Plans For More Rowing Tours

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31499, 13 October 1967, Page 17

Plans For More Rowing Tours

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. The Mexico Olympic Games next year and the world championships in 1970 are the highlights of future overseas tour proposals announced by the secretary of the New Zealand Rowing Association, Mr E. R. McCalman.

They will be presented to the association’s annual meeting later this month. Also on the list is a tour to Australia in November, 1969, and a reciprocal visit by Australia to New Zealand in November, 1971. The world championships will be held in August and

September, 1970, probably at St Catherines, Canada. As there would be no rowing at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1970, the association would have to make a decision in the near future on Its attitude towards participation in the world championships, Mr McCalman said.

However, overseas tours were a constant financial worry, added Mr McCalman. “In spite of the generous support of the rowing community, the overseas travel reserve fund has been virtually extinguished as the result of successive costs on each of the last three tours,” Mr McCalman stated.

Four-day instead of the customary week-end trials will be used to select the New Zealand crews for the Mexico games, the report recommends.

It is proposed that the trials, at Wanganui from March 15-19—two weeks after the national championship regatta—will follow a similar pattern to that used to select the crew which recently toured North America and Mexico.

The council will seek a priority on the selection of an eight-oared crew and the national selectors will be directed to consider if further crews, composite or otherwise, can be assembled.

Success at the national championships will earn favourable consideration for the oarsmen but will not automatically qualify them for representation in their respective classes. It is also essential, the report says, that oarsmen wishing to be considered for selection for Mexico City should clearly indicate whether they were free to train anywhere in New Zealand.

The rowing council has approved the re-allocation of races in the test series against Australia in Novem-ber-December. This became necessary by the withdrawal of the Australian double sculls crew from the series. The re-allocated test events are:—

November 18 or 19: Lake Karapiro, elgbt, pair and singles. November 21: Clive, fours.

November 25: Wanganui, eight, pairs and singles. November 26: Wellington, fours.

November 28: Blenheim, pairs. December 3: Lake Walhola, eight, fours, singles. December 5: Alexandra, picnic regatta. December 9: Christchurch, eight, fours, singles, pairs.