ROWING:THE IRISH travelled in numbers up the slow road north to Shunyi yesterday and under a canopy of huge dark clouds they peered down the long rowing course and tried to spot the Irish boat through the mist.

This might have been a teeming day on the Mississippi Delta and for most of their 2,000 metre race the men's lightweight crew were just a vague shadow moving up the water.

As ever, the Irish rowers have chosen to take the slower, more dramatic route in their quest for glory. They were edged out by the other three boats in what was an entirely western European affair: the Germans finished first, France crossed the line in a stop-start second and then came Poland on a time of 5.52.06, edging out the Irish by .26 of a second.

"The Poles never beat us before," noted Gearóid Towey, sucking down the Beijing vapours and leaning against a barrier as he collected his thoughts.

The Irish boat, placed in lane four, trailed from the beginning but it looked as if they could push back into the automatic top three places over the last 500 metres.

But the pace was relentlessly fast and although the French slowed dramatically after 1,000 metres, they made a late surge to cross the line in second. It was the Polish boat that caught the Irish out.

"They are always good for 1,500 and we thought we would pass them and we didn't expect them to hold on for so long, I think when they saw the French beside them - the French were favourites to win that race so there was obviously something going on in that boat as well.

"We were strong the whole way. It wasn't a case of anybody not being up for it or that kind of stuff. We had a good row, I thought."

Towey appeared relatively unconcerned about the prospect of having to go through the repechage route tomorrow.

The Irish time would have seen them comfortably qualify in either of the other two heats. The Chinese crew, who have emerged from obscurity to become the boat to beat in these Olympics, posted a time of 5.51.30 in winning their heat.

The speed of the French led to a terrific pace and, helped by the slightly cooling temperatures brought by the thunderstorms and flash showers that swept across Beijing yesterday, none of the Irish oarsmen faltered.

"We didn't miss one stroke," Towey said. "And our start wasn't that bad. We normally aren't that quick on the start anyway, we try and negative split it as much as we can. But the race was over so fast! We had to push it early.

"Usually we push at a thousand and then push again with 500 to go but we knew the pace was really hot today so we had to react to it."

It means another journey pilgrimage to Mapo village tomorrow for the Irish fans.

The tricolour has made an appearance at all venues where the Irish have been competing over the past few days and although this Irish crew is not as feted as in previous years, they are a resilient bunch and are capable of giving the visiting fans another few days out this week.

The extra race may well stand to the Irish crew in making it to what will be two very stiff semi-finals. Certainly, Towey did not consider the failure here to be anything other than a detour.

"We just have to keep going, get out for the semi-final on Thursday. Like, in a world cup you can have three or four races over a weekend so it is sort of a luxury to have a day in between here."

Luxury: rowers can will themselves to believe that a bed of nails and a bowl of uncooked rice is luxury. They are a resilient lot and have plenty of fight in them yet.

Don't rule them out.