Sailing: Last weekend's Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta in Spain marked the opening of the European Olympic classes season and a strong contingent of Irish boats was in action producing a mixed set of results as the countdown to Athens 2004 continues.
Sydney 2000 Olympian David Burrows was best of three Irish Finn single-handers when he scored a 10th overall out of a fleet of 62 boats.
Newcomers Aaron O'Grady from Dún Laoghaire and Youen Jacob from Baltimore took 38th and 47th respectively.
Another Baltimore sailor and Olympic veteran, Maria Coleman, scored 16th out of 120 boats in a rare departure from the top 10 of any event she enters.
Max Treacy ended his recovery following a bicycle accident in Miami two months ago with a return to competitive racing in the Star class with Anthony Shanks. The pair scored ninth out of 24 boats. Skiff 49er sailors Tom Fitzpatrick and Fraser Brown were 23rd out of 60 boats in that class.
A former Olympic class was also sailed at Palma and Ireland fielded no less than seven of the 41 International Dragons at the event. Best of the bunch was Johnny Ross-Murphy with Ailbe Millerick and Con Murphy in 10th place. The class European Championship will be held in Kinsale in August.
Meanwhile, the Olympic Council of Ireland has concluded its round of interviews with the parties to the Star Class selection controversy that has been continuing over recent weeks. Irish Sailing Association representatives were first interviewed last week followed by the two contenders for the single place available on the team.
It is understood that an extensive report complete with recommendations will be presented to the general council of the OCI on May 1st and full publication may follow from there.
Although Ireland has yet to qualify by nation for the class at Athens, its is widely expected that either triple Olympian Mark Mansfield with Killian Collins or Treacy and Shanks will achieve this later this summer. The ISA row concerns the details of the selection procedure to be used to decide between both campaigns.
The OCI became involved when the ISA board of directors set aside a decision by its own Olympic Group of advisers and opted for a direct trials process next year and dropped pre-selection criteria for the class.
Mansfield threatened legal action over the changes and the OCI, the national team organisers stepped in to resolve the matter.
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