Bitter pill for Canty crew

Press, 2 March 1984, Page 30

Bitter pill for Canty crew

Special correspondent Napier The Canterbury representative team must be wondering the value of a rule book after controversy following the running of the boat race during the Westpac inter-districts surf lifesaving championships at Westshore, Napier, yesterday. The first boat race was won by the North Beach crew after they had taken an early lead on the outward journey and maintained that lead right to the beach. But the other crews were quick to protest that the line of buoys were not parallel to the beach. This protest was upheld by the organisers and a new race was ordered. The second race was won by Auckland with a very disappointed Canterbury crew finishing out of the points in fourth place. Canterbury’s manager, David East, again approached the organisers with a protest that under Rule 23 a protest against buoy settings could only be upheld if made before the running of the race; but the decision to re-run the race “on the ground of fairness” was upheld and the results for the second race became official. “We are naturally very

disappointed for the North Beach crew who rowed extremely well in the first race,” said Mr East, “and to lose the race on a technicality, although not affecting the final placings, proved disappointing.” The controversy over the boat race did not detract from the over-all performance of the Canterbury representative teams. “We were especially proud of Lynette Griffiths in the ladies’ team, who swam very strongly in the surf race to win the run up the beach,” Mr East said, “but before that she was the belt swimmer in the victorious six place R and R team and came third in the belt race.” Another top performance came from Carl Immers, who finished third in the men’s belt race. “Carl was a replacement for Phillip Seal, who withdrew from the team earlier this week because of illness, and to swim so well in such strong company was a credit to him,” said Mr East. The strength of rescue and resuscitation events proved the winning formula for the Canterbury ladies’ team, which won the ladies’ 21 Club Trophy. The ladies’ six place deductions of 4.50 were well clear of second placed Taranaki, which finished with 8.05.