Bronze medal to N.Z. sculls pair

Press, 25 August 1986, Page 38

Bronze medal to N.Z. sculls pair

By

HUGH BARLOW

NZPA staff correspondent

Nottingham

Stephanie Foster and Robin Clarke won New Zealand’s first world rowing championship medal since the 1984 Olympics when they finished third in the double sculls at Nottingham yesterday. But joy turned to tears for the lightweight sculler, Philippa Baker, after an appalling mix-up at the finish line led her to believe she had also finished third.

Baker had been pipped for the bronze by a quarter of a second but the race commentator called her as having finished third.

Officials sent her back up the course to collect her medal and it was not until she glanced across to the large scoreboard she realised the bronze belonged to Angela Herron,

of the United States.

As Herron was presented with her medal a dejected Baker was hoisting her boat out of the water and heading for the sheds.

An hour later Foster and Clarke brought home real bronze for New Zealand after a last-minute dash past Bulgaria. The Cambridge pair, who finished fourth in the event last year, trailed the Bulgarians by nearly 2s with 500 m to go but came through and beat them to the line by 2.625. They had no chance of catching the runaway winners, Sylvia Schwabe and Beata Schramm, of East Germany, who were timed at 6min 57.715. Veronica Cogeanu and Elisabeta Lipa of Rumania, finished in 7:00.96 and the New Zealanders in 7:03.35. Baker had tears of

disappointment after her race but was quickly back to her bouncy self and expressing satisfaction with the result.

“It was so close yet so far from third, but I couldn’t do any better. It was the best race I’ve rowed and I couldn’t have pushed myself any harder,” Baker said. “It was just such a letdown to find out I was fourth and I was just so angry at the way they did it,” she said. The race was won by a Rumanian, Maria Sava, in 7:33.28 with a Belgian, Rita De Fauw, 1.96 s behind. Angela Herron was third in 7:37.11 with Baker 0.24 s behind.

The defending champion, Adair Ferguson, of Australia, who just beat Baker for the Commonwealth title, was fifth, 1.37 s behind, the New Zealander.