Cancelled head causes a ripple

ROWING

THIS WEEK a tale of two events – the Lagan Scullers’ head, which goes ahead tomorrow with an outstanding entry of 192 boats, and the proposed Commercial head of the river, which was cancelled this week but has left reverberations in its wake.

Tomorrow’s head is, according to organiser Gordon Reid, the joint biggest ever run by Lagan Scullers, ranking in size alongside last year’s event. Reid is pleased that the mainly Northern Irish line-up is also sprinkled with entries from around the country – including IT Tralee and Blackrock College. “I suppose it helps that we don’t clash with another head,” Reid said.

The cancellation of Commercial’s inaugural head, pencilled in for next Saturday, March 7th, had a lot to do with a direct clash with Erne head. However, the chairman of the organising committee, Dermot Keogh, in his announcement of the cancellation, stated that the decision was made “due to lack of support from . . . neighbouring clubs”.

Keogh said yesterday that Commercial were disappointed that some of the Islandbridge clubs were offering very limited entries.

Commercial is one of the powerhouses of Irish rowing, but their regatta has traditionally been on the day following Neptune’s and his club, Keogh said, “has been playing second fiddle to Neptune”.

With the proposed head of the river, Commercial were trying to create a stand-alone event as good as any other, but “lack of support from our neighbours knocked it on the head”.

Although it has not been officially announced, Commercial will be cancelling their regatta, which was booked in for April 5th this year.

The club is expanding it’s clubhouse and gym and building work is set to begin that month.