ROWING:IT WAS about endings and new beginnings for two of the top people in Irish rowing on Saturday. On a crystal clear day at Blessington Lakes, world junior silver medallist Holly Nixon brought the curtain down on her junior career at the Neptune head of the river with two wins.

At the Fours Head in London, Mark Fangen Hall oversaw three Queen’s University crews in action – he will soon say goodbye to Belfast and head for a coaching job with the Mercantile club in Melbourne, Australia. Nixon became the first Irish rower to win a medal at a Junior World Championships at Dorney Lake in August, but she turns 18 a month from today and her wins in the junior single and junior double (with Katie Cromie) were her last competitive action at this grade. “I didn’t really think about that till I came in,” she said. “It is a bit sad, I suppose.”

Her horizons have expanded radically this year, and she has received scholarship offers from American universities, although the Enniskillen woman says she is concentrating for the moment on her A Levels. It is a growing trend for the very best rowers from around the world to accept scholarships in the United States, and it is understood that moves are being made to ensure Irish athletes could do this and stay part of the Ireland international programme.