend.
Sanita Puspure won the women’s single scull and may be the fastest oarswoman this weekend. The 27-year-old Latvian says she is enthusiastic about wearing the green vest if she can reach the standard – and get an Irish passport. She is in Ireland for four years but could need another year at least to qualify for citizenship.
New Queen’s coach Mark Fangen-Hall shares a background of coaching at Cambridge – and a friendship – with McElroy and Ireland lead coach Adrian Cassidy.
Supporters of Irish rowing will be hoping the two men at the helm of the international system can hit the ground running at the same rate as the Englishman.
Andy Triggs Hodge, who is an Olympic champion in the four, is set to compete in a single scull at the British trials this weekend.
However, Triggs Hodge says Coleraine single sculler Alan Campbell should not worry about losing top billing. Triggs Hodge will soon switch back to rowing.
