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ISA YOUTH NATIONAL & JUNIOR PATHWAY C/SHIP: IT's TRAILS SEASON!
It’s ‘TRIALS SEASON’!
The weather has turned, the days are getting longer, squad selections are approaching, it’s time to go sailing and young hopefuls have been training away in their respective coves of late in the build up to April.
With the ISA Youth Nationals & Junior Pathway Championship (6th - 9th April, Schull, Co Cork) as leg one of ISA squad selections and the Mitsubishi Youth Championship (1st - 3rd May, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin) as leg two, sailors will be kept on their toes. Both events will also be used to choose the next roll of the ISAF Youth World Team, ISA Topper Squad and ISA Laser 4.7 Squad for the upcoming World and European Championships respectively.
The usual ‘Youth Worlds’ runners and riders have shown form in the Spring internationals with sailors who have put in some hard yards showing form. Quick to lay down a marker to other youth boys who have been training overseas in the off season, Alan Ruigrok has stringed together plenty of top ten races at the recent Laser Radial UK qualifiers. Last year's main contenders Matty O’Dowd and Oliver Loughead have been keeping their powder dry so if you are outside ‘Bushes of Baltimore’ on Easter Saturday, then no need for a newspaper, as you will see them both kick off the season at the Irish Laser Assocation Munster Championships on the 3rd/4th April. At the same time don’t forget the U17 Laser Radial World Champion Philip Doran’s competitive edge or the youthful exuberance of ex Topper gurus on the entry list such as Robbie Gilmore.
The Laser Radial girls are good to go, with Saskia Tidey and Ruth Harrington lined up for a head to head battle once again, but are we entering into "Sophie's World". The Youth Olympic prospect Sophie Murphy has shown expressed interest in the Youth Trials following her entry in the UK qualifier just last weekend.
420 form is more hard to gauge, although the recent helm/helm pairing of Cian O’Regan (helm) and Scotty Flanagan (now crew) has proven that maybe ‘too many chefs don’t spoil the broth’ by knocking in an 11th in Weymouth at the UK 420 Qualifier. In the 420 girls Jane Butler and Jenny Andreasson are back again and you could guess that those girls have a score to settle with the ISAF’s event. Consistency will still be the key in the Youth Nationals and looking at Laura and Louise Mc Carthy on the way up and the unknown quantities of Diana Kissane and Hazel O’Neill it won’t be easy to take home the trophies!
If you have anything left after Cheltenham it will be hard to pick the favorite on some of these courses. So if you want my advice, then enter early instead to save yourself €20. That's a sure bet!
REMEBER 31st March entry deadline for early entry fee!
Notice of Race and Entry Form can be accessed here.
www.sailing.ie/youthsail for squad selection criteria
http://www.dublinbay2012.com/mitsubishi2010/ for Mitsubishi Youth Championship info
www.facebook.com/ISAolympic for Olympic updates