Neptune sculler Albert Maher heads into the winter, a quiet time for rowing, with the warm glow of knowing he is top of the Dublin Sculling Ladder. Maher, whose performance in the World Championships in Cologne was disappointing, took the Wooden Goblet and Guinness Tankard for winning last Saturday's time trial - his third year in a row to do this.

Maher and the other top rowers will already have highlighted November 19th to 22nd in their diaries. The international review in Carlow last weekend chose this as the weekend for intensive coaching and tests in co-operation with the National Coaching and Training Centre in Limerick, although the dates have yet to be fully confirmed.

One of the other outcomes of the review was a decision that the team to represent Ireland at the World Championships in Canada next year will be chosen earlier than this year, and before the Lucerne Regatta.