McCrohan's position with Ireland looks in doubt

ROWING:THE POSITION of Ireland's top women's lightweight rower, Siobhán McCrohan, remains in doubt amid claims from her family she has been cut from the Ireland system.

McCrohan has had difficulties making the weight over the past two seasons. She competed in the lightweight single at the World Cup in Lucerne last July and took a bronze medal but she again struggled to make the weight this month and she was dropped from Ireland’s premier boat, the Olympic-class lightweight double scull, effectively ending the prospects of Ireland qualifying for London in this class.

According to McCrohan’s father, Mike, a meeting last weekend ended with the athlete still believing she might represent Ireland this season in the lightweight single.

But what he called “an email of dismissal” followed, which Mike McCrohan, a former board member of Rowing Ireland, says was a “cold-blooded” tactic.

He believes it “closed the door for the year”. He says McCrohan is now training as a Tribesmen athlete in Galway and “considering other options outside the squad”.

Martin McElroy, the head of the High Performance Programme, said he did not want to discuss the matter. “At the moment it is not appropriate for me to get into a discussion about Siobhán. There are still discussions going on with Siobhán so I don’t think it is appropriate for me to start discussing that in public.”

An Ireland team of seven will compete at the World Cup regatta in Belgrade next weekend.

In Olympic-class events, the men’s lightweight double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny and single scullers Sanita Puspure and Lisa Dilleen will compete, while lightweight single scullers Michael Maher and Claire Lamb, along with Karol Doherty in an adaptive single, complete the team.

Back in Ireland, Division One of the women’s single sculls could be the standout event at the Queen’s University regatta at Castlewellan tomorrow. With 410 crews entered and the attraction of being the second round of the eFlow Go Row League, it is scheduled to run for 12 hours from 7.30 am.

Helen Walshe won the women’s title at Skibbereen regatta, the first round of the eFlow League. But tomorrow’s entry includes Holly Nixon, a medallist at the World Junior Championships last year, and Sinéad Jennings, a former world champion.

They head up a top-class entry of 29.

Division One of the men’s singles sees Colin Williamson and Rory O’Connor of the host club, Queen’s, take on the country’s best junior athlete in Paul O’Donovan of Skibbereen, and outstanding UCD oarsman Dave Neale.

Beijing Olympian Cathal Moynihan is also among the entry of 37, but John Keohane of Lee Valley, who won the first round at Skibbereen regatta, is not travelling.

Bantry regatta, also scheduled for tomorrow, has been cancelled.