Bled failures must be analysed

ROWING:JUST NOW in clubs across Ireland hundreds of hopefuls are testing the water for the first time as rowers. For the small minority who stick with it – rowing is one tough sport – the rewards can stretch all the way to representing your country at the very biggest stage in sport, the Olympic Games.

That promise may be a small part of the attraction, but it is not to be discounted. Which makes it all the more disappointing that the upcoming Olympics in London may not have a boat representing Ireland.

The fine performance by the Adaptive coxed Four in qualifying for the Paralympic Games made the recent World Championships in Bled a good one for them. But the Ireland boats in Olympic classes, the lightweight and open women’s double sculls, finished 17th and 12th when a place in the top eight was necessary to book a place in London.

Ireland performance director Martin McElroy says a tilt at the Olympic Qualification regatta in Lucerne in May could be a possibility for a lightweight women’s boat and if the heavyweight women decided that they were fully committed to this they might also gain backing.

McElroy said both boats “were towards the back end of the range that we had set”, which was “somewhat disappointing”. “We just have to work with our athletes and try to build this thing up,” he added.

An in-depth analysis of all the aspects of the failure will be done – and needs to be done. The standard in Bled was quite astounding, and a major power such as Britain found itself pushed off the ball in big events like the men’s single sculls and the men’s pair.

In both cases racy, high-rating, New Zealand crews were able to finish decisively, while the British were not. Building theories on small bases of evidence is clearly not scientific, but the Irish coaching personnel have been drawn from the British system and Irish crews in recent seasons have not been coming from behind to win races.

Perhaps the Irish need to draw inspiration from – and study the coaching in – New Zealand. Apart from the specifics of style, it is also noticeable that such a small country has strong regional and schools rowing structures. As with rugby, at which they are quite handy, the New Zealanders benefit from this diverse base. The board of Rowing Ireland is set to look at a plan for provincial crews in Ireland. They might keep the lessons of the World Championships – and Irish rugby – in mind.

The board is also set to consider at tomorrow’s meeting the UCD objection to the disqualification of their intermediate eight at July’s National Championships.

On the water, this weekend sees one of the biggest events of the year in terms of numbers – the World Masters in Poznan in Poland. Back home, Limerick is preparing to host an interprovincial Sprint Regatta on September 24th to mark its year as European City of Sport, and organisers of the Rowing Ireland Indoor Championships on November 13th are seeking entries.

The annual congress of Fisa, the world governing body, was held in Bled after the World Championships. One surprising decision is to hold the first World Cup regatta of the 2013 and 2014 seasons in Sydney, Australia. The aim is to revamp the series so that it’s not completely based in Europe.

It is a strategy fraught with difficulties. In 2010, when the World Championships were held in New Zealand, Ireland did not travel because of cost and logistics factors. Small countries in Europe will have the same problem with the World Cup strategy.