Towey opts for a break after exertions

Rowing NewsGearóid Towey has said the break he is taking from the sport is likely to rule him out of Ireland's World Cup and World Championship teams this year.

"I haven't given up rowing, I'm taking a break," the Corkman said yesterday, but he does not intend to compete in the coming national trials and so does not expect to be in contention for a place in the international squad.

Towey, who already has a gold and two bronze medals from World Championships, was part of the Ireland lightweight four which won the World Cup series last year and went on to take bronze at the World Championships, behind China and France.

The super-fit Corkman, who turns 30 next month, had made an extraordinary return to the elite squad early last year after an attempt with crewmate Ciarán Lewis to row the Atlantic had ended with a capsize from which they were lucky to escape alive.

However, the "combination of the Atlantic Challenge and coming into the system" left Towey feeling "flat" at the end of last year and the beginning of this one.

He said yesterday that it was better to step back now than risk his dip in form becoming more permanent.

The Olympics in Beijing next year are still in his sights, however. "The reason I took a break now is because of Beijing," he told The Irish Times.

Towey's absence will open the way for other contenders to break into the elite group - or back into it, in some cases.

Sam Lynch, who partnered Towey in the lightweight double scull in Athens in 2004, produced a fine score in this month's ergometer tests, although at 77 kilogrammes he is at present above the lightweight mark.

Richard Coakley was second in the test, which did not include last season's lightweight or open fours because of their presence at the ski camp.

On the heavyweight side, Paul O'Brien (19), was the best of those who were logged. A personal best of 15 minutes 57.8 seconds for the 5,000 metres was 0.9 of a second ahead of Con Collis.

O'Brien has joined Garda from Neptune, and on the evidence of last weekend's Neptune Head of the River, the Garda club is becoming one of the busiest at Islandbridge, as it also plays host to the new Garda Síochána College Rowing Club when they come to Dublin from Templemore for on-the-water work.

The birth of two other clubs, Sligo Rowing Club and Three Castles, which hopes to operate out of Blessington, shows that the sport continues to grow.

On the water tomorrow, the Lagan Head of the River features a clash at senior eights between Queen's University, Belfast Rowing Club and Trinity, who will hope to improve on last week's showing at Blessington.

The Wicklow venue has become almost a second home to Carlow Rowing Club, which does two sessions there three times a week with its juniors. This group does nine training stints a week in total.

All the hard work seems to build character. Tommy Ayres, who is a year out of junior ranks, recently rescued a seven-year-old bow from a swamp adjoining the Barrow. The oarsman abandoned his new, expensive, boat for the heroic deed - but then went back into the river and got it ashore.