Oarsmen nominated for world titles

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33408, 14 December 1973, Page 20

Oarsmen nominated for world titles

Fifteen Canterbury oarsmen are among 69 nominations for the New Zealand rowing trials in March to select the national team to compete at the world championships in Lucerne, Switzerland, next September.

The nominations, which closed on December 7, were released by the convener of the national selection panel, Mr F. Strachan, in Christchurch yesterday.

Avon has made the largest [entry of 12, including the full senior eight-oared crew. Whangarei, Porirua and Waikato have each named eight oarsmen. The early closing date may have surprised some clubs. West End (Auckland), Whakatane and Auckland [have failed to make any nomi- ! nations, and West End and Whakatane have several New : Zealand representatives in their ranks. Mr Strachan said that the [reason for closing the entries! (last week was to give the| ' selectors the chance to watch; the oarsmen before the! national championships. He!

, had expected nominations to . be sent from Auckland, West End and Whakatane, and 7 other clubs. i The Canterbury nomina- , tions include three Olympic ’ oarsmen, T. I. Coker, A. J. 1 Earl, D. E. Lindstrom (Avon), three national colts represen- . tatives, H. Hamilton (Union), 1 P. J. Walker (Avon), B. C. 1 Allen (Canterbury), and two ■_ members of this year’s New . Zealand junior eight, R. Lind- , strom and the coxswain, D. I Simmons (Avon). P Strong contenders I, The other nominations are i R. W. Stocks, a colts trialist -[this year, and G. E. Knight II (Union), I. C. Sutherland, P. /‘O’Connor, G. J. Nolan, R. t! Flannagan, J. G. Lopas, and la maiden oarsman, B. Gillon » (Avon). > In addition to the ?| national representatives, iiSutherlaixu and Lopas should -have good chances of gainjling selection in the world

championship team. Both have been on the verge of selection, Lopas being the reserve for the Olympic team last year and Sutherland being a member of the winning Waikato senior eight earlier this year.

Many missing

Mr Strachan said that a team matching the 18-strong contingent which competed at the Munich Olympic Games last year would be selected after the trial at Wanganui from March 21-24. Eight and four-oared crews, and either a double scull or quadruple scull combination would be selected. There are some notable omissions from the list of nominations —A. J. Hurt, D. L. Storey (West End), G. W. Veldman, N. E. Mills (Whakatane), R. J. Joyce, J. A. Hunter, R. H. College, S. C. Dickie, G. D. Robertson (Oamaru), J. W. Clark (Wellington), C. W. Nilsson (Hawke’s Bay) and M. P. Watkinson (West End), all members of last year’s Olympic team. The other Olympic oarsmen to be nominated with Coker, Earl and Lindstrom are W. R. Tonks (Union, Wanganui) and L. E. Wilson (Waikato).

The 15-man colts team at present touring Australia •was nominated by the team manager, Mr J. O. Renaut, before its departure last month. Seven members of the junior eight were also named, as was D. J. Holland (Hawke’s Bay), a member of this year’s national senior coxed four. Four coxswains, Simmons, D. Abernathy (Oamaru), the [coxswain of the colts four, IS. Tod (Auckland University) [and E. R. Thackery (Porirua) [have been included. Women’s titles < The nominations also in- ; elude oarswomen as it is [hoped to send a crew to Lucerne to compete in the women’s championships a week before the men. But the nominations have only drawn five names, and two omissions are Misses L. Keys and E. Cato- (Auckland), both New Zealand representatives.