UCD and Commercial eights match-up intrigues

ROWING COLUMN: TOMORROW'S DUBLIN Head of the River offers an intriguing match-up of the young eights of UCD and Commercial, while the Sligo Head of the River and the Boat Race in London ensure that only the rowing fan blessed with the gift of trilocation would be fully sated come evening.

UCD come to the battle on the back of a terrific victory over Trinity in the Gannon Cup colours race last weekend. The crew, coached by Colm Daly, Conor Walshe and Pat Gannon, saw Trinity go a length ahead by Capel Street Bridge after setting off at an extraordinary clip, rating 48 strokes a minute. But UCD chased them down by the Four Courts and went on to win by three-quarters of a length.

Commercial have been building a senior eight around the core of the crew which won the intermediate championships last year.

But they were unable to match NUIG at the big Tribesmen head on Saturday. They will also be without Ben Clarke tomorrow.

UCD are eyeing the intermediate title at the National Championships this season, but Commercial are targeting the senior pot and this may be the time to pull out a big performance.

Tom Sullivan's new women's senior eight brought UCD the Corcoran Cup as part of the university's clean sweep of the colours races.

They will take on Neptune and Commercial in tomorrow's Head, off at 4.30.

Sligo have two heads, at 12.30 and 3.30, and while there are no senior eights entered, the event can boast the debut of Blackrock College. A quadruple scull from the famous rugby nursery will compete in the second head.

Irish interest in the Boat Race programme comes virtue of an old Belvedere College boy, Martin Walsh, who is part of the Isis crew (the Oxford second crew) which will take on Goldie on the undercard of the main evenT.

Oxford have been hit by the late withdrawal of their stroke, Shane O'Mara, who will be replaced by fellow American Ryan Monaghan.

On the international front, the process of guaranteeing the availability of Jonno Devlin for the Ireland team for the Olympics grinds on. The ultimate decision maker will the International Olympic Committee executive .

Both the Ireland heavyweights and lightweights are back in the country after their camps in France and Portugal, respectively.

In the run-up to the first World Cup regatta in Munich in early May the seven-man Ireland heavyweight group will compete at the Klagenfurt regatta in Austria on April 26th and 27th.