Baker wins women’s singles

Press, 9 March 1987, Page 21

Baker wins women’s singles

When Philippa Baker raised her arm on crossing the line in front of her opposition in the women’s championship single sculls at Lake Ruataniwha, Twizel, on Saturday it was to some extent an expression of relief. Pressure had been building up all week on Baker at the national rowing regatta, almost all the pundits expecting her to be the new women’s single sculling champion after the nine-year reign of Stephanie Foster, now a fellow Cambridge club member.

What was expected to be the highlight of the regatta — the clash between two world-class scullers, Baker and Foster, — was nullified when Foster suffered a gashed leg in a motor-cycle accident the week before the championships. Baker, who now has the world lightweight sculling title in her sights, won the New Zealand singles by a 21/ 2 -length margin from

Brenda Lawson (Wairau), with Robin Clarke (Cambridge) third. While Baker had a fair idea of the abilities of Clarke, who combined with Foster to win a Commonwealth Games double sculls gold medal at Edinburgh last year, she had been a little wary of what Lawson might do. Lawson, aged only 19, showed that she was indeed a threat by pushing Baker over the first 1000 m. Unfortunately a poor stroke at this stage cost her considerably. “I caught a really bad crab and nearly fell out of my scull,” Lawson said. Baker took two lengths out of Lawson at this stage and was in control from then on, sitting on a rating of 32 strokes a minute. Afterwards Baker said that she felt she would have beaten Lawson on experience. But she paid tribute to her opponent’s strength and determination.

“Brenda’s got a good future and is about as aggressive as I am,” Baker said. The women’s singles, Baker said, was always “the title to win and a hard title to win.” She was pleased to have won it from Lawson in a hard race. Lawson said that she was happy to have won a silver medal. “It’s been a pretty good day,” she said. The single sculls victory gave Baker her fourth title of the regatta and left her with a most satisfied feeling. “I feel really good. I feel fine about the rest of the day.” Near the end of the day Baker stroked Cambridge to a stirring win in the women’s championship eights with a determined Hamilton crew only onethird of a length behind. That meant that Baker put on the winner’s red Tshirt for the fifth time and received yet another gold

medal. But a possible sixth title was denied when the Cambridge women’s lightweight coxless four failed to pass the weighing-in before the race. Wellington, too, had to scratch from the event for failing to meet the weight requirements. The Canterbury crew of Katherine Wyatt, Charlotte Cox, Sarah Weston, and Maree Kilbride which did make the weight had to row the course on their own through increasingly choppy water and chose not to appear on the winner’s dias to pick up their gold medals. The men’s championship single sculls title also changed hands with a thoroughly convincing win by North Shore’s Eric Verdonk over the three times champion and titleholder, Gary Reid (Gisborne). Verdonk established a length and a half on the field at the 1000 m mark, maintained that to the finish with Reid second and the surprise packet, Des Healey (Union, Wanganui), third, keeping the 1985 champion, George Keys (Wairau), out of a medal. After picking up his T-shirt,

carry-bag, and medal on the dias Verdonk opted not for relaxation in the boat park but went out in his scull for another 30 minutes in the far corner of the lake. Not long after he reappeared, Vedonk had got into the stroke seat of the North Shore premier eight, (the “Pupuke Express.”). Last year Verdonk was part of a red-coat winning North Shore coxless pair and as New Zealand team reserve ended up sculling in the Commonwealth Games — and winning a bronze medal. But he made it clear at Lake Ruataniwha that it was a fallacy that he was new to sculling. Verdonk said he had won the intermediate single at the 1980 New Zealand championships and had sculled regularly each season since that. New Zealand has won only one sculling medal at top international championships — Murray Watkinson’s bronze in the single in the 1971 European championships at Copenhagen — and Verdonk would dearly love to match that. But Verdonk, aged 27, revealed that he still had "a sneaking ambition to represent New Zealand in a rowing boat.”