ROWING:A busy weekend for domestic rowing sees athletes with the choice of heads of the river in Munster and Ulster tomorrow. The Cork head has a huge entry of 249 crews, with men's senior eights entered from the host club and a Shandon/UCC composite.
Erne head has smaller numbers, but the senior eight entry features last year's winners, Trinity, Belfast Rowing Club and UCD. Commercial also entered a crew, but an injury sustained by Simon Flaherty at last weekend's Lagan head means that the club will field a men's senior quadruple scull and a women's senior eight, but does not intend to field a men's senior eight.
Commercial have ambitions this year in the men's senior eight, however. They hope to compete at both the KRSG regatta in Ghent and Marlow in England prior to the National Championships.
The club has been developing a crew built around the intermediate eight of last year. Ben Clarke, who was lost to the club for some of last year because of duties with the Ireland Under-23s, will also augment the line-up. His brother Kevin was injured when knocked off his bicycle and has not been available, while Ger Ward is set to be unavailable from May, when he goes to the United States.
The Lagan head was a successful one for internationals Richard Archibald and Orlagh Duddy, who won the men's and women's senior single sculls titles.
At the very tip of the senior singles pyramid, the intriguing battle between world champion Mahe Drysdale and the Olympic champion of 2000, Rob Waddell, comes to a head this weekend in the New Zealand national trials.
Waddell moved into the favourite's position last weekend when he made it 3-1 in their head-to-head meetings with an emphatic win at the National Championships. "The only way I can describe the actual race from the first stroke was a shocker," said Drysdale. The New Zealand selectors have made it clear that should he fail to gain selection in the single scull this weekend, Drysdale will still almost certainly get his chance in Beijing, but in a crew boat.
Russia's selection problems have been of a different variety. The members of the committee which oversees the sport have resigned en masse, in the wake of the recent doping scandals. Their move follows heavy pressure from the world governing body, Fisa, which threatened a full suspension of the Russian Rowing Federation - and all its athletes.
Ireland may have one paralympian in Beijing this year, but Karen Cromie will be representing Britain. The Irish Amateur Rowing Union hopes that a number of events run under IARU rules this season will offer competition for paralympic rowers.
