Seventh successive eights title to Waikato on very rough water

Press, 9 March 1987, Page 21

Seventh successive eights title to Waikato on very rough water

From TIM DUNBAR in Twizel

Waikato had to cope with the nervousness of a delayed start, very rough water, and a stiff head wind before winning its seventh premier men’s rowing eights title in succession at Lake Ruataniwha, Twizel, on Saturday.

The last event of the national regatta had to be delayed fully 45 minutes while the six premier eights waited, first on shore and then near the starting area. Rowers got cold and three crews, among them Avon, had to empty out their boats. When the race eventually started only two crews, Waikato and Tauranga, were in contention after the first 500 m. Waikato gradually threw off a significant Tauranga challenge and was in control of the race by the 1000 m mark. Waikato prevailed by little more than a length from Tauranga with Avon, another three lengths back, holding out North Shore for the last medal place. The West End eight did not even reach the finish; the boat swamped and crew members abandoned ship in the last 50m. So difficult were the conditions that Waikato’s winning time was 6min 46.75, almost exactly a minute slower than the one on the same 2000 m course two years ago. The win in the eights gave the Waikato iron man, Chris White, his

eighteenth red coat title, one ahead of his clubmate, Greg Johnston. White and Johnston had needed to rate only 26 for the second half of the race in winning the coxed pairs some hours earlier. Only the mighty Wybo Veldman with 21 red coats and Murray Watkinson with 19 now rank ahead of White on the alltime honours list. White is aware that he is within reach of the record after three championship titles (the eights, coxed fours, and pairs) at this regatta. "I’ve heard it every day; you can hardly forget it.” White, still only 26 years of age, said he intended to “be around” next year and probably another two seasons after that. “I still quite enjoy it.” This year’s eights race was not one of White’s most enjoyable experiences, though. “Sitting at the start we got too cold. Everybody was in the same boat. It was our fault for not having warm gear.” White said that the delay and becoming cold tightened everybody up.

“That was one of the worse races I’ve rowed for several years. It was a real struggle most of the way. It was a helluva head wind to row into.” The regatta was something of a disappointment for the Avon premier squad with a second placing in the coxed fours and thirds in the coxless fours and eights. The club had won the championship coxless fours at Lake Karapiro in 1986. Avon’s coach, Les O’Connell, referred to the result of the eight-oared race as bad luck. “We will get them next year,” he said. Mr O’Connell was happy with the performance of the eight in the circumstances. “In those conditions we did the best we could. Head winds are not our conditions.’ The Waikato club was in the mood for celebration after the two days of finals. As well as retaining the Centennial Oar, Waikato made a clean sweep in the lightweight and premier men’s rowing (as opposed to sculling) events — eight titles out of eight. Alan Cotter, who has

taken over as coach with Harry Mahon overseas, has enjoyed remarkable results with his crews. There were good reasons, he said, why the club was so successful: “The people. We trust one another and work with one another.” Among the most impressive Waikato crews was its men’s lightweight eight which recorded a very fast 6min 4.2 s in beating Canterbury by more than two lengths. Apart from its novice coxed four, gold-medal winning coxed four, and a rowover in the women’s lightweight coxless fours, the Canterbury club had to be content with second placings and a lot of thirds. The premier women and, to a lesser extent, the lightweights were not as competitive as hoped. Duncan Holland, who has coached a number of Canterbury crews to national titles, said that there had been a “quantum jump” in the standards in the three years he had been away from the scene. “Our post-mortem will .focus on how we can go faster,” he said.

Mr Holland, back as Canterbury’s chief coach this season, said it was getting to the stage where rowers had to train 11 months of the year to keep up. “It is no longer the old days where you play representative rugby in the winter and row in the summer,” he said. While Waikato won the Centennial Oar for the fourth consecutive year, the Tauranga club made a bold showing and the Wairau club, Blenheim, was in third position in both the Centennial Oar and the Centennial Scull. On Saturday Wairau added titles in the senior coxless pair (Goren Haggaren and Alan Turner) and the senior coxless four to the three from the previous day. Final leading points for the major trophies were:— Centennial Oar: Waikato 53, Tauranga 45, Wairau 39, Cambridge 35, Avon 33. Centennial Scull: Cambridge 25, Auckland 21, Wairau 18, North Shore 11, Aramoho-Wanganui and Tauranga (equal) 8. Hallyburton-Johnson Rosebowl for inter-provincial eights: Auckland 1, Canterbury 2, Marlborough 3.