Ghent proving popular with Irish

It may be the single biggest collection of Irish rowers competing at any regatta outside the national championships this year - and it's in Ghent, Belgium! As an indicator of just how popular this weekend's regatta is with Irish crews it is worth considering that in the junior men's single sculls tomorrow no less than 13 of the 53 entries are Irish - Timmy Harnedy of Skibbereen should fancy his chances - while in the equivalent junior women's event 10 of the 42 are Irish, three from Offaly rowing club.

Clearly that so many rowers are going abroad to compete raises valid questions about the Irish regatta season - the absence of 2,000-metre multi-lane courses here is clearly one problem, but a structure which rewards competition at a core of domestic events and maybe even punishes clubs which avoid them may need to be introduced if regattas in Ireland are not to fade back even more.

For all that, the Garda senior eight's title-winning performance at Trinity regatta last weekend should set them up for a good run this weekend. An unfortunate injury to coach Brendan Duane - he fractured his wrist during the week - rules him out of the travelling party, but their crew is the same as last week's and probably the one which they will take to the Thames Cup in Henley.

At Ghent, Tribesmen are also entered in the men's senior eights, as are the Irish under-23 eight which, competing as Tara, may also row in the lightweight event. There will also be a strong Irish under-23 lightweight four competing - Richard Archibald, Paul Griffin, Brian Young and Eugene Coakley. Neptune's Neil Casey, another member of this squad, is exam-tied.

The most recent news from the Irish training camp in Nottingham should give the under-23s a boost - the Irish senior lightweight four, given a tough race by the under-23s in the trials at Easter, reportedly beat the British under-23 four by a good margin.

The Irish lightweight double of Derek Holland and Niall O'Toole and the prospective national heavyweight double of Albert Maher and Sean Jacob are also in action this weekend, both competing in the heavyweight class.

Earlier in the year this regatta was targeted as crucial by the Commercial's women scullers, who hoped to test out a lightweight double which might win a place at the Olympics. However, Olympic qualification is no longer an aim, according to coach Mick Desmond.

There will be one Commercial lightweight double of Siobhan Foreman and Audrey Phelan, a quadruple and three lightweight single scullers competing at Ghent, but the aim for this year is to develop a lightweight quad and pair for the World Championships.

Email: lgorman@irish-times.ie