CANOEING: Ireland's new flatwater canoeing coach Martin Hunter will get a chance to run the rule over the national squad at this weekend's regatta at Holme Pierrepoint in Nottingham.

World Junior Marathon Champion Neil Fleming, from Celbridge Paddlers, will be hoping for honours in the junior class. Forty Irish canoeists will be competing at this first big event of the year.

Hunter, an Australian who is a former world champion and won a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics, has been living in Sweden since 1996 and will travel to Ireland for weekend coaching sessions as well as attending the major international regattas during the season.