Lightweight eight in flying form

Rowing Henley RegattaThe lightweight eight, which is set to represent Ireland at the final World Cup regatta in Lucerne next weekend, had a morale-boosting win in their first competitive outing at Henley Royal Regatta yesterday.

On another good day for Ireland at Henley, six of the seven crews competing made it through to today's quarter-finals.

The eight, stroked by Diarmaid Mac Colgain, beat the University of Southern California by two and three-quarter lengths in the first round of the Ladies Plate. As lightweights rowing into a headwind, they were at a disadvantage, but came through with flying colours, and were able to drop the rate to 24 by the end.

Coach Tim Levy says that the crew will have a much tougher test today, against the big men of Stanford University. "I think we might have a good chance against them, to be honest," he said.

The prize for a good bounce from Henley could be considerable - there are only four lightweight eights entered at Lucerne, and national coach Harald Jahrling has said that the Ireland eight can book a place at the World Championships in Japan with a win.

Levy's other crew in action yesterday, the Lady Elizabeth eight in the Thames Cup, also won with a bit to spare. Neptune exited the same competition with a narrow loss, but Garda got the win they expected and take on a crew they have targeted, England's Molesey, today.

Already it looks like it could be one of the best Henley regattas for Irish crews, and two of our best hopes for glory on Sunday were untroubled in their first outings yesterday.

The Commercial/Neptune composite in the men's quadruple sculls reads like a roll call from the top end of the chart of Ireland's best scullers: Niall O'Toole, Albert Maher, Neil Casey and stroke Con Collis. Predictably, they had no great problems in disposing of Bath University.

The NUIG crew in the Visitors' Cup for club and university fours similarly has the right kind of experience. Paul Giblin and Marc Stephens, who won the Visitors' with NUIG in 2003, are joined by John Forde and Dave Mannion. The verdict in their win over Palatine Boat Club was "easily".

NUIG's crew in the student coxed fours made it a double for the westerners when they beat Trinity College, Hartford. The challenge of Imperial and Goldsmiths' College today may make or break their regatta.