ROWING:WITH THE grant for the High Performance programme finally in the bag, movement in Irish rowing has been swift. A new lead coach, Adrian Cassidy, will take up his duties on Monday week. And the full list of invitees for the National Trials at Easter was announced yesterday.
Cassidy comes from the British system, where he is a performance development coach. His background was in talent development, and he was particularly proud of bringing through the world champions in the under-23 men’s double, Charles Cousins and Bill Lucas, and of finding athletes who won medals in Beijing. He cites the British women’s quadruple scull (silver) and double (bronze).
Asked for his aims in the Irish system, the 37-year-old replies: “To create a sustainable system where Ireland wins medals regularly”. And he feels it is a particular advantage that he arrives “with no preconceived ideas about clubs or athletes”.
Martin McElroy, who heads up the Irish system, said yesterday that if resources were “very tightly managed” it should be possible to recruit another coach on the budget made available by the Irish Sports Council (ISC).
The fall-off in funding from the ISC is marked. Last year High Performance funding was €720,000, this year it falls to €450,000; last year carding grants to athletes was €240,000, now it is €139,000.
McElroy said that, given the state of the economy and the sport’s circumstances, the grant was “a fair number”.
ISC chief executive John Treacy told The Irish Times, “Rowing will be in a rebuilding mode now”.
“If you look at the funding that went to the carded athletes, particularly, the top has been reduced fairly substantially because of retirement. But I think you need to look at what’s invested in the development side and the junior side, and there’s a substantial number of athletes covered in that particular area,” Treacy added.
Twenty-three juniors and two development athletes will be funded, but only five senior athletes – Seán Casey, Cormac Folan, Cathal Moynihan, Richard Coakley and Sinead Jennings – will get “international” carding, which entitles them to €12,000 each.
Action this weekend comes in the shape of tomorrow’s Sligo Head of the River.
Portora Royal School put in an excellent performance at the Schools’ Head in London on Tuesday. The junior women’s crews from the Enniskillen club finished third and sixth in the Championship Eight, and the boys’ crew 14th among 41 crews.
