Three campaigns in running for Olympic berth

2nd May 2008

The Star keelboat nomination for Beijing is expected to be announced by the
Irish Sailing Association (ISA) at lunch time today (Friday, May 2)

The selection of one of three candidates for the Qingdao regatta will come
from a combination of unfettered decisions by the Irish Sailing
Association's (ISA) coaches, Olympic Steering Group (OSG), and ultimately,
this morning, the association board.

It will be the first time since Barcelona 1992 that selection in the class has been made by a committee rather than from purely on the water trials.

The OSG say it took all factors into consideration during their meeting on
Wednesday evening, including who is likely to do best at Qingdao, appraisal
of the potential success of the candidate, results to date and other relevant input.

The three campaigns in the running for the Olympic berth are Max Treacy and
Anthony Shanks who qualified the country at the world championships in Miami when they finished 14th overall in a fleet of 104; Peter O'Leary and Steven Milne who finished 17th in Florida; and thirdly Maurice O'Connell and Ben Cooke.

Chairman of the OSG Colm Barrington says that in the context of three
candidates, all with significant merit, that the procedures worked very
well. "I don't think that if we had a system based purely on results we
would have made any better a decision" he said.

Meanwhile, an Olympic Silver Medal, representation at eight of the last nine
Olympic Games and 27 National Championship winners in seven different
classes are among the highlights contained in ‘Malahide – 50 Years of
Sailing’, a publication marking Malahide Yacht Club’s Golden Jubilee this
year.

Written by sailing journalist Graham Smith (a club member since its
inception in 1958), it outlines the achievements of its members both at home
and abroad at the highest levels of the sport. The full-colour 80-page
publication was launched by medalist David Wilkins at a reception in the
club on Wednesday evening.

Abroad, it was always going to be an outside chance given the tight
deadlines but The Green Team's Irish Volvo 70 boat will not now make the
start line of June's Round Ireland race, says team CEO Jamie Boag.

The hull was completed in China this week and will be shipped to Europe this
Month, but a delay in the manufacture of the mast and rigging means the
biennial race from Wicklow on June 21st is no longer on the cards. The boat
is expected to arrive here in July and be based in Galway. The Volvo Ocean
Race starts in Spain next October.

Published in Editors Blog

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