This weekend is a bumper one for Irish rowing, and the beginning of a six-week period which will be hugely important for the sport in this country. On the domestic front there are three regattas from Saturday to Monday, with the big Metropolitan regatta at Blessington on Saturday the highlight.
But the focus will be firmly on the first World Cup of the year in Munich: if Ireland's two hopes for Olympic qualification, the men's lightweight four and lightweight double, are to move through the qualifiers in Lucerne in mid-July, the basis must be laid here.
The World Cup series, which was started in 1997, is similar to the Grand Prix circuit in athletics: the aim is to bring the world's top competitors together for a limited number of events at which points are won and an overall prize is available. This year Munich is succeeded by Vienna and Lucerne at three-week intervals - next year there will also be a leg of the series in North America.
Munich is particularly important in this Olympic year, with many crews targeting the regatta to prove their bona fides for the Olympic qualification regatta at Lucerne on the 10th to the 12th of next month.
In the case of the Ireland lightweight four of Tony O'Connor, Neal Byrne, Gearoid Towey and Neville Maxwell, this will be their first chance to prove themselves.
The crew only came together in trials at Easter, and while they have been performing brilliantly at Nottingham under coach Ray Sims, it is only when they compete against the world's best, such as the peerless Danish lightweight four, that they will know their true worth.
For the lightweight double of Niall O'Toole and Derek Holland the pressure is no less intense. They came within .32 of a second of automatic qualification for Sydney when finishing sixth in the B final at the World Championships in St Catharines in Canada last year, but this year has been mixed to say the least.
They gained the right to compete as the Ireland crew early in the year, but since then have had disappointing results. This weekend, after a break in Ireland, they come to Munich in their older Stampfli boat having eschewed the chance to use their new Empacher boat.
Ireland has two other funded boats at the regatta, the lightweight single sculls of Sam Lynch and Sinead Jennings, whose form will be closely watched after her win at Duisburg when rowing as part of the Scottish ARA group. Commercial's lightweight sculler Ruth Doyle will test her form against Jennings' and the club is also sending a women's lightweight double (Vanessa Lawrenson and Meadhb Terry) and quadruple scull. All will be self-funded.
Back in Blessington on Saturday, the Metro regatta will feature a novel event at 10.10 a.m. - Ireland's top lightweight single scullers (obviously omitting the Munich contingent) row against each other in what is effectively a staging of the trial set for last weekend, but which was postponed. The men's senior eights features what should be the best race in this class this year so far: the six-boat straight final features Neptune, Garda, Trinity, NUIG, St Michael's and Galway.
Boyne's revived regatta on Bank Holiday Monday is surely a good sign for Irish rowing, while Carlow's regatta on Sunday features some notable visitors from Putney, Strathclyde and - ironically, given the presence of Ireland's top oarsmen and oarswomen in Munich - a veteran four and eight from Germany's Friedrichshafen.
