EIGHTS FOR MONTREAL 4-year plan for rowing

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33032, 27 September 1972, Page 1

EIGHTS FOR MONTREAL 4-year plan for rowing

'.Veto Zealand Press Association

WELLINGTON.

New Zealand will defend its Olympic eights title at Montreal in 1976.

This decision was announced by the president (Mr D. D. Rowlands), and the secretary (Mr E. R. McCalman) yesterday after a meeting of the New Zealand Rowing Council.

At the same time, the council decided to open an appeal for a fund of $60,000 to enable rowing to maintain the standards achieved at Munich. “Rowing will have to spend more than $120,000 in the next four years,” said Mr Rowlands.

“What happened on the Feldmoching Munich course three weeks ago was a wonderful dividend for the investment made in the sport by the rowing fraternity and by thousands of well-wishers. We want to continue returning similar dividends, but to be able to do so we must keep up the level of the investment. It’s as simple as that.

The public of New Zealand has shown its willingness to support rowing, and knowing that we have this support we are looking ahead positively towards our objectives over the next four years.” The public response since Munich had been wonderful and was welcomed by the council. CREDIT BALANCE “Groups and individuals, service organisations, working men’s clubs and the news media have all pitched into help. The balance in the association’s tours fund looks as if it could now be over $BOOO, which gives us confidence in launching our next four-year programme.” The broad outline proposed by the council would take the form of a joint exercise to consolidate and strengthen rowing at the club level at home, and to retain New Zealand’s international standing abroad. "This will not be easy,” he said. Equipment would have to be replaced, and extra facilities provided for the growing number of youngsters taking up the sport.

New crews would have to be built up to represent New Zealand, and the standard of competition would become fiercer as technological advapces became more widely adopted. “We are going to have a repeat performance of the last four-year programme which gave us our success at Munich,” he said. While the details had to be worked out still, they would almost certainly include representation at the European championships in Moscow next year and at the world

championships at Lucerne in Switzerland in 1974. followed by a European tour in 1975. COACHING SEMINAR As a first step Mr R. Robertson was being invited to attend an important coaching seminar in Switzerland by the International Rowing Federation in November. Mr Rowlands also told the meeting of approaches from East and West Germany, Switzerland. Canada, and the Argentine who wished to send crews to New Zealand within the next eighteen months.