IRELAND'S lightweight old guard, rowing at the world championships in the pair and quad scull, will race for the medal placings in the finals this weekend after qualifying from yesterday's semi finals in conditions that proved as much an opponent as the other crews.
With their backs to stiff headwinds, so far a feature of the Strathclyde course, the two boats had to draw on experience that the squad's development crews, Sydney 2000 prospects among them, had shown themselves to be lacking earlier this week. The pair won their semi final, the quad finished second.
More significant than the placings in terms of medal chances, were the times, and what was seen still leaves their finalist opponents tomorrow with an incomplete picture of their real pace.
Tony O'Connor and Neville Maxwell produced the fastest split times of any other pair up to the 2,000 metre halfway mark and then sat on their clear water lead over the Pinon brothers, a new French pairing.
Striking at 34 as they crossed the line, the two Olympic finalists from Ireland's coxless four a fortnight ago, made it clear that the one length verdict could have been more, in a race that Tony O'Connor conceded afterwards was not one of their best.
"I am surprised by how easy the result was considering that we were blown on to the lane buoys at the start and sitting on them for most of the race" he said.
"At 750 metres I knew we were going to go through. Normally we push at the 1,000 but Neville decided not to call it and the second half was just about holding the pressure from behind. It was scrappy, we still haven't quite gelled together, but it was effective."
O'Connor and Maxwell now start their final with the World Championship within their reach after the disappointment last year when O'Connor pulled up with a back injury. Between them and gold lie the Danes and the Italians, who have traded first and second placings throughout the season. Indeed, Italy, who finished second behind the Irish yesterday, are the current world champions.
The opportunity to consign disappointment to the past has also come the way of Brendan Dolan and Niall O'Toole after a "terrible" year in the Olympic double. Joined by Lady Victoria's John Armstrong and Commercials Emmet O'Brien in the bow, the quad stayed with the Italians fort the length of the course, developing a clear water advantage over the rest of the field in the process.
Second to finish, the Irish boat more importantly recorded a time four seconds quicker than that of the winners of the second semifinal, the Czechs. "We did a big push at the 1,000 metre mark, the Italians had gone earlier and we blew everyone away. We were sitting pretty and it was a lot more consistent technically down the middle of the course than in the first heat," said Dolan afterwards.
Also racing yesterday were the lightweight single sculls semi finalists minus Gearoid Towey. Towey fell victim to a suspected lung infection in his heat and has decided not to race in his C final.
