Battle for places adds extra edge

ROWING:Tomorrow's Monkstown regatta has a competitive edge that has been sorely lacking in most of the domestic regattas this season. The event, at the National Rowing Centre in Cork, is being used to trial athletes for the Ireland teams for the Home Internationals at the same venue in four weeks' time, and the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Varese, Italy, a week later.

The Coupe, a European junior championships, will be the target for Ireland's most ambitious under-18 rowers this season, as none reached the standard to be chosen for the World Junior Championships.

Four athletes - Laura Gannon and Ciarán Brady in the single scull and John McDonald and Finbar Manning in the pair - will compete in the senior events tomorrow to try to stake claims for places in these boats in Varese.

Neasa Folan has overseen the Coupe group so far this season, and she said yesterday that trials at the regatta and further tests on Sunday at the same venue should result in the team being picked at the weekend - "if the weather allows it".

John Armstrong, a selector for the Home Internationals team, said he was very pleased with the interest in the selection for the event, with 84 seniors involved.

There are races at senior and junior level in the pair and single scull.

The Home Internationals will now be primarily treated as a development event: athletes over 30 will not be chosen, except in exceptional cases.

The strong entry in the men's senior single scull includes John Wholley and Kenny McCarthy of Skibbereen, Danny O'Dowd of Galway, Stuart King of UCD, Rob Michael of Commercial and Ronan Egan of NUIG - who entered for the diamond sculls at Henley Royal Regatta but was asked to pre-qualify.

Only Commercial's Abdualrahman Mohammed has indicated to Armstrong that he is not interested in selection for the Ireland team.

Last year the Homes selection procedure was run in conjunction with the National Championships and was widely criticised, but this year it is clearly set up to work better. As Ireland is hosting the event this year at the National Rowing Centre, Armstrong thinks this is proper.

"It's important we put on a good show," he said.

Sponsorship in rowing is rarer than it should be, but two banks have come on board. The University of Limerick has linked up with Ulster Bank, which recently provided a new eight for the women's squad. And Ireland team member Caroline Ryan will be presented with a single scull by AIB private banking today at the refurbished Garda Boat Club.

The boat club was gutted by fire some months back, but it is understood no suspects have been apprehended.

Moving back to the international scene, the recent World Cup in Amsterdam will be remembered as the event where China staked its claim as the main player in the sport in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. They won five of the 14 Olympic events and tore up the form book in events like the women's double and men's eight.

Britain also had a good regatta: the men's four proved their worth by backboning a men's eight that won gold, and the lightweight four announced their arrival as real contenders with silver. Both crews are likely to go head-to-head with Ireland in the final World Cup in Lucerne in two weeks' time and the World Championships in Munich in August.