Rowing selector stands for coach

Press, 9 March 1984, Page 32

Rowing selector stands for coach

By TIM DUNBAR Mr Fred Strachan, convener of the national rowing selectors, has put his name among the nominations for coach of the third New Zealand crew for the Los Angeles Olympics. The only trouble about that that is the New Zealand Rowing Association’s council invariably ■ follows the recommendation of the selection panel when they appoint coaches. • However, Mr Strachan said from Dunedin that he “would stand off from any decision” regarding the appointment of the third coach.* The New Zealand Olympic rowing team manager, Mr Dudley Storey, will

stand in tor Mr Strachan on the selection panel with the two other selectors, Peter Baddeley and Peter Irvine. Four other candidates will contest the third coaching position with Mr Strachan. The other nominees are Pat McQuinn (Avon), Duncan Holland (Canterbury), Richard Webster (Hauraki Plains), and John White (West End).

Mr Harry Mahon (Waikato) has already been named as the coach of the New Zealand eight at Los Angeles and Mr . Brian Hawthorne (North <Shore) also a gold medal coach at the world championships in Duisburg last year, will

guide the coxed four. The third crew at Los Angeles is likely to be a coxless four, and the national trials at Wanganui from March 15 to 17 will enable the selectors to find out if the material is there according to Mr Strachan. Mr Strachan a national selector since 1963, and the convener since 1966, has not coached a New Zealand crew, but he did manage the national team at the 1970 world championships and the 1972 Munich Olympics. “The reason for putting my name forward was that I have been inundated with calls from people around the country saying I should stand,” Mr Strachan said. “I have never considered nom-

ination in other years because it could have interfered with my other duty.”

Now, he says, he is “trying to think that the only priority is the crew,” though he has detected a negative response to his candidacy in some rowing quarters.

Mr Strachan, now a coach with the North End Club in Dunedin, is best known for his successes with the Avon club during the 19705. His famous pep talks before championship finals helped Avon premier crews to numerous red-coat titles, mosra notably the eightscoxed fours double in 1976. The win by the four of

Trevor Coker (stroke), Ivan Sutherland, Athol Earl, and David Lindstrom was its third in succession. One of Mr Strachan’s fellow selectors, Mr Irvine of Wanganui, coached the New Zealand coxed four with mixed success in 1978 and, of course, Rusty Robertson was also both a selector and coach of New Zealand crews before he crossed the Tasman in late 1976. The third coaching position is expected to be decided during the trials at Wanganui to which all the other four candidates will be invited.

Mr Strachan, at years of age, is easily the‘oldest and most experienced of the candidates, with Messrs

Holland, aged 30, and White only involved in coaching relatively recently after successful rowing careers. Mr Holland, though, has already coached Canterbury women’s and lightweight crews to four championship titles.

Another candidate, Mr McQuinn, aged 36, has coached New Zealand women’s crews and was coach of the last New Zealand coxless four, the crew selected for the boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics. Mr Webster has produced some good oarsmen at Hauraki Plains and coached the New Zealand Colts eight to victory over Australia in 1981 and 1982.