The Irish Coastal Rowing Championships have drawn a huge entry. More than 500 crews – about 2,500 rowers – will take part in the three-day event in Lough Currane in Waterville, Co Kerry, which runs to Sunday.
There is a growth in the entry among young women and masters rowers and a strong showing of new entrants from Donegal, where the event will be held in 2016.
The highlight is the men’s senior race on Sunday afternoon, but the final race will be a Seine Boat race, which is traditionally a class for strong men’s crews. However this race is for women’s crews, with 12 women at the oars and a cox.
Website coverage
Last year there was a viewership across the world for the website coverage, and it will again be covered this year at crlive.com
This is the second successive year that the event will be held at Lough Currane.
The Ireland team for the World Championships, announced on Wednesday, came after a test for the women's four and lightweight sculler Denise Walsh. They proved themselves sufficiently fast. The lightweight men's pair of Mark O'Donovan and Shane O'Driscoll were chosen on previous results because it was not judged wise to test them because of a minor illness. The crew qualified for the final of the World Cup in Lucerne.
Seán Casey will coach this crew and the women's four, while the coach of the women's double is Giuseppe De Capua. Mary McLachlan is no longer part of the Rowing Ireland coaching team headed up by her husband, Don McLachlan.
The world governing body, Fisa, can look at the storm breaking over the IAAF with a cool eye. Fisa threw the book at Russia after incriminating evidence was found in a plastic bag in a rubbish bin outside the Russian team’s hotel in Lucerne, the day after the World Cup final in 2007.
Fisa did widespread testing and suspended a host of athletes and banned all Russian Rowing Federation officials from taking part in Fisa events for a year. They also levied heavy fines and charged the Russians all the expenses associated with the cases.
