Oarsmen have to shiver while officials dither

Press, 14 March 1980, Page 28

Oarsmen have to shiver while officials dither

From

TIM DUNBAR

at

Levin

Twenty-four oarsmen at the national rowing championships 1 spent a couple of chilly hours on. the banks of Lake Horowhenua early last evening before finding out that they would not have to get back on the water. The reason for the lengthy wait was a protest made by Viv Haar, stroke of the Petone champion coxed four, after a decision to race their, semi-final, after all the others.

The race had started on I time about 4.15 p.m., but the North Shore . crew broke a gate in the first 100 m and all six crews had to-return to shore so repairs could be made.

The regatta committee decided that it was impossible to get the race off that night, but Haar then stepped into the picture citing a rule which said that both heats of an eevnt should, where possible, be rowed the same day.' The first: semifinal had been: successfully completed, before the aborted race. . ■■■

However, 'his appeal was finally turned down by the jury, and by that stage anyway it would hav£ been too dark to row. ■ ' .. . : ,

The first semi-final of the coxed fours was marked by a “cat-and-mouse”, game between Waikato and Avon No. 1.

Avon led for the first900m, then Waikato took the; lead and went on to win by

a length with the South Island crew deciding against a sprint home. Avon showed how much importance it is placing on the eights. Two of the bigboat crew members, Ross Lindstrom and George Keys, decided to scratch from their coxed pairs repechage. Their inability to find a boat heavy enough for them, and their lack of form in the small boat might also have been a factor. Another : Avon crew to make a champion final was the coxless pair of Jeff Lopas and Les O’Connell, which has come on well in recent weeks, probably spurred by their being dropped from the eight. Lapas and O’Connell finished a comfortable second behind Union Wanganui in a time of 7min 25s — faster than anybody in the second semi-final.

Several more Christchurch crews have qualified for the finals this week-end. Among them are -the Avon senior four, ■: the Avon intermediate, eight, the Canterbury novice eight, and the Canterbury women’s eight ■— the last named crew haying an encouraging win in i ts repechage;. ' A long day. of two hours racing was necessary because of the stiff sopth-eas-terlv which stirred up 7 the water at 9 a mi, swamping boats in the champion , coxless fours repechage heats. Proceedings were thus halted

after only a dozen or so races had been run and the ducks and the eels then had the lake to themselves for two hours.

Disappointingly, the three Christchurch crews in the novice fours — one from Avon and two from Canterbury —■ were all eliminated in the semi-finals. Results involving entrants in the circulation area of the “The Press.” CHAMPIONSHIP Men's coxed four Semi-final.—Heat one: Waikato No. 1. 6:47, 1; Avon No. 1, 6:51, 2; Waikato No. 23; Hutt Valley No. 1 4, Tauranga 5. Coxless pair Semi-final.—Heat one: Union Wanganui, 7:22, 1; Avon No. 1, 7:25, 2; Petone No. 23, Petone No. 3 4, Avon No. 25, Waikato ■No. 2 6. Lightweight men's single sculls Semi-final.—Heat one: West End No. 1 1, Awarua No. 22, Ngaruawahia 3. Union Wanganui 4 ,Timaru 5, Whakatane 6. Women's eight Heat one.—Canterbury, 3:42, 1; Hawke’s Bay. 3:46, 2. Women's coxed fours Semi-final.—Heat one: Te Awamutu No. 1. 3:50, 1; Te Awamutu No. 2, 3:58. 2; Wellington 3, Canterbury 4. Heat two: North Shore, 3:49, 1; Hamilton Women No. 1, 3:54, 2; Union Wanganui 3, Blenheim 4. Women's double sculls Semi-final. —Heat: one: North Shore. 4:24, 1; Wellington No. i; 4:29, 2; Blenheim. 4::35, 3. Heat two: Hamilton Women 1. Star No. 1 2. Union Wanganui No. 1 3, Porirua 4, Picton 5. SENIOR Coxed four Semi-final.—Heat one: Otago 6:55, 1; Porirua No. 1 6:57, 2; Star 3, Aramoho 4. Auckland University 5, Hutt'Valley No. 2 61 Union Christchurch 7, Blenheim B.'. Heat two: North Shore, Wairau, 6:54.97, 2; Avon, 6:55.04, 3. 1 ■ Coxed pair - ' 'Heat one: Avon, 8:53, 1;. Te Awamutu, 9:05, 2; Auckland’ Uni-

versity No. 4, 9:11, 3: Blenheim, 9:17, 4.: Heat two: Port Chalmers, 8:32. 1; Porirua, 8:34. 2; Star, 8:42, 3; Canterbury, 8:42.77, 4. INTERMEDIATE Eights Semi-final.—Heat one: Te Awamutu, 6:20, 1; Whakatane, 6:01, 2; West End 3. Waikato 4. Picton 5. Heat two: Hawke’s Bay, 6:17, 1; Tauranga, ’6:28, 2; Aramoho, 6:33.03, 3; Avon, 6:33.63. 4; Union Wanganui 5, Petone 6, Star No. 1 7, Canterbury B.’ Coxed four Quarter-final.—Heat one: Blenheim No. 1,7 min 225, 1; Tauranga No. 1,7 min 295. 2; Union Christchurch, 7min 30s. 3; Avon No. 2,' 7mih 325, 4.. Heat two: Waikato No. 1,1; North End, 2; Te Awamutu..3; Waikato: No. 2, 4: Aramoho, 5; Port ' Chalmers, 6; Avon No. 1. 7. Heat three: Porirua No. 1,7 min 7s, 1; Whakatane No. .1, 7min 10s, 2; Canterbury No. ,1, 7*min 125,-3; ■Auckland 4: Picton, 5. Heat four: West End No. I, 7min 475, I; Auckland University, Bmin 19.295, 2; Port Qhalmers. Rmin 19.505. 3; Timaru No. 2. Bmin 275.. 4; Avon,' 5. -■ Double sculls Heat one: Awarua, 7min 325, 1; Avon. 7min 345, 2. Heat two: Porirua, 1: Whakatane, 2; Hamilton, 3; West End No. 1. 4; Star No., 1, .5; Canterbury, 6. Coxed pair Semi-final, heat one: North Shore. 1: Wanganui, 2; West End, 3; Star No. ,1. 4 : Hamilton, 5; Avon No. 2, 6. Heat two: Port Chalmers, Bmin 555. 1; Timaru, Bmin 58s. 2; Star No. 2.9 min 02s. 3: Tauranga No.-I. 9m>n 07s. 4; Picton No. 2, s;,Blenheim, 8; Canterbury. 7/ Single sculls • Quarter-final, heat one: Union Wanganui No. 4. 1; Tauranga, 2: Wanganui No. 2.3; Whakatane No. 1,4; Canterbury No. 2. 5. Heat two: Blenheim, Bmin 12s, 1. JUNIOR ■- Coxed four Heat one: Picton. 7min 30s, 1. Heat two: Avon Nd. 1,7 min 18s. 1. Heat three:. North End, 1; Waikato. 2; Tauranga No. 3, 3; .Aramoho, 4; Wanganui Collegiate, ;5; Avon NO. 2, 6.