ROWING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 18 February 1911, Page 12

ROWING.

, REGATTA GOSSIP.

(Bv JlEncoitt.i

To-day.—Wellington Regatta. February 25.— N.Z. Championship Regatta (Wanganui).

To-day the eyes of'all rowing enthusiasts in tho Dominion will ho turned towards Wellington. •, Tho reason whereof is, of course, , tho local association's regatta, tho ten. events of which ftro to ho fought , o«t on lho harbour from 12.30 p.m.'onwards. * Important in' aquatio circles ' Hi our"' regatta''generally 'is, iind i{''{s'' , admit/c(ily. the most representative and' therefort. tho most 'important of all the local futures, this year , it'' bids : fair to surpass all previous records,'. Olio reason for this is tliat tho championship regatta' follows on Saturday next at Wr.nganui, and'as all the championship,title ' holders .arpj.'in action to-day, with tho single exception of Stone, llio sQuller, this (afternoon's results will provido a vcrj\, fair , index as. to tho probabilities of tlib. big meeting next week. 13iit uu- ' douljtedly tho big attraction of to-day's , Work is tho'Wanganui. Union crew, tho ! only Now Zealand combination that has ' "achieved a win over Australian crows'oil their own water. To.make tho "draw" even greater is tho fact that opposed to tho • cliampions are their old'rivals of Blenheim—tho crew'that gave them' such a.hard raco for it on.tho occasion'abovementioned—on tho Taroar, in Tasmania, last • February., . Tho Marlborough. crew ; ts,repor.tcd,jto..]bo rowing faster, than .they ' were then—their conditioais .lictter, and their boat is'better LaSt. year in Hobart'Arthur' Jackson rowed'stroKO— nrnl rowed -'stroke with)' only 'six weeks' training', during which time Re worked off two> stono or to of superfluous avoirdupois', and. then weighed ■' 111 stone—and Uick Jlcgglun' filled the No. 3 seat. These two aggrogato fivo stono more than did tho No. 2.and bow, on top of which they discovered on arrival in Hobart that by rulo' each crew liad to. oarry a 7st. coxswain. No wonder, then, in the racd they found that their boat was down in the stern, and "dragged" . badly. At present," Jackson is rowing No., 3, Andrew stroke, and tho Hegglnn Bros, two and bow. There can: bo no doubt that tliev will mako the Wanganui champions realise that they havo been rowing before the two miles is covered this afternoon. Tho Union's, however,' aro quietly confident.". They have been under tho caro of William Webb, sculler, and in their trials havo moro than pleased their supporters. This crew is not so big as Blenheim, tho quartette, Cfltterill, Hylands, Dustin, and Corby, avoraging just about eleven stone, and their great pace is duo to their marvellous precision and dash. In Hobart their display was,' without exaggeration,-a revelation to tho-Acs-tralians. In tho newspapers thoy wero not-given-a chance after the critics had seen their training rows—neither,, for. tho matter of that, wero tho Blenheim men— their rowing was-said to lack length, and swing. In tho race, however, it.is a mat-ter-of aquatio history how they mado backs of tho opposition—actually averaging 42 strokes per minuto over thij 3J inilo course. Blenheim rowed into a closo'second, after.a bitter stern chase, and got up to 40 per minuto on occasion, whilo the nearest Australian crow, a. Victorian combination that had a record' of fivo years without defeat, was four lengths away third., , This great contest, wath the substitution of the, Picton and Christchurch Union crews, two undefeated combinations so far this season, for tho Australian crews, -is to be repeated for our benefit to-day, starting at 2.30 p.m. Whilo the Senior Fours is tho big raco of the dav, it will by no moans monopoliso the interest.. Tho duel in tho Sculls between "Toby" Anderson, of Wanganui, and Arthur Jackson, of Blenheim, ■ two men of over! list., good scullers both, will bo keenly watched, and thero aro several crews in tho Pairs and Double Sculls likely to shako the champions up considerably. Tho junior raoing will be of good class, and tho Maiden lours promises to bo exceptionally good. Each club engaged has a "hot" crow and . is confident of a good showing. Of-.tho local crews,engaged, tho only ones tho writer has any hopes for aro tho Star B.C. representatives. In tho 'Junior Pairs, Maiden Fours, and Pairs, and the Maiden Double Sculls, tho [iluo lind White men havo excellent chances, and dn the Junior and -Youths' Fours rather moro than a fighting chance. ' It will bo a matter of surpriso if tho. Stars do not get a fair win-a happy jstato: of affairs for which tho splendid run of good wator for tho paJt fortnight is to bo thanked. " Tho Christchurch Regatta. , As an indication of tho form of soiuo of the southern crews engaged to-day, tho following from tho "Press" will bo of interest:—"Tho Christchurch Regatta Club was favoured with a fino day for tho regatta on February 9, but tho easterly wind mado the water rather choppy, though not bad enough to prevent tho programnio from being carried out. Union easily headed i tho winning list, securing the Senior Fours, Senior Pairs, Senior Double Sculls, Junior Fours, and Youths' Fours—fivo events out of nino on tho programme. Tho surprise of tho day was tho noor showing of this club in tho Junior Dotiblo Sculls, and in tcullin;: Inst in iv Held of four. Out of the events thev won, tho Senior Double Sculls wm tho only race that they wero fully extended in.'nml they just beat Aknroa oh tho post after a splendid race. The other events they won easily, Canterbury rowed n fino raco in the Maiden lours. They 'could not thakq .Union o2 .until cloaq on

the finish, when tho crow cracked up, aiul loft Canterbury to win easily. Cure again showed their superiority" iu the Youths' Double Sculls, and never gave tho opposition iv chance, romping home. Avon and Aknroa mnde a fino, race for second place until about a hundred yards from home, when Avon stopped., allowing Akaroa to securo second honours. Another easy and anticipated win was that of Sumner in tho . Maiden Double Sculls, tho A.dkins Brothers winning by several lengths from Canterbury.". Of "tho .£lO3 allotted in prize-money,, Union won .£OS, Canterbury -CU', Akaroa -Cl 2, Sumner ■£!>, and Cure .EG. This brings Union's winnings for fho season past .£lso—a splendid performance.