ROWING 230 Oarsmen Competing In Christchurch Regatta

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30045, 1 February 1963, Page 5

ROWING 230 Oarsmen Competing In Christchurch Regatta

Canterbury’s major rowing fixture, the Christchurch regatta, which is being held at Charteris Bay tomorrow, has about 230 oarsmen from Wellington. Canterbury. Marlborough and Nelaon taking part in the 13-event programme. The regatta was cancelled last year, but two of the three trophies, the Lyttelton Cup (maiden fours), and the Colin Cook Memorial Cup, which goes to the club with the most points in senior events, were competed for during the national championships at Kerr’s Reach. The Lyttelton Cup went to the Star Boating Club, which has 14 crews entered tomorrow, including one in the maiden fours, and the Colin Cook Cup was won by West End (Auckland) which is not competing. This year there are two further trophies, the Harkiss Cup (senior pairs), anJ the Mayor’s Cup (senior doubles). They were presented to the Christchurch Regatta Club by the family of the late Mr T. Harkiss, who was a well-known Lyttelton oarsman of the 1880’s. The Charteris Bay course can take a field of 15 boats

and is considered to be as good as both Karapiro and Waihola by oarsmen who have rowed on aU three. Special marking buoys have been laid down and arrangements made for a complete coverage of events by a public ad* dress system with comments relayed from a special boat and from the judges’ points. The Charteris Bay Yacht Club has turned its clubhouse facilities over to the women’s committee of the Canterbury Rowing Club to ensure that

oarsmen and officials are adequately fed. All other facilities for the 150 visiting oarsmen and local rowers are provided at the Hays Bay launching area.

The three North Island clubs. Star, Wellington, and Petone, will arrive tomorrow, and other South Island clubs will arrive this evening. Senior rowing is not strong in Canterbury this season but a strong field of 32 is competing from the North Island. P. Keegan, formerly of Avon, is now rowing for Star and has entered in three senior events—single, doubles and eights. The 13 clubs competing are Star, Petone, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Picton, Wairau, Cure, Akaroa, Timaru, Avon, Union, and Canterbury.

The Christchurch Regatta has been a popular one and it is expected that this year’s attendance will be as heavy. It will start at 10 a.m. and the last race is scheduled to finish about 1.15 p.m.