Chance to test form in regional time trials

ROWING: Five regional time trials, two heads of the river and a couple of boats involved in the Atlantic Challenge race - this is surely the busiest December weekend ever in Irish rowing.

The regional time trials were slow to get started but have caught the imagination of competitors, who have grabbed the chance of testing themselves on the water rather than on a rowing machine early in the season.

The monthly sequence features a who's who of Irish talent, but also gives club athletes a chance to assess their progress, even if they may not make it into head coach Harald Jahrling's plans for the season ahead.

One competitor who will be benchmarking her own form but does not plan to feed into the bigger system is Rachel O'Connor (nee Purcell). She is based in New Zealand with her husband Tony O'Connor and has annexed a national title (the lightweight double) there with her club, Canterbury. She was due to return to Ireland for a Christmas break only last night - and intends to be in Blessington on Sunday morning for the Leinster trial. The Galway trial is scheduled for today and Sunday is the day for the Munster trial (National Rowing Centre); Ulster trial (Newry canal); and Limerick trial (O'Brien's Bridge).

Lagan Scullers' head in Belfast and Muckross' head at the NRC are scheduled for tomorrow. The Kerry club's head has an impressive entry of 219 crews, a good proportion of them juniors.

On the high seas, both the Christina, with its crew of Paul Gleeson and Tori Holmes, and the Digicel Atlantic Challenge (Gearóid Towey and CiaráLewis) made it safely out to sea in the Atlantic Challenge rowing race which began in the Canary Islands on Wednesday.

The race tracker shows both making steady progress, but Towey and Lewis's tactic of taking a southern trajectory initially to catch trade winds means it will be days or even weeks before any real judgments can be made on their position relative to other crews.

Towey's fellow Olympian Richard Archibald, who was part of the Ireland lightweight four which took silver at this year's World Championships, has been nominated for Northern Ireland sports personality of the year. The Derryman will have a special start to the year even if he does not win - the lightweight four, heavyweight four and women's lightweight double are being taken on a skiing camp in January.

The board of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union heard an appeal by Commercial's Rob Michael at the weekend concerning suspension due to his ineligibility to row in the National Championships in July. The president of the IARU, Frank Durkin, confirmed yesterday a suspension had been in place and said a decision on the final sanction for the athlete was due in the next few days.