Coach and manager want to quit

Press, 26 August 1986, Page 8

Coach and manager want to quit

NZPA staff correspondent Hugh Barlow Nottingham

The national rowing manager, Mr Dudley Storey, and the leading coach, Mr Harry Mahon, are unlikely to be with the New Zealand team at next year’s world championships in Denmark.

Mr Storey said yesterday he wanted to step down from the job he has held since 1982 and concentrate on fundraising.

Mr Mahon’s future is less certain. He said yesterday he had been offered coaching jobs in Europe, and would make a decision in the next few months.

The Hamilton schoolteacher has coached New Zealand crews to some of their greatest triumphs. He was in charge of the men’s eight when it won successive gold medals in 1982 and 1983.

“I don’t see myself being away from New Zealand for too long. I

just need further rowing experiences, a chance to recharge. “This is my tenth year coaching. Probably the best thing for New Zealand rowing right now is that I go and learn a bit more,” Mr Mahon said. He would like to think any offer he might accept would leave him

free to take over a New Zealand crew shortly before world championships. That depended on what the New Zealand administrators wanted, he said.

Mr Storey said it was “probably about time” someone else took his job.

“I think I bit off more

than I could chew this year. I was running around getting all the money and after that I really needed a rest. Instead I came into this. “There are times when managers have to make careful decisions and I often didn’t have time to do that. It was often just spontaneous.”