ROWING:IRELAND ROWERS will begin their international season at two German venues in two weeks. A senior team will travel to the Huegel Regatta in Essen and a strong junior team will take part in the International Junior Regatta at Munich on the same weekend.
Juniors performed remarkably well in comparison to the top seniors at the recent National Trials, and the first-rate Munich event will be used to determine which, if any, are up to World Junior Championship level and which will be streamed towards the Coupe de la Jeunesse, a European junior tournament which does not include Germany.
Two of the Ireland athletes, Bridget Jacques and Paul O’Donovan, are just 16.
The senior team, which is to be named early next week, will be somewhat experimental, according to Ireland performance director Martin McElroy. “They’ll be mixed around in boats, because different people have got various commitments at the moment. They are not finalised boats for the rest of the season or anything like that. It’s early-season racing in different boats.”
Sanita Puspure, suffering from a back injury at the time of the National Trials, should be intent on making her mark at Essen. The Latvian moved to Ireland five years ago and duly applied for her Ireland passport just as the trials began. She recently moved from Dublin with husband, Kaspar, and their children, Patrick and Daniela, to Cork to train at the National Rowing Centre and was present for much of the trials.
Those trials suggested that at senior level a core – and generally unchanged – lightweight group is being brought along brilliantly.
But there is a distance from the great bulk of senior rowing in this country, and there is no short-term prospect of heavyweight oarsmen representing Ireland.
There are proposals in Munster to form squads of club athletes similar to the hugely successful provincial system in rugby: the aim is to complement the elite level, bring up standards and attract athletes into the system.
One Ireland squad which has already been chosen for the first World Cup, in Munich in four weeks, is the Adaptive team. The coxed four of Anne-Marie McDaid, Sarah Caffrey, Shane Ryan and cox Helen Arbuthnot, which made the final at the World Championships last year, will be joined by single scullers Karol Doherty and newcomer Naomi Mills.
IRELAND (Junior Crews for International Regatta, Munich, May 7th-8th): Saturday – Men – Pair: J Cassells, C Black. Double Scull: A Sheehan, M Monteith. Single Scull: P O’Donovan. Women – Quadruple Scull: K Cromie, H Shinnick, B Jacques, K O’Brien. Double Scull: S Dineen, R Shorten. Single Scull: H Nixon. Sunday – Men – Pair: Cassells, Black. Double: Sheehan, Monteith. Single: O’Donovan. Women – Quadruple: Cromie, Shinnick, Jacques, Shorten. Double: Dineen, Nixon. Single: O’Brien. Adaptive Team (for World Cup regatta, Munich, May 27th-29th) – Four: A-M McDaid, S Caffrey, S Ryan, K du Toit; cox: H Arbuthnot. Singles: K Doherty; N Mills.
