The stage is set for an intriguing National Championships at Iniscarra, Farran Wood, in Cork this weekend. Perhaps the best indication of how seriously the competitors are taking the championships is that the Trinity eight set up camp in Cork on Monday.

The senior men's eights pits that Trinity eight against a Neptune crew which contains some of the best oarsmen in the country. Trinity have a number of factors in their favour: they are a settled crew with a good record this season, including a good showing in the prestigious Ladies Plate at Henley. Micheal O'Connell's return from injury has also boosted their hopes.

However, Neptune deserve to be marginal favourites. By their own high standards they have had a poor season, the low point being a somewhat embarrassing loss to Commercial in the heats of Trinity's regatta; and Neptune barely pipped Trinity in the final of their own regatta.

But the chopping and changing which characterised the season for Neptune is over - the crew which will row on Sunday will be a composite of the lightweight four which will probably represent Ireland at the World Championships and the coxed four which lost the Britannia Cup final at Henley by a length. For experience, read World Championship silver medallist Tony O'Connor, now fully recovered from injury; for promise, 21-year-old US scholarship student Brendan Duke.

The six other crews will fancy themselves as outsiders with a chance: Garda, Cork, Skibbereen, St Michael's, Commercial and UCD.

The women's eights should also provide some keen competition: Commercial and Trinity may find UCD unwilling to let them battle it out among themselves. In the women's sculling events the competition between the Commercial lightweight and heavyweight quads will be worth watching, and the club has no less than nine competitors in the senior women's single sculling competition. Mary Hus sey, Vanessa Lawrenson and Debbie Stack will take time off from being team-mates to battle it out in this championship.

The men's single sculling events have huge entries, but will be the weaker because none of the Commercial quadruple scullers, who represented Ireland at the World Cup at Lucerne, will take part in any other event. Gearoid Towey, recovering from a throat infection which blighted his chances at Lucerne, has also pulled out of both open and lightweight single sculls.

Neptune's Albert Maher will be favourite to take the open event and Sam Lynch, who showed a revival of form in Lucerne, and the evergreen John Armstrong may battle for the lightweight title. Maher is set to have a busy weekend - in addition to participating in the single sculls he is part of a strong-looking Neptune quad which will take on Commercial, and he teams up with Brendan Dolan in the double scull, where the composite of Armstrong and Donal McGuinness may be the main threat. Interestingly, Mick Desmond, the coach of the Irish quad, yesterday said that he has asked Towey to join the squad from which any quad for the World Championships will be picked.