GALWAY provides the stage for a preview of Ireland's Olympic rowing squad as part of tomorrow's Carlsberg sponsored Tribesman Head of the River event which has attracted a record number of entries. Over 300 crews are expected to race in the time trials, but attention will be focused on the first home outing of members of the national squad on their return from warm weather training in Banyoles, Spain.

The World Championship double scull pair, Neville Maxwell and Tony O'Connor, will crew in a composite Olympic lightweight eight which has been seeded third behind last year's winners, Neptune, and recent victors at the Erne Head, Trinity.

Conditions on the 3 1/2 mile course may be the determining factor in the final race order, and rough water in the exposed middle stages could benefit the heavier crews.

Atlanta medal prospects Niall O'Toole and the current national sculling champion, Garoid Towey, have also been entered, for once in the same boat, along with Neptune's Dolan and Byrne to form a lightweight quad.