The secrets of her success? Ireland's silver medallist at the World Cup in Belgrade, Sanita Puspure, takes an unlikely tack. For five weeks in the spring she was injured, only able to push her fitness to new levels on a training bike. "I cried a good few times on that bike," she said. "But it worked."
Puspure had been set a high volume of work by high performance director Antonio Maurogiovanni and coach David McGowan. "That programme made a big difference," she says, also giving credit to previous coaches from Adrian Cassidy and Don McLachlan to Sean Casey.
Her next challenge is the third and final World Cup in Lucerne in July, and she hopes to excel at the European Championships in August in Scotland and the World Championships in Bulgaria in September.
Lack of funding has curtailed the season – only Paul and Gary O'Donovan, who took bronze in Belgrade, are set to compete at the second World Cup in Linz in Austria this month, and then only if they self-fund. The Europeans looked moot at one point.
"It is ridiculous that we are trying to find someone to fund the team at the Europeans. We're one of the top Olympic sports in Ireland, " Puspure says.
The funding has not kept up with the upswing in numbers of top-class rowers. This weekend under-23 athletes will be trialled at the National Rowing Centre. The lightweight men’s team for the World Championships in 2017 was a double, a quadruple and a pair, with the latter two crews winning medals. The prospects are that similar crews will be part of the team this time out. It is understood that some invitees will not be available.
Drawbacks
The refixed Metropolitan Regatta looks set to have a spectacular day at Blessington Lakes on Saturday. This date has a number of drawbacks for this Grand League event: it comes just after the – very successful – raid by Irish clubs on London Metropolitan last week; it clashes with the annual match between Queen's and Trinity in Belfast and the under-23 trials. It is also exam time.
Commercial’s men’s senior eight has been split into two senior fours – making this section interesting. Cork, with two crews, and UCD take on the Dublin club. Division One of the men’s senior pair also has a good selection from the same clubs. Shandon’s men’s intermediate eight, which features juniors who are set to represent Ireland at the World Junior Championships, might be the fastest crew.
