IT IS A Tale of Two Metros – and a top Ireland crew hopes it has a happy ending.

The Gráinne Mhaol/NUIG eight travelled to Dublin Metropolitan regatta last weekend to find it abandoned because of high winds, but their top crew competes at the (London) Metropolitan Regatta at the Olympic course at Dorney Lake this weekend.

The Galway outfit, who are among a host of Irish crews entered, will not want for top-class competition, as they are entered on both days in the elite eights. They are set to take on Leander and, among other crews, a composite of London, Molesey, Oxford Brookes and University of London.

NUIG/Gráinne Mhaol also have a senior eight entered and St Michael’s, UCD, University of Limerick, Trinity, Queen’s and NUIG are entered in a range of events. In the senior single sculls, UCD’s Dave Neale and Colin Williamson of Queen’s compete in the same heat. Henley Royal Regatta is in less than four weeks, and crews use this event as a testing ground.

The University Boat Races on the Lagan will see Cambridge University take on Queen’s in men’s and women’s senior races tomorrow. Races will feature crews from Trinity, Methody, Blackrock College and UCD, and will finish opposite a new enclosure across from the Queen’s PEC (physical education centre).

The Carlow Regatta on Sunday is traditionally one of the best run of the two-lane events in Ireland.

The spirits in the Ireland squad at the National Rowing Centre in Cork have been lifted by the success of Sanita Puspure in reaching the Olympic Games, and yesterday the sculler was named Afloat Rower of the Month for May. In the first World Cup of the season, at Belgrade, she finished fifth and she will get a chance to test herself against the world’s best at the final World Cup, in Munich, in two weeks’ time. Lightweight sculler Claire Lambe will also compete, and a men’s crew is being finalised. The Ireland adaptive four will complete the team.

Puspure’s prospects in London may move up a notch soon, as Kim Crow, the winner of the Olympic Qualifier, looks likely to drop out of this event if Brooke Pratley, her partner in the already-qualified double scull, returns to fitness.

Rowing Ireland has advertised for a Finance/Administration Officer as Colm Dowling is moving on after two and a half years with the company.