Three crews in Poznan worlds

ROWING:IRELAND WILL send three boats to the World Championships in Poznan in Poland, which begin on Sunday week. Single sculler Seán Casey will be joined by two adaptive crews, one of which took bronze on its last international outing.

The legs, trunks and arms mixed coxed four made its breakthrough at the World Cup regatta in Munich in June. The personnel will be slightly different this time, with Emer Patten, Shane Ryan, Kevin du Toit and Sarah Caffrey being joined by cox Amy Judge. Laura Purdy was the cox of the bronze medal-winning crew.

The second adaptive crew is the trunk and arms double scull made up of Vincent Culhane, a former rugby player, and Karen Cromie, who is based in Fermanagh. She was part of the British team at the Paralympics in Beijing.

James Mangan will coach the crews and the team manager will be Joe Cunningham.

Casey goes into the World Championships on the back of a good ninth-place finish at the final World Cup in Lucerne in rowing’s most competitive discipline.

The Kerryman faces 25 scullers, including all the big guns of the moment – and 43-year-old Jueri Jaanson. The Estonian won his first World Championships medal in 1989, a bronze, and (it seemed) crowned his career with silver in the double scull in Beijing.

Casey, at 31, seems but a young man compared to the evergreen Jaanson. A good finish in the B final (places seven to 12) would be an achievement for the Kerryman.

But Ireland will not be sending a team to the European Championships next month. Martin McElroy, the Ireland performance director, said there were no crews of the required standard, and cited financial considerations.

“When there’s a choice of spending money on 20 athletes at a 12-day camp in Cork or one crew which isn’t up to the standard to the European Championships, it is not a difficult decision to make.”

Back on the domestic scene, the Irish Amateur Rowing Union is seeking a development officer to work under the Women in Sport initiative.

The initial contract will be for nine months.