Rowing: It may be winter, but the men and women who take to the water for tomorrow's trial at the National Rowing Centre in Cork will be focused on the heat of Athens next August and Beijing four years later.
Forming crews which can make it through next June's Olympic Qualifier in Lucerne is a tall order. Richard Parr, the high performance director of rowing, has a sweetener for the athletes in tomorrow's on-water evaluation. Those who impress, and who have submitted satisfactory ergometer scores, could be bound for the Olympic preparation camp in Spain from December 12th to 23rd.
Parr said yesterday "up to six people" competing tomorrow may progress to this stage. Some of those with strong claims will be heavyweight scullers Seán Jacob, Seán Casey and Paul O'Sullivan, who may not compete tomorrow because of injury, and lightweight women Heather Boyle, Fiola Foley, Niamh Ní Chéilleachair and Siobhán Jacob.
Thor Nilsen's camp in Spain for elite lightweight men is continuing, although Richard Archibald (illness) and Derek Holland (injury) are absent at present. Nilsen, who in addition to heading up the Irish lightweight programme is the development director of world governing body, FISA, was in Athens recently to receive FISA's Distinguished Service to Rowing medal.
The world coaches conference in Athens discussed perhaps the biggest issue in the sport at present - how to deal with the possibility of Schinias not being able to satisfactorily host the rowing events at next year's Olympic Games. FISA's competitive rowing commission considered a number of options if strong winds becomes an issue in August 2004. These included starting one hour earlier in the morning, or afternoon sessions beginning one hour later.
An eight-lane system was also a possibility. According to FISA, shortening the racing distance to 1,000 metres is the "very, very last option".
UCD are hosting the Indoor Rowing Championships at Belfield on November 30th, and the Munster Open Indoor Rowing Championships are on January 18th, with Skibbereen Rowing Club as hosts.
