Colin Lowth, the leading light in Ireland's Team 2000, is constantly reminded of the difficulties involved in dividing his time between preparations for university exams and Olympic training.
The 22-year-old Cormorant swimmer, currently the strongest claimant for a place in Sydney, is in serious danger of losing this status due to study commitments for his finals at Trinity College. Natural talent and determination however could yet see him remain as Ireland's leading Olympic contender right up to the final moment of asking at the Helsinki European senior championships in July.
Lowth is poised to cause a big impact at this month's Leisureland international short course meet in Salthill, an event which of course matters not in the context of Olympic qualifying which clearly does not allow for conversion times. Similar circumstances will obtain for the Team 2000 members competing at the world short course tests in Athens next month.
Long course internnational events in Edinburgh and Austria in April would seem the next significant targets for our Olympic aspirants among whom is Graham Beegan now fully recovered from injury and set to swim at Leisureland.
Some of the competitors at the Irish Schools' championships at Leisureland at the weekend found themselves out of their depth when the likes of Nicola Pepper, Steve Manley, Barry Murphy, Sinead Tyrrel and Conor O'Dea cranked up a gear.
Santa Sabina's Pepper took three gold medals (100m butterfly, 100m freestyle and 400m freestyle). St Conleth's Manley lifted a double at 100m butterfly and 400m freestyle. Sinead Tyrrell of Mercy Convent Beaumount trimmed the 200 IM record by three seconds and Ard Scoil Ris boys Murphy and O'Dea easily clinched their places on the Ireland team for the Four Nations Schools' championships in Ipswich (March 25th-26th).
