ROWING

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 407, 16 January 1909, Page 12

ROWING

(BY MEECOBT.)

'COMING EVENTS. : ' January 30.—Christchurch Regatta, l'ebru'ary 6.—Wellington Regatta. February 13—New Zealand Championships (Waikato River, Mercer). February 20.—Ilawkc's Bay Regatta. February, 2o.—Wanganui Regatta.

As promised, the results of the holiday regattas crowded out last week &ro appended. The Otago regatta, held on Boxing Day, proved very .successful throughout, both as regards the racing .and weather conditions. The big raco of the .dayj the Senior Fours, which has tlio importance, of an inter-'provin-cial event botween Otago and Southland, was won for tho seventh time in,.succession by the Invercargill Rowing. Club representatives, stroked by tho veteran Basstain. Thia was a splendid race, being won right on the post by two feet. Two other: old-timers, M'Grath and Priest accounted for'tho senior doublesculling event,;., and the other races were divided fairly ev'enly betwoen tho local clubs. Tho Lyttelton regatta was a "day'out" for tho Union (Christchurch) Club, which bccured_ four wins, Akaroa and Lyttelton appropriating three each, while the Cliristchurch. Amateurs, Avon, and Canterbury failed to score. Tho detailed wins were: —Union, £45. First—Senior Doublo Sculls, junior Double Sculls, Junior. Single Sculls, and Maidon Pair. Second-—Senior Pairs, Junior Pairs, Youths' .'Pairs, and Maidon Double Soulls. Akaroa, £32. First—Senior Pairs, Youths' Pairs, and SCnior , Soulls. . Second—Senior Doublo Sculls arid; Youths' Double Sculls. Lytteltohi £31. Firs—Junior Pair, Maiden Doublo Sculls, and . Youths' Double'Scnlls. Second—Senior Single Sculls, Junior Single Sculls, and Junior Doublo,Sculls. Avon, £3. Second in Maiden Pairs. Total prize-moneyi £111, ■ ■

Commontmß : on : tho Canterbury's club's failure, "Clinker," ill. the "Weekly Press," makes Bome -remarks that are very much to the point, and which have a wide application, inasmuch-as they also apply to clubs other than the one tinder review. He says "What has happened with Canterbury?" was a general remark in Port.; Ten events and only five entries: The oldest established c'Ub iin the Dominion, and liot art entry for eno senior event, and only oiio out of three jiinior events.- Suroly setnething is wrong some* j-where, either with the management or tho rowing members themselves. 11l the first place, .a club ,\vith its ui>-to-dato plant aiid largo membership. fliust . surely ba able to I make ' bettor, entries; than, thdy haro 1 so . far done this season, and, secondly, I : do' not tfynk the members racing at'present'are half, sorions enough in their: trailing. It' is well' Known that'they never did expect to will at Akaroa or.Lyttelton regatt&s while tho stump outriggors were in Use, the usual remark being. .Wait till we get'to ,the Christchurth Kegatta, where proper boats arc used." is a. rule, the dubdoc3 show improvement at Uiristchurch, but it has. not been successful at Akaroa, although for the past few years wtoggorhas not been.usied there. ■Ivtnihk;this bears out, to a great extent, the, contention that the moti who are selected to.rowdo not put the energy into their work that they should, and. that tho other clubs

' it: n i°? CI ! lb j 3 making a'-, big entry at the* Christchureh Regatta on January 30— tM civil crews for the nine ovonts-*—aS undor;— Senior Four; fl. !{.. Mansfield, J. Fry W Dnfigan,.®. O'Brien (str;)' Youths' i)dubld Sculls (two crews): F. Clark,. W. Beaumont (str); and G. BradleV, G. Arnold (str.). Maiden FoUrrH. Dallison, S. Mitchell. W. Harrison, T. Booth (str.) Junior Double Sculls (two crenh H. Bliss, S. E. 'Moore (str.); and JV. O'Brien, ; F. Allen (str.). Senior Pair: W. Duggan, A. H. Tucker (str. . Ttouths' Four; 6., Bradley. F. Olark, 6. Ar«11l Ji. caUn \ ol^A tr -lv Doublo Sculls (tiw Crows) :S. 11. Mansfield;.T. Booth (str.); and H. Dallison. S. ■Mitchell (str.). I 0 1" ": f. Allen Bliss, JI.W. Blacfc S' . p , , Senior Doublo Sculls. E. OBricn, j. Fr,y (sir.). • ' T, 1 ?^ 1 , 0 iStaf'- 6l«b ; isentering erews event except tho senior- races, the intention '.tO"reservo_the championship aspirants for the-Auckland oil February 13, .. Tho following paragraph from tho "Weekly r ii s i -er'}i ? interest. to lobal oarsmen: v .• . v ■ • Tucker, who some years *back cams down,from Auckland,and rowed >for tho Canterbury. ; Club,has thrown ..in his lot •: with' Union, and has been selected to stroke their sonior pairs for Ohristchureh : regatta; He has not been veir successful down hero, and undoubtedly* his best rnco was at.Wellington in 1903, when . lie stroked ; the Canterbury ■junior Jour,, with' G. Beauohamp (3)j :H. S. Hobbs (2), and R. E. Lake,(bow) to victory by. 'two:' feet from ' Star—W.;. R. G Oswin (stroke), F. D Johnson (3V N. H. James (2),: and. C.; E. Bridge (bow),and four 'pthor crows.. Star, who. had a few. days before wom tnejunior fours at the championship regatta led from the start, and with half a mile to go appeared to. have the race'. but Canterbury' were slowly ; and. surelv overhauling them, and after a magnificent finish, just got up and won on the post." the lace referred t6 will be remembered by those who were present on t'he - occasion at : ietone as. providing one of . tho most determined and pluoky efforts oil the part of tho Canterbury stroke that one could wish to see. Tucker rowed himself to a standstill, and alternated .between hysterics and -fainting fife for half: an hour after the finish. . At the .meeting of the Wellington Rowing Association on Monday last a proposition was discussed dealing with the advisability of adding a ten-stono; maiden four i ace to the proThe. idea is one that calls for a lot. of consideration, and the executive wisely postponed the final settlement thereof until its. next. meeting on Monday night. Tho practice of including this'went on regatta .programmes )s becoming general in most of tho. centres, and there certainly is in the plea that the naturally light oarstnan should be. catered for as well as his bigger: brother. If tho competitors were' all legitimate lightweights th«B. could ' be no obiec- : tion, but-and this' is a big. "buf'-thero is not the slightest doubt. that these, events in their train tho exceedingly, harmful practice of "wasting." . . . Tho tomptation to a lOjst. man to sweat off his extra poundage to secure his seat in such a crew is a big one, and I know of oases \vhore an oarsman ha? found it nCCessary .to take two Turkish baths oh the dav of . the r ®®°' to enable him to draw tho weight. These ate not exceptional cases, and the bad results of the practico are too obvious to.need comment. Rowing is an exer- : cise undertaken for the purpose of building up and strengthening the body, and not for the , winning Of races by u wa!sting'! and sweating. down, jockey fashion, and it cannot bo denied that these evils follow in the wake • of the lightweight" crew. ' I hear that E. M'Donald, the Wimganui sculler, has been .Moved to Auckland. This is a' serious loss for the Wanganui Club, for M'Donald, in addition to, being a thorough '.'sport," is, directly in lino for the champion sculls this season, and, with his old'colleague, Marshall, had practically a mortgage on the champion double sculls. Whelcli's absenco from these events would have made , them praotically a certainty for the Wanganui men. I presume that M'Donald will still comnete in the sculls, , but his place in the doubles will take a deal of filling. A general meeting of rowing men in the city to disouss matters in connection with >. tho coming Wellington Regatta is called : for:next Wednesday night at the Star Club's Boathouse. • ; . '

Harry Pcareo has put up a deposit to secure a match with Ben Thoroughgood on the Parramatta for tho championship of Australia.