Ireland redevelops at home and abroad

Ireland is a country with a proud rowing tradition. Although its rowers are yet to earn that elusive Olympic medal with best results being fourth in both 1996 (lightweight men’s four) and 1976 (men’s single sculls), the wall of fame in the National Rowing Centre in Cork boasts photos of the many athletes who have rowed their way to World Championship silverware. From the early 1990s through to 2008, Irish crews were regulars on the podium of both World Rowing Cup and World Rowing Championship regattas and it was the lightweight crews that really chased and accomplished international success. In fact, all but one of Ireland’s World Championship medals were won by lightweight rowers.

After the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Ireland’s impact on the international scene declined. A new team of coaches were introduced, but as the country’s experienced rowers began to fall away from the system, much of the athlete-based knowledge that helps the development of young athletes was lost. In the four years leading up to London 2012 Ireland’s rowers had wavering success with just one rower, Sanita Puspure qualifying for the Games (women’s single sculls).

After the London Olympics Irish rowing was at the crossroads. Making the right decision as to which direction to move was crucial to the future of the sport’s success both domestically and internationally. Not only did the federation need a new high performance team, the position of chief executive officer also needed to be filled.

The first new face to join the federation was Denmark's Morten Espersen, who assumed the role of high performance director. The Irish and Scandinavians have had a working relationship in the past. The lessons learned from Norway's Thor Nilsen’s time with the team are still a daily reference point among those who worked with him as well as those who only knew about him. Espersen chose former Imperial College (London) coach Don McLachlan as the man who would teach and guide the aspiring champions and Olympians of the country.

Espersen  worked throughout 2013 to establish an open and inclusive team selection policy, encouraging those who feel as though they have what it takes to succeed as well as enticing those who thought their careers were over to come back to the sport. To establish strong ties with coaches and athletes Espersen has travelled to the majority of the country’s clubs to bring people on-board. Regional training groups are developing with the support of local coaches, former lightweight World Champion, Niall O’Toole is one of them.

The high performance team took the 2013 season head-on at all levels. Going against what could be considered a conservative and cautious tradition when it comes to sending crews to World Rowing regattas, Espersen sent a large contingent of rowers clad in green to measure up against the world’s top crews. For the team, this was not so much a challenge for medals, but rather a chance to gain experience and show that Ireland has athletes with the skill and talent to mix with the best. Reward came at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Linz when Paul O’Donovan took bronze in the lightweight men’s single.

It is not just the international programme that is undergoing big changes in Ireland. There are eight full-time employees at Rowing Ireland and only three of them have been there for more than 12 months. Hamish Adams, a New Zealand native now living in Ireland, is one of them. Adams joined Rowing Ireland as chief executive officer in March 2013 with the task of heading up the domestic side of the sport. He comes from working with the professional Munster rugby team, a sport that has the luxury of many resources and a lot of staff to specialise in different areas.

“What I’ve found with rowing,” Adams says, “is that you have to roll your sleeves up, muck in and get involved in a lot of tasks at once.”

Located in the south of Ireland, the National Rowing Centre is the home of Irish rowing. Not only is it the National Rowing Centre (NRC) but it also plays host to multiple regattas during the season including the Irish Rowing Championships. Since Adams’ arrival he has been part of some major developments at the NRC including new slips and starting pontoons and work to upgrade the centre’s energy efficiency. All of these improvements are aimed at enabling the sport to grow from a strong domestic level to a results-producing international setup.

“Morten (Espersen) and I are working closely with clubs and universities to ensure that our domestic programme and our high performance programme work together. Streamlining the two is just one of the challenges we face,” Adams says. “We want lots of competitive crews competing domestically to raise the standard of the international teams and we want more podium competitive performances internationally.”

One of the major problems Rowing Ireland has been trying to tackle is the drop-off rate after school and university. “Rowing Ireland is currently embarking on a long term strategy of improving and developing the sport of rowing in Ireland,” coach education officer, Pat McInerney explains. “A systematic accredited coach education process has been successfully implemented already and is ongoing. A new and exciting racing format in the shape of the Grand League has been developed. The next step is the improvement of the grading structure from the current system to one that facilitates involvement and retention of participants.”

The new system marks a significant change from the current structure of upward-only progression and will allow movement between the grades based on performance and time away from competition as well as enabling crews of mixed grades to compete. Although the new system is yet to be tried out, the Federation and clubs are looking forward to seeing its impact.

“Already there are many clubs and coaches talking about new adult crews made up of all age and experience profiles that were not possible before, emerging to try out the new system. If we see more competitors in the adult grades over the next few years it will have been worth it,” McInerney says.

To follow the progress of Rowing Ireland visit their new website here.