The crowd which watched the finish to the colours race from O'Connell Bridge on Saturday was a cosmopolitan one, which was fitting in a way as the Trinity College crew which powered over the finish line, four-length winners over UCD, was a talented multinational one.

The fully home-grown UCD crew opted for the north station at the St James's Gate start, which generally gives a benefit in the early stages. The hope was that with a good start the outsiders would gain a lead and keep it. But within 10 metres the pattern of the race was established when Trinity pushed into the lead and extended it steadily to over four lengths at Capel Street Bridge. They had a 13.9 second margin at the end, emphatic winners of their fifth in-a-row Gannon Cup.

It takes nothing from Trinity's win to point out that, like most modern colleges, they drew their this top-class team from a wide base: 30-year-old medical student Darren Barber is Canadian, and was an Olympic gold medallist in the lightweight eight in 1992; Tom Bruxner rowed with Eton; Ewan Robson with Shrewsbury; Andrew Coleman with the Oratory School. William Gilbert, winning his fourth Gannon Cup title, is a product of Methodist College, Belfast.

In the Cologne regatta, the Irish lightweight four finished second to the world champions Denmark in the straight final on Saturday and third yesterday, with the Dutch lightweights separating them. However, the times were outstanding - the Irish clocking five minutes 59 seconds yesterday and 5:57 on Saturday over the 2,000-metre course.