ROWING:HEADING INTO a quiet period in terms of competition, the National Assessment in Newry last weekend gave Irish rowing plenty to think about. Clearly, if the sport here is a pyramid, the base of junior talent is widening and the very top is sharp – but there is a big area in the middle to worry about.

“It is still a pretty thin standard we have in our sport,” said Ireland performance director Martin McElroy yesterday, adding that rowing is a small player overall in the country. “Up to this point what we have done is put basic systems in place that allow us to see what’s in the sport in front of us from a high performance point of view.

“Now you look at it and go, ‘okay, this is what we have – how do we leverage this and get better standards and more athletes’.

“That is where we are conscious of – and will put more effort into – coach education and some of these areas; where we will begin to influence that.”

Some of the athletes who have been training under the aegis of the HP system at the National Rowing Centre produced remarkable performances in Newry – Sanita Puspure’s ergometer time of 6:37.2 was simply world class, and a group of relatively young athletes such as Mark O’Donovan, Siobhán McCrohan and Claire Lambe are of a similar standard, as they showed both on the ergometer and on the water.

“At the top, those people just have to carry on training, keep maturing. The age profile will push (them) upwards as long as we can manage their careers in the sport and keep them in the sport.

“But at the same time, further down in the base we have to see how we can find better people; how can we help clubs to find better people; how can we help people to coach better; how can we help with better training programmes (to) strengthen the quality of what will come through,” said McElroy. “That’s all a very long-term approach. But that’s what we have to do.”

Anyone who stood on the bank of Newry Canal over the last three years could witness first-hand the rise of the standard of junior rowing. But not all club coaches are fans of the High Performance programme. One top coach made a point of telling The Irish Times that improvements are due to the present coach education system and have “feck all” to do with the HP programme.

Many clubs are bursting at the seams with enthusiastic juniors – Carrick-on-Shannon started building an extension this week. A new Galway-based schools’ club, Cumann Rámhaiochta Choláiste na Coiribe (CRCC), has also been affiliated. Setting up and maintaining a completely new club is quite an achievement. Graiguenamanagh, which blazed their own trail, celebrate 10 years of life with an open day tomorrow week.

On the water next weekend, the Muckross Head of the River holds pride of place.

Off the water, the week ahead will see a meeting between Leitrim County Council and Carrick-on-Shannon Rowing Club as tenders for the new international-standard course are being sought.