Lightweight four cruise through

Rowing World Cup regattaYou can only beat what's put in front of you. Ireland's ambitious lightweight four were robbed of their chance to encounter world champions France by suspected food poisoning in the French camp, but the Irish did what comes naturally and won their heat at the World Cup regatta here in Poland yesterday.

The French withdrawal yesterday forced a late redraw of the heats, with Ireland going in the first and easily mastering Australia, to qualify directly for tomorrow's A final. Britain won the other heat in similarly impressive fashion.

The other nine Irish boats go through to today with at least theoretical hopes of making tomorrow's A finals.

One of the most heartening stories came in the women's single scull, where Caroline Ryan overcame losing an oar in her heat and finishing last to go on and win her repechage, so she will compete in today's semi-finals and is certain of a third day of competition.

The men's pair of Seán Casey and Seán O'Neill had a similar story: they drew world champions New Zealand in their heat and also finished last, only to make full use of the repechage, where they finished second.

The new lightweight double of Tim Harnedy and Richard Coakley followed a similar route after a disappointing start, as did 20-year-old Cork woman Orla Hayes, one of the under-23s competing for experience.

The women's lightweight double of Niamh Ní Chéilleachair and Sinéad Jennings finished third in their heat, but only one qualified directly, and their repechage is today. The senior men's four face their repechage with some hope after a second-place finish in their heat.

Back in Ireland, the Athlone Regatta at Coosan Point tomorrow has a good entry, with racing scheduled from 8.30 to 6.35. The men's senior eight entry is St Michael's, Neptune and Queen's University, while Garda and a St Michael's/Skibbereen composite join this trio in the senior coxed four.

Mary Hussey, Ireland's most garlanded female domestic rower, with 17 national titles, is entered in the women's senior single scull, but it is "an outing", rather than a comeback, says clubman Frank Durkin.

Galway Regatta returns to its familiar slot on Sunday.

At Women's Henley, UCD go in the elite coxed four and Neptune in the lightweight coxed four.

Laura Gannon and Mary Donovan of Neptune are entered in the senior single scull.

Poznan details

WORLD CUP REGATTA (Poznan)

Day One (selected results)

Men: Four (first directly to semi-final A/B) - Heat One: 1 New Zealand 6:05.78, 2 Ireland One (C Folan, S Jacob, C Collis, A Martin) 6:10.25. Heat Two: 1 Britain 6:03.36, 4 Ireland Two (J Wall, D Barry, P O'Brien, P Murray) 6:15.22. Pair (first three directly to semi-final A/B) - Heat One: 1 New Zealand (N Twaddle, G Bridgewater) 6:37.07, 5 Ireland (S O'Neill, S Casey) 6:46.30. Repechage One (first three to semi-final A/B): 1 Egypt 7:14.07, 2 Ireland 7:14.61, 3 Belarus 7:14.62. Lightweight Four (first directly to semi-final A/B): 1 Ireland (G Towey, E Coakley, R Archibald, P Griffin) 6:12.72, 2 Australia 6:15.62, 3 China 6:16.54. Quadruple Scull (first directly to semi-final A/B): 1 Poland 5:57.21, 5 Ireland (L Molloy, B Clarke, K Rabbitte, G Ward) 6:27.60. Lightweight Double Sculls (first two directly to semi-final A/B) - Heat One: 1 Italy (M Miani, E Luini) 6:36.00, 2 Britain (J Lindsay-Fynn, M Hunter) 6:39.32, 5 Ireland Two (S Walsh, J Brinn) 7:00.29. Heat Two: 1 Denmark 6:39.78, 2 Argentina 6:52.13, 5 Ireland One (T Harnedy, R Coakley) 6:58.78. Repechage One (three to semi-final A/B): 1 Ukraine 7:09.06, 2 Ireland One 7:13.24, 3 China 7:15.09.

Women - Single Scull (first three directly to semi-final A/B) - Heat One: 5 Ireland (C Ryan) 8:10.81. Repechage (three to semi-final A/B): 1 Ireland 8:29.48. Lightweight Double Sculls (first directly to semi-final A/B) - Heat Two: 1 China Two 7:10.69, 3 Ireland (S Jennings, N Ní Chéilleachair) 7:15.46. Lightweight Single Scull (first three directly to semi-final A/B): Heat One: 5 Ireland (O Hayes) 8:16.56. Repechage (three to semi-final A/B): 3 Ireland 8:50.26.

Provisional Irish entry list for Henley Royal Regatta (June 28th to July 2nd). Thames Cup (Men's Eight, Club): Neptune, Belfast RC, St Michael's. Britannia Cup (Men's Four, coxed, Club): Garda, St Michael's. Wyfold Cup (Men's Four, coxless, Club): Belfast RC (two crews). Temple Cup (Men's Eight, Student): Trinity, UCD. Visitors' Cup (Men's Four, coxless, Intermediate): Shannon; Composite Crew (K McCarthy, Skibbereen; D O'Dowd, Galway; C Lewis, Commercial; J Forde, Galway). Quadruple Sculls (Intermediate): Composite (A Maher, Commercial; N Casey, Neptune; C Lewis, Commercial; R O'Connor, Offaly). Diamond Sculls (Single Sculls, Open): J Devitt (UCD). Remenham Cup (Women's Eight, Open): UCD Princess Royal (Women's Single Scull, Open): H Boyle, C Ryan.