Countdown near for world rowing event

Press, 19 August 1978, Page 12

Countdown near for world rowing event

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Tn the last decade the New Zealand Rowing Association has compiled an enviable record at home and abroad with its giant-killing crews and aggressive administration. In November it will undertake its greatest test when it stages the world championships at Lake Karapiro near Hamilton, and the organising committee is determined its reputation will be further enhanced in the eyes of F.1.5.A., the world rowing

Behind the 1950 . Empire Games and the 1974 Commonwealth Games, the championships will be the greatest sporting event in New Zealand, and as enormously successful if the enthusiasm and dedication of the organisers is anv

Led by the energetic president of the New Zealand Rowing Association, Don Rowlands, a loyal band of about a 100 volunteers has spent thousands of man hours since last Christmas labouring at the lake to bring the facilities up to standard for a warm-up regatta at Labour Week-end. Tn seven months, Mr Rowlands, the chairman of

the organising committee, has missed one week-end at Karapiro. The deputychairman, Kern’ Ashby, and the executive secretary, Cyril Hilliard, have been as diligent in their attendance, along with several other organising committee members and volunteers.

"We don’t canvas for volunteers," said Mr Rowlands. ‘‘During the week some current or former international rower will ring and say he will be at the lake at the week-end with four, six or maybe 10 workers." One Auckland journalist described how in mid-win-

ter he visited the lake to see Mr Rowlands and Mr Ashby clad in thigh waders up to their waists in chilly water helping to drive piles on the lake edge.

Another volunteer was seen up to his chest in water wielding a chainsaw, and the recent weekend when the news media were shown the facilities, a former president of the N.Z.R.A., George Oxspring, aged 82, was brandishing a shovel, helping to form a set of steps down a steep bank to the starting facilities. Negotiations for the championship started four years ago at the world championships in Lucerne. "We knew we had in Karapiro a course suitable for the world champion-

ships, and the administrators with the ability to run them,” said Mr Rowlands.

After years of approaching the public with raffle tickets and other fund raising ventures the association began to detect a “ground swell" from the public, said Mr Rowlands. “They began to ask when they would see some of these overseas crews in New Zealand.

‘‘The championships were tentatively granted to us in Lucerne in 1974 and finally at the F.I.S.A. congress during the Montreal Olympics in 1976. "We had some help from Tom Keller, the president of F.I.S.A. He lobbied hard on our behalf for the championships. With his help and considerable goodwill towards New Zealand we were successful. “At the Montreal congress we had a head count of nations and they indic-

ated 120 crews would come to New Zealand. That sealed the issue,” Mr Rowlands said. The latest list of countries attending numbers 30 and there is a possibility it could become 31. Mr Rowlands said the championships are essentially being staged for the public of New Zealand. “Over the last decade we have raised over $600,000 to send crews to world and European championships, Olympic Games, and on tours of Australia and New Zealand. To raise that amount we had a turnover of more than .a million dollars.”

Financing these championships has been the major undertaking for the organising committee. The major sponsor, is the Gov-

ernment. It has provided $200,000. The chief sponsoring company, the Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance, has provided $60,000 cash, but has also been of considerable help in other ways. Half of the Government’s contribution was for a new administration building at thu lake which at the conclusion of the championships will become the Waikato Water Sports Centre. The facilities will be such, that after the rowing regatta there is a possibility world water ski and motor boat events might be held r-i the lake. “We have made sure we have not built a white elephant,” said Mr Rowlands. “Already the N.7.R.A. is thinking of the future and the feasibility of holding a world junior regatta sometime in the early 1980 s. About $40,000 is needed to complete facilities for the championships. Approximately half will be spent upgrading the public embankment near the end of the course. Also included is a temporary grandstand to seat 5000.

The total cost of the championships will never be known, Mr Rowlands said, because the thousands of voluntary man hours can not be calculated.

After the championships, rowing clubs around the country will have some of the best boats in the world. The N.Z.R.A. has undertaken to buy boats from visiting teams to save them the expense of transporting them home. This is likely to involve 60 to 70 boats at a cost of around $300,000. The N.Z.R.A. has been aided by the Customs Department which has agreed to waive duty on the boats. Because the boats will be available after the championships and not before, the N.Z.R.A. recently paid $45,000 for six new boats for its own crews. The West German Emparcher craft are the most modern in the world. They are a combination of wood, fibre-glass and carbon-fibre, and the eight boats alone, cost $lO,OOO. With some 3000 beds within 30km of Lake

Karapiro, accommodation is no problem. Teams will travel to and from the lake in mini-buses and in fact they will be able to spend the day here. A restaurant will be in operation serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, at reasonable prices. It will be manned by the Army. Up to 1000 meals will be served at a sitting and the organisers will ensure all food is of top quality — the high calorie food needed by the world’s best rowers. Early December or late November would have been more suitable time for the organisers, to hold the regatta but the dates — October 30 to November 5 — were set by F.I.S.A. “If it was any later some of the northern hemisphere countries would not be able to train because their waterways would be frozen,” explained Mr Rowlands. Construction of the course itself has been a mammoth task, but the time and thought involved should make Karapiro one of the best in the world. The week-end the media were shown the facilities a wind of about 25 knots was blowing, but the banks of the lake sheltered the surface to such an extent that crews were able to train without any worries about rough water. Two auxiliary lanes have been added to the normal six. If one lane is more sheltered than the others it will enable the organisers to move all boats in or out a lane, hopefully negating any advantage. The course is marked by wires that stretch its 2000 m length, four feet under the surface. Buoys will be attached to the wires at 10m intervals and larger marker buoys at 250 m intervals. In addition a complex retractable start has been constructed for the 1000 m mark where the women’s races commence. Also attached to wires anchored under the surface, it can be quickly moved to the side of the course after the women’s events. There is one problem at the lake, but Mr Rowlands does see it as such. A lush weed covers much of the lake just under the surface, but that will be cleared a few weeks before the championships. Won’t that be expensive Mr Rowlands was asked? “No,” he shrugged. “Only about $2OOO an acre.” How much has to be cleared? “About two and a half acres.” To Mr Rowlands and his committee $5OOO is chicken feed. As he points out, at N.Z.R.A. monthly meetings it is not uncommon to pass invoices for materials for construction at the lake worth $20,000. A warm-up regatta to test the facilities and the course will be held at Labour Week-end, a week before the championships start. The organisers hope many of the overseas crews will be at Karapiro by then.