Funding issue still unclear

ROWING:They are part of the programme most likely to yield a medal or medals at the Olympics next year, but the funding picture for Ireland's elite women rowers is at least unclear at the moment.

Sinead Jennings, a World Champion in the lightweight single scull in 2001, Heather Boyle and Fiola Foley had targets for the World Championships in Milan if the athletes were to qualify for continued funding. The lightweight double scull had to qualify for the Olympics by finishing ninth or better and the lightweight single had to make the World Championship A final.

In the event, Jennings and Foley formed a double which finished 16th (fourth in the C final) and Boyle was third in the B final of the single.

However, in the weeks before the championships Jennings had suffered a severe bout of tendinitis and Foley broke her wrist in a cycling accident. Boyle's difficulties in making the weight for a double had also contributed to a year in which there was very little continuity.

Jennings, ever willing to take on a challenge, said that apart from their recent knocks the athletes were physically in excellent shape and were certain to qualify the double for the Olympics in the qualifier in Lucerne in mid-June next year.

Given the overall success of Thor Nilsen's lightweight programme - how many sports in Ireland can boast two teams in the top six in the world in their discipline? - the target of qualification does seem within reach, and funding will surely be found.

However, the women's programme has not hit the marks set for it. An "evaluation" will be held, according to the High Performance Director of the sport, Richard Parr. One likely change is that other women will be brought into the programme.

"There are a lot of young people banging on the door in Ireland. They have to get their chance," Nilsen said at the weekend, pointing out that male athletes will also get the opportunity to stake a claim.

Some consideration may have to be given to appointing a specialist coach for the women's elite group, or allowing them to retain individual coaches. Jennings and Boyle moved from having individual coaches to working within a target-based structure, and the transformation does not seem to have benefited them.

The World Masters Championships in Vichy today and tomorrow features a big group of Irish contestants - including the president of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union, Frank Durkin, who in one boat will team up with his son Paul.