ROWING:TWO OF the most successful clubs in the country had been pencilled in to run heads of the river tomorrow, but just one remains. The bad weather forced Skibbereen to cancel their event yesterday, but Bann will wait until lunchtime today to decide whether to go ahead.

The Coleraine club is luxuriating in the glow of a wonderful set of results in the 2010 season, and head coach Séamus Reynolds says he plans to put out both a junior 18 and junior 16 eight tomorrow.

Bann’s men’s junior 18 eight made a breakthrough when they won the national championships in July, and Reynolds received congratulations by phone from the Bann men in the Britain team.

Last weekend three Bann men featured in A finals at the world championships. Richard Chambers won gold in the lightweight four, Alan Campbell took bronze in the single scull, and Peter Chambers, who is just 20, was sixth in the final of the lightweight single scull.

Both Peter and Richard Chambers represented Ireland at junior level, and Peter won gold and bronze medals at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2008. Peter was deeply behind the Ireland team, but he followed his older brother to Oxford Brookes College and found success with the Britain team.

It’s a decision Reynolds understood completely. Though the Ireland system is “getting there”, the Britain one was simply better when Peter Chambers made the choice.

“If you can stand here and hold one passport in one hand and one in the other, and say to me ‘where is the best place to go at the minute?’ at that time it was the best option. (And) at the minute he’s being Lottery funded.”

Queen’s University trained at Bann last weekend, and their elite quadruple scull go off 10th at the Fours Head of the River in London on Sunday. Offalyman Rory O’Connor has joined Queen’s and will team up with Colin Williamson, Abdulrahman Mohamed and Jonathan Mitchell.

Four of the crews entered are made up of current Ireland internationals. The strong-looking men’s lightweight four is made up of Niall Kenny, Justin Ryan, Peter Hanily and Mark O’Donovan, while the UCD/Three Castles elite four features Michael Maher, Anthony English and heavyweights Finbarr Manning and Dave Neale.

In the women’s elite quadruple, the Ireland crews fall along heavyweight and lightweight lines – which should make for a contest for bragging rights.

Queen’s University also have a women’s quadruple in action and Cork a men’s elite quadruple.