No Excuses, Says Rower

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31828, 5 November 1968, Page 14

No Excuses, Says Rower

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND. If the clock could be turned back, if the Mexico Olympics rowing eights final could be raced again, the New Zealand crew would alter its tactics only slightly, the stroke, A. J. Webster, said in Auckland.

The plan was to novi out quickly at the start, put in a ‘•breaking up” sprint at 700 metres and maintain this for 100 metres before relaxing again, he said. “If we could row the race again, I think we would leave the breaking up sprint until 1000 metres and shorten it to 100 metres,” said Webster. “The way it was, we used up too much energy and we had nothing left to hold off the finishing challenges. “Yes, we blew up. But don t ask me why. We’ve aM given it a lot of thought and a lot more time will be devoted to this exercise before we’ve done. But there’s no real answer for it. “No excuses, we were beaten by better crews on the day.

N.Z. Strategy Webster explained New Zealand’s strategy. It was to command the race from the start, to attack from the beginning. “Normally we would have been able to do this and still have enough left to meet any challenge at the end,” he said. “This time, the boys were just physically unable to respond to the challenge when the West Germans started to go through. “I could feel it in the boat. As we tried to increase the rating to meet the challenge, we lost our timing and boat speed.” Webster felt that, in Mexico’s altitude, the crew failed to re-

[cover sufficiently after its “breaking up’’ sprint. But he would not use the altitude as an excuse.

“Great Leveller" “It’s a great leveller," he said. “The New Zealand four proved this with their magnificent win.”

The New Zealand rowing coach in Mexico. Mr R. Robertson, of Oamaru, was also unable to shed any light on the unexpected "blow-up.” He did not think the eight would have done better to row in the repechages and so have another full-scale tilt at world class opposition. “We thought a good recovery period between race* would be of more benefit,” he said.

Mr Robertson was one man not surprised when the New Zealand four won its gold medal.

“I was always impressed with the basic speed of this crew. Right from the start I knew it was just a matter of moulding them as a team,” he said.