ROWING:LAST WEEKEND the National Rowing Centre played host to the sheer volume and spectacle of the Skibbereen regatta; the next three days the elite of Irish rowing will their stuff at the national trials at the Cork venue.
Skibbereen may well have been the biggest event of the year in terms of numbers – 90 people worked behind the scenes – and the ball of energy which is Dominic Casey was at rest this week and musing on the thrill of seeing eight eights in a line at 500 metres in the Division One final.
The national trials begin today and run through to Sunday and while over 50 juniors have been invited, just 17 senior and under-23 athletes will fight to have the honour of wearing the green in this crucial season – which reaches its peak in 19 weeks at a World Championships where boats are qualified for the Olympic Games in London.
With Cathal Moynihan not making the cut and Richard Coakley remaining in Australia and not trialling, no link remains to the Olympic squad of just three years ago. There are also no heavyweight men in the mix, which lead coach Adrian Cassidy says is “unfortunately where we are at the moment”.
Talent identification may attract talented “big men” from other sports, such as rugby and Gaelic football, but this will take time.
“You wouldn’t choose rowing at the moment because there is no history of success; no medals,” says Cassidy. “And you have the option of making a living out of rugby. So until we start producing results and big people from other sports start seeing that rowing is an option, then they are not going to choose it.
“But the big people are there, the right athletes are out there, they’re just not doing rowing yet. Slowly, in the next Olympiad, they’ll come over to rowing.”
Cue the need for success from the talented group assembled this weekend. Four of the eight lightweight men set to compete today – Justin Ryan, Mark O’Donovan, Niall Kenny and Michael Maher come in on the back of a silver-medal performance in the lightweight quadruple scull at the World Under-23 Championships last year, and an A final appearance at the World Cup in Lucerne.
Among the six lightweight women, Claire Lambe (20) and Siobhán McCrohan (23) reached World Cup finals in the season gone by.
The heavyweight women’s group has benefited from the addition this year of Eimear Moran. Sanita Puspure – who is in the process of gaining her Irish passport – has pulled remarkable ergometer times this year, and Lisa Dilleen is one of the great emerging talents in Irish sport: she finished in the top 10 in the single scull at the World Under-23 Championships last year. She had just turned 19.
