Coxless four will begin Olympic preparation at Kerrs Reach

Press, 29 March 1980, Page 60

Coxless four will begin Olympic preparation at Kerrs Reach

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TIM DUNBAR

For the first time in fve years a New Zealand senior rowing crew will train at Kerrs Reach before leaving for Europe and the Moscow 7 Olympics.

The New Zealand coxless four of Viv Haar (stroke), Tony Brook, Duncan Holland and lan Boserio will assemble in Christchurch next Saturday under the coach, Mr Pat McQuinn to begin its buildup for the Moscow Olympics. Kerrs Reach was the regular training venue for the national. team from 1967 until 1975 when three crews went to the Nottingham world championships. However, Lake Karapiro took over as the training location for the 1976 Montreal Olvmpics and since then all the New Zealand senior crews have trained there, or at Whakatane.

Only’ Colts crews have trained at Kerrs Reach in the last few years, but the Christchurch venue was an obvious one for this coxless four, as the coach, together with both Brook and Holland belong to the Avon Rowing Club.

The New Zealand eight will also start training on April 5 with last, year’s coach, Mr Tom Reid, at Whakatane, while the coxed four is bound for Lake Karapiro under the the control of Mr Harry Mahon.

While the coxless four and its coach get on with the rowing at Kerrs Reach other people will be doing the worrying about finding the extra $15,000 needed to send, it away.

The crew has only received third priority — mainly because a medal is so much harder to get in this event than the coxed fours — for the Olympics and has been warned that lack of funds might preclude its going to Europe at all. However, schemes are already underway to raise the extra money via the brains of such Christchurch people as John Wylie and Kevin Meates land, in the North Island, Colin Cordes. One possibility is a 300-ticket $lOO raffle, with several sales already promised. The crew itself is a good one in Mr McQuinn’s opinion with the experience and attitude that should bring out a sound Combination. “They’re determined sort of guys,” he said.

Haar and Boserio have both won two national coxless fours titles (1976 and 1980) with Petone while Brook and Holland did the same with Avon in 1978 and 1979. “All of them know what makes a boat move,” said Mr McQuinn.-

The New Zealand Rowing I Association has already decided to curtail the team’s stay at Moscow. It will probably. leave for home on July 30 (the day after the rowing finals), and miss the closing ceremony. “Compensation”

for this move to save money might, however, come for the oarsmen in Paris, London, and Hong Kong — all mooted stop-overs on the way home. Although the team is supposed to leave New Zealand on June 3 for races in Europe, Mr McQuinn said it was possible the coxless four might have to miss the early part of the tour.

Holland and Brook, incidentally, are the only Avon rowers in the Olympic team. It is the first time since 1974 (when Whakatane won) that the New Zealand eight has not contained at least one memberof the national champion eight.

Christchurch will have a further opportunity to extend its list of New Zealand representatives later this year. Roger Brough (Ai'on) is one of 34 oarsmen to get a trial for the Colts tour of Australia in September, and two Canterbury club men, Roger Murphy and George Robinson, are among 22 trialists for the lightweight’s tour of j Australia irt December.