Avon pair revives proud rowing record

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 40

Avon pair revives proud rowing record

By

TIM DUNBAR

Avon’s world championship rowing gold medallists, Les O’Connell and George Keys, revived a mighty club tradition by winning a natonal red-coat title in the coxiess pairs at Lake Karapiro on Saturday.

Oarsmen in the red-and-white singlets have won that prestigious championship event 10 times previously and the last to do it were the powerful Lindstrom brothers, Ted and George, at Wanganui in 1950. Thirty-four years later Ted Lindstrom was on the bank at Lake Karapiro to cheer his nephew, George Keys, to a thrilling victory in another coxless pairs final.

“It was the best race of the finals. It was fantastic,” said Mr Lindstrom yesterday.

the Lindstrom brothers won three red coats altogether in the coxless pairs, having also combined successfully in 1946 and 1947, while the Goulds, David and Humphrey, enjoyed success in the same event at Port Chalmers in 1948. Yet another set of Avon brothers, the Stiles, Bob and Glen, won red coats in the coxless pairs in 1928 and 1937 and Bob (christened Cyril) Stiles had similar success with Rangi Thompson in 1931, 1932, and 1934. Avon’s first red coats in the event were Ces Champ and Harry Adkins, at Bluff in 1923. They had also won the title two years earlier with another Christchurch club, Union.

It is doubtful, though, if any of Avon’s previous winning combinations had such a tough race as O’Connell and Keys had at Lake Karapiro on Saturday. Their .coach, Mr Pat McQuinn, said that Avon was a good length down on Waikato (Geoff Horan and Andrew Stevenson) with only 500 m to go. “Les made the comment that he couldn’t even see them.” But over the last 500 m the Avon combination “really flew” getting their rating up near 40 strokes a minute.

Naturally, O’Connell and Keys have both been named for the Olympic trials at Wanganui from March 15, together with the other two members of the Avon coxed four, Mark Meates and Don Symon. “Les and George can hold their heads high,” said Mr McQuinn, “and the selectors will have to have a good look at Don and Mark. They were reasonably close in the coxed fours race and had a really good race in the coxed pairs.” Mr McQuinn had a squad of eight premier oarsmen at Lake Karapiro and they made five finals, getting one first place, two seconds (the coxed fours and the coxed pairs), one third (the eight) and a fifth (coxless fours). “I was delighted with the boys, they were the fittest I’ve known at Avon,” he said.