Rowing: Big changes are taking place in Irish rowing: tomorrow two candidates will be interviewed for the post of chief coach, with the executive of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union expected to meet quickly once the interview panel has made a choice.
And, in another important development, Mick O'Callaghan has been given the go-ahead to continue as international team manager until 2004. Sebastiaan Peeters will continue for the same period in charge of under-23 rowing.
O'Callaghan was adamant yesterday that the position of chief coach was one where the primary task would be to take charge of developing the lightweight men's crews for the Athens Olympics, with the additional responsibilities of helping to provide support for the coach education programme and technical support for clubs and for the national training programme. It will be a full-time post, with the coach based in Ireland.
Sinead Jennings' coach Hamish Burrell, who it is widely known has applied for the post, has let it be known that he is primarily interested in working with a small group with the aim to win medals at Athens. He is already committed to developing a lightweight women's crew for Athens.
O'Callaghan, who is part of the interview panel, did not want to prejudge the matter. He did say, however, that the panel will be brave in their choice. "If there is a hard decision to be made we'll make it," he said.
Apart from O'Callaghan and Peeters, also on the interview panel are the president of the IARU, Tom Fennessey, and Frank Durkin, who is a member of the national executive, along with Morgan Buckley of Irish Leisure Management.
The interviews will take place in Cork, and the National Rowing Centre in Inniscarra also hosts the 5,000 metres time trial tomorrow. However, the Munster branch head of the river, scheduled for Killorglin on Sunday has been cancelled.
Definitely going ahead on Sunday week is a coach education course at Garda rowing club. This is another session in what is one of the positive developments going on behind the scenes in the sport:
Joe Pyke of Athlone heads up the coach education programme and there have already been sessions in Belfast in December and Galway in January.
One of the real losses to the sport recently has been the excellent rowing website, Irish Rowing Information, run out of the University of Limerick by Jane Gribbon. However, the IARU have been developing a site which should be up and running in the next month.
News from the warmer climate of Australia is good: both Neal Byrne and Gearóid Towey are based there at the moment, with Towey reporting no adverse effects of his first races since recent surgery.
