ROWING:PAT McINERNEY, the new development manager of Rowing Ireland, says the sport here needs to double the size of its athlete base if it is to thrive at adult level.
The Limerick man, who moves up into the post from his coach development role, says he will work on developing skills which clubs need in addition to those of coaching.
He says he is consulting widely and will draw on wisdom from within and without the sport.
On the crucial issue of the worryingly small number of adult rowers competing, McInerney pits himself against those who say there are enough juniors and now the battle is to draw in seniors.
“We’ve got to get more people in and retain more of them. Our retention numbers are poor. To get more people in we need stronger clubs and more coaches pulling more of them in. So the base needs to get bigger.
“People say we have plenty of juniors and we don’t have enough seniors. I say we don’t have enough juniors and we don’t have enough seniors. We’re just not retaining enough. It is still a small sport – there are just under 3,000 registered athletes. We need to double that and retain more of them.
“We also need to offer more than just the elite competitive angle. A lot of people we could retain if it wasn’t so demanding. Become a senior, and if you want to stay in the sport your only choice is to train eight or nine times a week – or drop out. We need to offer something other than that as well.”
He says he has “some ideas” about this, including distance challenge events, and combination events such as run-bike-row races.
McInerney is also set to oversee the running of regattas. The Grand League regattas have generally been lauded for the ambition that underlies them, but some have not worked in practice. The new rowing development manager acknowledges as much and says the back up for regattas in terms of documentation and specifications will have to more comprehensive.
Rather than “pointing fingers” at anyone for the mistakes that were made he would rather “get in there and try and fix it”. Which is a reasonable summation of what his job may be.
It is a busy weekend in domestic events. The Portadown Regatta tomorrow features an interesting junior 18 eights line-up: Methodist College, Belfast face Bann for the right to take on Portora in the final. On Sunday, the Castleconnell Sprint Regatta has a huge entry of mostly junior athletes. Run over five lanes, the programme stretches from 9am until 7.20pm.
On the international front, the team for the final World Cup regatta in Lucerne will be named next week. Ireland high performance director Martin McElroy said it would be chosen after tests this weekend.
This evening, the qualifying round for Henley Royal Regatta takes place. Among the crews being asked to qualify are Trinity in the Prince Albert (student coxed fours); Brendan Smyth and Martin Murphy of Lady Elizabeth Boat Club in the Silver Goblets (open pairs) and Monika Dukarska of Killorglin in the Princess Royal, an open event for single scullers.
The regatta begins on Wednesday and runs until Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Council of Fisa, the world governing body, has chosen Aiguebelette in France as its recommendation for the World Championships in 2015. The final decision will be made by the Fisa Congress in September.
