Nine-hour Neptune Regatta kicks off competitive season

ROWING: NEPTUNE REGATTA kicks off what could be a very competitive regatta season with a nine-hour programme (9am to 6pm) at Islandbridge tomorrow. The two-boat racing should draw the crowds, but the entry is smaller than usual, with many top crews waiting for next weekend's triple-header in Cork of the University and Schools' Championships and Skibbereen regatta, a Grand League event.

The senior eights action tomorrow will come in the shape of a rematch of Trinity and UCD’s women’s crews, with Trinity hoping to reverse the defeat they suffered in the Corcoran Cup colours race on St Patrick’s Day.

Only Galway Rowing club entered a senior men’s eight, leaving this section uncontested, while Galway take on Commercial and Carlow compete against the host club in the semi-finals of the men’s senior coxed fours.

Queen’s University are a welcome attraction, fielding crews at intermediate and novice level, but the focus of the Belfast club tomorrow will be primarily on the huge Head of the River in London. Their top two men’s eights go off in very impressive ninth and 26th places – a tribute to the performances of last year. Two other Irish senior eights set to compete are University College Cork (who have been given a starting place of 39th) and University of Limerick (55th). “It’s going to be a fast race I think,” said Mark Fangen-Hall, the Queen’s coach, from London yesterday. “There are westerly winds and a high stream.”

Next weekend Queen’s will travel en masse to the Irish University Championships at the National Rowing Centre – they are the reigning men’s senior eights champions – and the hectic schedule will continue with the British University Championships in Nottingham at the end of the month. But the primary focus this year is the Irish National Championships in July.

On Monday the head office of Rowing Ireland will relocate from Dublin to the NRC.

Meanwhile, Neptune oarsman and adventurer Gearóid Towey has set up an events company, Boldly Go. On Tuesday, Towey will be in the Aviva Stadium at the launch of DARE, a “challenging adventure race using the city as the adventure playground”. The event is set for Saturday, May 21st.

Another rower and adventurer, Mark Pollock, is set to return from America tomorrow after a month in Project Walk in California, which tests the limits for people with spinal injuries. Pollock, who is blind, and has suffered paralysis since he broke his back last year, has posted some extraordinary videos – including one in which he “reads” using a camera connected to a sensor on his tongue.