Union sculler ready to try new rowing role

Press, 6 May 1983, Page 8

Union sculler ready to try new rowing role

By

TIM DUNBAR

After spending the entire rowing season in the confines of a angle scull, Dale Maher now has to adapt to the stroke teat of a crew — the New ’Zealand lightweight coxiess four. But the shift from a soli-

tary pursuit to one requiring him to be gregarious should not worry the Union Rowing Cub’s first New Zealand representative at any level h six years. At the recent national lightweight trials at Wanganui, tie’ lean Maher hopped into the stroke seat of a four aid revelled in the chance tc row with other good boatmovers. “Yeah, I enjoyed it,” said the man who, initially, had been after the single sculler’s spot. “It was good to have guys behind you who knew what they were doing.” His performance in the role ws sufficiently well regarded for him to win a place ii the New Zealand rowing crew that will take on the Australian lightweights, in three “tests” on an internal tour in August and September. “The rowing side of it was the best I’ve ever done. It wad the first time I’ve used ai oar since last year. The stjle I tried to use in the scull came across,” Maher -said. Doinr things the Harry Mahon-way seems to have been the making of Maher, who tirns 23 later this month, as a rower. At Labour week-end last year, Mr Mihon, coach of the New Zealand world championship gold medal eight, ran whit Maher referred to as an •exceptional” coaching school at Wanganui. “Hariy Mahon is trying to get a lational style going. The upper body doesn’t do a lot of vork until the end of the stroke. It’s basically a leg C3jtch with the real power from the legs. It makes a lot of difference.” The toaching school, with four top New Zealand coachei in attendance — Mr Mahon.’ Brian Hawthorne (North Shore), Duncan Holland (l&nterbury} and Rich-

ard Webster (Hauraki Plains) — had a profound influence on Dale Maher.

Changing his style from one which had been a little rough made all the difference, Maher says, and he also adopted the Mahon thesis that training should be done on the water. “The best thing for rowing is rowing. “In the past, I’ve always done a lot of running and wind sprints off water. This time, nothing, though I did a lot of bike riding.” Early in the season Maher broke status when he won the premier singles at the Marlborough championships, but he still had his share of bad luck.

“I did a cartilage just before Christmas. It was a battle after that. I hadn’t intended to do much running; after that I did none at an.”

Even so, it was a rather better season than the one he experienced three years ago. Then he had his single badly damaged in a collision with a surf boat, on Kerrs Reach, and unger-

went an appendix operation hours after winning a race at Lake Waihola, Dunedin. Both happened within the space of two weeks and the mishaps ensured that he missed the national championships that year. At the nationals at Lake Horowhenua this year, Maher made the championship lightweight singles final for the first time, finishing third behind Cambridge’s Steve Ryan, known as “Carbon Fibre” because of his slight build, and Waihopai’s Alan Rowe. Ryan, who has been Sicked as the New Zealand ghtweight sculler for the “tests” against Australia, is “head and shoulders above me,” according to Maher. But the Union man still does not see a national sculling title as being beyond him: “I was only 4sec behind Ryan, I was only coming to light.” “If I do scull next year I will be having a really good go,” Maher said. But it seems that his inclination is more towards rowing in a crew, as long as this lightweight four venture works out. “I might have to go to Avon,” said Maher, who has been with Union since he started as a 16-year-old novice. “Avon will have a really good senior eight next year and I’d like to try for it.” In the meantime, though, he has dedicated himself to making a good fist of his seat in the lightweight four, a crew in which the South Island is especially well represented. As well as having the Avon coach, Mr Doug Burrowes, as its mentor, the crew has Union’s Maher in the stroke seat, another Avon man, Kevin Meates, in the No. 2 seat, North End, Dunedin’s Rob Bruce in the bow, and Canterbury’s Glen

Hardwick as the reserve. The only North Islander is Nick Penfold, of Tauranga, in the No. 3 seat. None of those in the selected four can consider their seats completely safe as Mr Burrowes will be keeping a close eye on the performance of the reserve as well.

As lightweights go the crew is a heavy one and will have to work hard to get down to the maximum average weight of 70kg. Mr Burrowes wants them all to be down to 73kg at most by the time training starts at Kerrs Reach on June 4. Maher himself should have no worries. “My problem in open crews has been getting too light, sometimes 68kg or 69kg.” At 1.79 m he is a good height for a lightweight.

Many New Zealand lightweights only make the weight limits after a lot of trouble. Maher says that the same class of rowers in Europe are, by comparison, “real lightweights — all gristle and heart.”

Australia won the world championship lightweight fours title two years running with Rusty Robertson as coach, so the performance of New Zealand in the “tests” should be a good yardstick as to whether our lightweights can go any further in international rowing. Maher, who says that he made up his mind this season to “grow up a bit and do the work that was necessary,” should respond well to his new coach. “Doug should be pretty good. He knows what he wants to do. It is up to us to knuckle down and give our best effort”

By the time the official training starts, Mr Burrowes expects his charges to have completed their en-durance-type work so that he will have the sole task of mouldmg them into a crew. At times during the sum-

mer, club crews almost gave up Kerrs Reach as a dead loss for training because of the prolific weed growth, but the prospect of more than two months there does not worry Dale Maher unduly.

“The Reach will be all right, the weeds usually die off with the frost. And if we want to row in a straight line we can go to Lake Forsyth or one of the harbours. It makes a nice change.”