ROWING: Gearóid Towey and Ciarán Lewis are preparing to spend their last weekend for well over a month on dry land deep in preparation for the Atlantic Challenge, which begins on Sunday week, November 27th.
The race, which could take up to 60 days, runs from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the West Indies. Towey flew to the Canaries on Tuesday. Lewis joins him there tomorrow.
"Everything's cool here," said Towey yesterday.
The boat, which was shipped to the Canaries weeks ago, has to pass rigorous tests over the next few days.
The pair have enlisted the help of vastly experienced sailor Paddy Barry. The Corkman, who sailed a Galway hooker across the Atlantic and headed up an Irish expedition through the famous Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is due in the Canaries tomorrow.
James Cracknell, the British double Olympic gold medallist, is the most high profile competitor in the Atlantic Challenge, partnering television personality Ben Fogle. The two plan to row naked, but Towey and Lewis will not be following their lead.
"We'll be wearing something all right!" said Towey yesterday.
The Irish Olympian plans to return to the Ireland elite system under coach Harald Jahrling early in the new year. He will find a programme more advanced than any other the sport has seen in this country.
The first weekend in December features a regional trial in each of the provinces, and a week later the top under-23s will have a camp at the National Rowing Centre (NRC) in Cork, while the juniors will come together in Galway. Jahrling will oversee the under-23s while his assistant, Debbie Fox, will supervise the juniors.
Jahrling has added Helen Walshe to the 29 athletes who will gather at the NRC this weekend for the first senior camp of the year. The UCD athlete, the national single sculls champion in 2004, will be tried out in a double scull with this year's champion, Caroline Ryan, who has been training under Jahrling.
