Even the most black-and-gold boosters of Pittsburgh sport probably have no idea this town is a real anchor of the international sport of curragh racing.

		ST. BRENDAN'S CUP CURRAGH REGATTA When: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday Where: All-States Marina, Glenfield (just off Route 65 via the Glenfield Viaduct) Awards ceremony and social: At about 8 p.m. Saturday at Mullaney's Harp & Fiddle in the Strip District Information: 412-761-3897, www.pirc.8m.com, www.geocities.com/nacarowing or email: patrick.j.clark@att.net.

What kind of racing, you ask?

Of curraghs, as in the centuries-old, traditionally animal-skin-covered, wood-framed rowboats used by fishermen on the west coast of Ireland.

Oh, but of course, right?

We'll get to the story about how they got to Pittsburgh shortly, but first, know that more will be on the way Saturday for the annual regatta of the Pittsburgh Irish Rowing Club. Other clubs are coming from Boston, Philadelphia, Annapolis, Albany, Columbus, Milwaukee and even New Orleans for this event, sanctioned by the North American Currach Association (it uses an alternate Gaelic spelling).

The defending NACA champion?

Pittsburgh.

NACA's president?

A Pittsburgher -- the same Pat Clark who leads the Pittsburgh club.

And many boats used by other clubs actually were built right here by Pittsburghers, a fact you'd think could give the home team an edge in this 21st annual St. Brendan's Cup Regatta.

Yep, that's 21 years, and you've still never heard of it. The club has gotten little news coverage or other publicity over the two decades it's been plying all three rivers. But what a great history it has.

Curragh racing has been documented back to the 1800s in Ireland (from whence St. Brendan is said to have discovered the New World in a curragh). But the sport was unknown in the United States outside Boston until the 1980s. Then, in 1983, Elaine Manning, the owner of the St. Brendan's Crossing gift shop at Station Square, imported two of the canvas-covered crafts from Ireland to hang from the ceiling. This proved to be a little like decorating with whales.

So she unloaded the behemoths on the Mulkerrins-- Joe, Mike and Pat -- three Irish-born brothers who married three sisters. In 1984 they and others used these two boats to start what was then the Pittsburgh Curragh Club, which in turn helped start the NACA.

At first, the Pittsburgh club was based near Station Square and rowed on the Monongahela River. For a while, it moved to Lawrenceville and rowed on the Allegheny. Now, it's at the All-States Marina on the Ohio in the isolated neighborhood of Glenfield, where the river flows under Interstate 79.

That's where the public is invited to come watch the regatta and learn what this curragh thing is all about.

"I always say we're the most underground sport in America," says Clark of Brighton Heights, whose day job is high school math teacher.

But three nights a week he leads practices in the club's fleet of these 25-foot-long, 250-pound, square-sterned boats. The trio of four-seaters they use can be raced by one, two, three or four people, who row with long oars with no paddles on them.

Don't expect the sleekness and spandex of skinny crew rowing shells. Clark usually races with his shirt off and wearing heavy work boots, which he jokingly refers to as "Air Curraghs."

Speeds can hit 6 to 8 mph. Which isn't so fast, but races can go for up to five miles.

Curraghs don't race for times -- "It's actually illegal in our league to keep times," Clark says -- but bow to bow, and sometimes they bump on turns. At the finish line, "it comes down to inches sometimes."

Whereas crew racing is like drag racing, quips member Matt Carroll, "We're more like NASCAR."

The club has only about 16 active members, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s and, like Carroll and his wife, Beth, of Irish descent. But, "some of our best rowers are not," Carroll notes. Other last names include Misencik and Costanzo.

Beth Carroll, who also is on the board of the local Irish Centre, puts it this way: "Though it's definitely Irish, it's got some Pittsburgh in it, too."

They're always open to new members to the club, which also is about socializing and having fun, but they warn that curragh racing is back-burning work.

You're welcome to check it out Saturday. But if you want to root for them, don't look for black and gold, because they now wear maroon and white -- the colors of Ireland's County Galway.