President McAleese to give prizes at Henley

ROWING/Irish connection with Royal Henley Regatta: The President of Ireland, Mrs Mary McAleese, has accepted an invitation to act as prize giver at Henley Royal Regatta this year.

Mrs McAleese, whose family has strong links to rowing, will be the first Irish President to be given this honour at one of the most prestigious of English sporting occasions.

Mike Sweeney, the chairman of Henley Royal Regatta, said: "I am delighted that Ireland, a nation which has won numerous trophies at Henley during a long and happy association with the regatta, should now be represented at this year's event by their President, who has herself done so much to support and promote Irish sport during her five years in office."

The President will join a list which has traditionally been dominated by British royalty and aristocracy: Princess Elizabeth, within six years to become Queen Elizabeth, presented the prizes in 1946, and in recent years Prince Andrew, in 1985, Princess Anne (1988 and '99) and Prince Philip (1998) have continued the practice.

In the last two years the great England batsman Colin Cowdrey (2000) and Steven Redgrave (2001) have joined this list.

Lord Killanin, in 1977, provides an Irish link - he was then president of the International Olympic Committee - and there is another, perhaps more interesting one in Princess Grace of Monaco, who filled the role in 1981.

Her father, Jack Kelly, had famously been the best single sculler in the world, and went on to win three golds in two Olympiads (1920 and 1924), two in the double sculls with his cousing Paul Costello. However his entry for Henley was not accepted, spawning a great - if perhaps fanciful - legend that it was because he "worked with his hands".

Grace Kelly's brother John was also a noted oarsman, and made up for his father's omission when he won the Diamond Sculls title at Henley in 1947.

President McAleese's rowing links are also strong: her daughters Emma and Saramai have competed for the Neptune club in Dublin, and her son Justin rows with King's Hospital school. Emma was recently voted captain of UCD Ladies Boat Club for the coming year.

Neptune, who won the Thames Cup as recently 1996, hope to have strong entries this year in both the Thames Cup and the elite Ladies Plate, both for men's eights.

Coach Neville Maxwell said the news that President McAleese was to present the prizes would give the crews "an incentive to go well - to get to meet our own President".

Henley Royal Regatta is probably the best known regatta in the world. Founded in 1839, it is famous both as a great sporting occasion and a social event; while winning an event at Henley has lost some prestige in the era of World Cup and World Championships, a victory at Henley is still a high point for a crew or individual oarsman.

The point was made recently by one of the reigning Irish world champions Tony O'Connor, who said, simply: "I want to win at Henley." Along with his partner in the pair, Gearóid Towey, O'Connor has targeted this year as the one to make a mark at Henley. They are set to be part of Neptune's Ladies Plate crew.

President McAleese's former role as Reid Professor of Law at Trinity will give her a direct link to the Thames Cup: a predecessor, Ernest Julian, was captain of Dublin University Boat Club in 1901. He had been a finalist in the Thames Cup in 1900, and was one of the coaches of the 1903 crew that won the cup.