ROWING: Nine of Ireland's 15 crews take to the water today on the first day of Henley Royal Regatta. The first Irish crew out, St Michael's of Limerick in the Brittania Cup (9.20am), are one of only three seeded crews from this island, along with Trinity College, who compete in the Temple Cup (6.30pm), and the UCD women's eight, who start their campaign in the Remenham Cup on Friday.

The St Michael's crew of Ger Sheehan, Denis Mac Sweeny, Hugh Lynch (a brother of former world champion Sam), and James Harrington, with cox Damien Pinkert, come into the regatta following a win at Athlone. They take on London RC today, and if the draw goes to plan they will meet another seeded crew, York City, in Saturday's semi-finals.

Ireland have three crews in the Thames Cup for club eights today: Belfast RC, Neptune and St Michael's. The latter two have an unfortunate draw, which will see them clash tomorrow if they both progress. St Michael's face a seeded crew, Agecroft, today.

Trinity's seeding in the Temple Cup for student eights could see them through to Friday's quarter-finals, but UCD and Queens University have the short straw with tough draws.

Two Belfast crews in the Wyfold Cup for club fours complete the Irish challenge today,

Some of the big hitters go into action over the next few days.

In the Visitors' Cup a Skibbereen/Galway composite of Kenny McCarthy, John Wholley, Danny O'Dowd and John Forde look strong, and Shannon's crew will have their own hopes.

Lightweight scullers Jonny Devitt and Heather Boyle launch their campaigns in the Diamond Sculls and Princess Royal tomorrow and Friday respectively, while in the Queen Mother on Sunday the Irish composite quadruple take on the French crew who were World Cup silver medallists in Poznan.