ON Monday morning Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney were getting ready to make the six-hour road trip from Italy to Slovenia for the European Rowing Championships which get underway this Thursday (today).
The Fermanagh pair will row in the Men’s Four after securing their places in the boat at trials in Italy last week.
It’s a first appearance at the senior European Championships for both the Kinawley and Enniskillen rowers and the 2000 metre course at the iconic Lake Bled is a new experience for them as well.On Wednesday (today), they’ll have what Corrigan described as a “paddling around” and a “few bursts and few short pieces” as they get a feel for their new surroundings;
“We’ve never been on this course before, it’s the first time we’ve gone to a new course in a while because the last two years, the World Champs have been in the same spot. So you just want to get used to your surroundings a bit and get ready for Thursday morning to go racing in the heats.”
With 11 crews entered, there will be two heats on Thursday (tomorrow) with the top boat from each going through to the ‘A’ final on Sunday.
Should the Ireland Four not top their group, they’ll have another chance in the repechage on Friday with two crews qualifying from each repechage for the ‘A’ final with the remainder racing in the ‘B’ final.
Corrigan admits it’s hard to know how the next few days will pan out;
“It’s the first race of the year and we’re moreseo looking for a performance.
“Obviously you’re thinking of the medals in the back of your mind but we want to get the best performance out of us at the minute.
“It’s so hard to know because there hasn’t been much racing this year so far, the entries are all good crews. There’s people in there that we raced in the World Champs last year and you don’t know what they’ve been doing since last year.
“Once we know we’ve went there and give our best performance, that gives us a more realistic approach to the rest of the year and that’s the main goal. Whether that’s a medal or fifth, sixth, seventh, who knows.
“It’s just exciting at the minute, we’re ready, we’re ready to go race,” said the Kinawley man.
While the race schedule is due to be finalised today (Wednesday), the provisional time for the Ireland Men’s Four heat is 10.30am tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
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