Crews training at two venues

Press, Issue 33846, 19 May 1975, Page 26

Crews training at two venues

(By

TIM DUNBAR

For the first time for [several years, a New Zealand rowing squad is training at two different i venues—Whakatane and Kerrs Reach—before its annual overseas trip.

The eight, under the nat-[ ional coach (Mr Rusty Robertson), and the coxed four, under Mr Peter Irvine, arrived in Christchurch on Saturday’ for eight weeks of intensive training before the I world championships in Not-! tingham next August, buti the quadruple four has gone to Whakatane.

Mr Tom Reid, coach of the quadruple four, has commitments in his home town of Whakatane, so the selec-

! tors decided to compromise and allow the four to train there for five weeks before joining the other two crews in Christchurch.

There has been considerable controversy in the past about the suitability of Kerrs Reach as a training site for national crews, but it is unlikely that the move to Whakatane will be followed by a full team in the near future

The president of the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association (Mr D. D. Rowlands) said during the national championships at Lake Waihola that the main advantage of Kerr’s Reach was that it could be “rowed in all weathers.”

“This evens out the prob-: lem of limited hours because! of the tidal conditions there.; But the association will re-i

main flexible and keep its options open,” he added.

Some North Island rowers have not been excited by the idea of spending two months in Christchurch, but Mr Robertson said: “I.' they want to compete for New Zealand, then they should be prepared to come down here.”

Erosion problems at Kerr’s Reach have brought most of the criticism of the site in the past but recently the Drainage Board has had gobimats laid in an attempt to combat erosion. Gobimats — formed concrete blocks in a nylon filter fabric — will stand up to any bank pressure, and the filter cloth lets ail the water come back out from the bank but will stop any fine soils getting through. The convener of the nat-

ional selection panel (Mr F. Strachan) said on Saturday that the broad details of the team’s itinerary had been worked out but some of the finer points had yet to be resolved.

On July 15, the team will leave New Zealand, beginning its preparation for the World championships at the four-day Canadian championship regatta (July 24 — July 27) on the 1976 Olympic course at Montreal. The three crews will race at St Catherine’s — the venue for the 197 C world championships — on August 1 and August 2, probably against the top Canadian and United States crews, in the event commonly referred to as the “Canadian Henley.” The team will then move to England but the availabil-.

i ity of accommodation and ; the training facilities in 1 existence are not yet fully i known, Mr Strachan said. One accommodation problem may have been created by the fact that the women’s championships are being held on the 2000 m Nottingham course the week before the men’s events. Nineteen New Zealand women rowers and coxswains completed their week-long trials at the week-end competing for positions in a four to tour Australia in November. However, Mr Strachan said that the crew would not be selected until later this ! week, after various tests have been evaluated and another selector, Mr Rowlands, ■ joins Messrs Strachan and [Robertson in Christchurch.