ROWING INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENT:THE STRENGTH in depth of Irish rowing for the new Olympic cycle will be on show in Newry this weekend. A number of big names have gone, but 200 athletes – most of them young and unproven – will take part in performance director Martin McElroy's international assessment event.

Six of the nine men who took part in the Beijing Olympics will not be around. Jonno Devlin and Gearóid Towey have retired; Paul Griffin and Richard Archibald have stepped away from the sport, at least for the immediate future, and Seán Casey and Seán O’Neill are in the Antipodes training.

In addition, top heavyweight Alan Martin has not applied for carding to concentrate on work commitments, while Sinead Jennings has been excused because of her final medical exams.

On the positive side, Olympians Cormac Folan, Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley are entered. Tim Harnedy, who has struggled with a long-term injury, is also on the list, but he said yesterday he was not certain he would compete.

Interestingly, the women’s entry contains two athletes who could greatly boost Ireland’s hopes in international competition – should they qualify to compete for this country. Sanita Puspure’s roots are in Latvia, while Monika Dukarska’s family are from Poland but have been settled for years in Kerry, and the young woman and her sister, Agnieszka, have been stalwarts of Killorglin rowing club.

Galway junior Lisa Dilleen has already proved herself in the Ireland vest, as a gold medallist in both the British and Irish indoor championships and in the Coupe de la Jeunesse. She will get to test herself both indoors and outdoors this weekend, as tomorrow features a 2km ergometer (rowing machine) trial and Sunday a 5km time trial on Newry canal.

The British trials last weekend gave Coleraine’s Alan Campbell a chance to prove his recovery from injury – and his dominance in the single scull. The Olympic finalist had over 16 seconds to spare over second-placed Ian Lawson.

James Lindsay-Fynn, who was part of the Britain lightweight four in Beijing, has not entered the system this year. The London-based Meath man, who competed for Ireland at the World Championships in 1999, has been back on the water training – in Ireland. He has teamed up with Seán Jacob and Con Collis of Old Collegians and Albert Maher of his own club, Commercial, to form a quadruple which may be aimed at Henley.