ROWING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 13, 23 December 1911, Page 16

ROWING.

(Br Mf.rccßT.) HERE AND ELSEWHERE.- ■ Dec. 2G—Port Chalmers Rogatta. Jan. I—Pi'cton- Regatta. Jan. I—Lvttelton Regatta. Feb. 7—ftew Zealand Championships, Lako Waihola. ~ ■' ■ Feb. 17—Wellington Regatta: Crew for Stockholm. The prospects of a. New , South Wales crew , bring sent'to tho Olympic Games next: July are improving fast. -Tim position as at. present, is" outlined in' .the "Referee" as under, in an article .written just after tho roccnt.Champion Eights race on Sydney Harbour, won by -Bairn h i n ' ...... The. selectors' (Messrs. Fit*hardinge, M'Donald, and M'Gregor) ' have; "not ' ' vet come to any decision with regard to tho crew for'tho Fifth Olympia'd. True, they'required' to Sec last Saturday's race, and receivo replies from the various club& as to which OarsriiOn , ; .were available, but these-' aro cxpect-- • ed within a day or so, consequently we may hope to havo something fairly definite shortly.. It ought not to bo a ' really hard- thing-to settle- on the crew. The forni of most of tho men' cannot but be known. Granted that the men are available, one would think that there could' not be much doubt about.the constitution of the' crew. Of-■'course, Roger • Fi.tzhardingo stands out "prominently as a stroke. The men Of former winning Inter-State eights should' no doubt • compose the crew; and taking the last crew, seven appear to. be available, viz., Fitzhardingo, Heritage, Middleton, Ilauensteiri; Parker, Ryric, and Barker. Then Gramleu, Arness, and Chapman might' fairly bo considered to have very strong claims. Added to these men aro Dis -Ward, A. B. Oovle, and 0.-A. Ireland, at present in. lingland, who might'be utilised-, in one direction or anothor.' K.-B. Gaden would also bo a great acquisition. The Victorian Rowing Association Committee, at' its last - meeting, ■ re-'■ solved to offer tho New South Wales Association any assistance, financial or otherwise, possible to carry out . its project of sending-a crew to compete 'at tho Olympic Games regatta- at : Stockholm in July next. Now that . the Victorian" Association has offered ■ financial help, that it is certain no crew will go from Victoria, and that . tho llenley-on-Yarra Regatta . Committee may make'a substantial grant to tho funds being raised by the New South Wales Association for its crcw, things in connection with tho tour seem- to be - progressing very favour-, ably. Regatta Gossip. There, is but little to add to tho note:; that appeared last week- on tho prospects of local crews at tho Picton regatta cn New Year's Day. Training, owing to the had water prevailing,-is still spasmodic, and the crcws am not much , advanced, either in combination or condition, on the uiipreparedncss that was tho text cf .last week's budget. • ' Perhaps the most likely of tho local four-oared crews is (lie Star Juniors, who advanced a degree on Monday-.night:at the expense of tho club's senior quartet. The ci-ews raced oyer a' mile and a quarter, the seniors in an old , best-and-best and the juniors 'in one of tho senior .club clinkers.' .and n hard tussle resulted in a dead heat. . The juniors rowed fairly

11, except for a tendency to rush the des and faulty stroke work at times, ioeially on the part or No.-2, but the liors' wcro not- happy, and did not row i to training form. I'ho .rato of striking in both; boats wan / slow, neither averaging above 32 per imite, in fact, tho seniors, did rot hieve even this. It ,was proposed to change boats and row a "return," but I to the time of writing the bad water iS prevented Mhis. ir Petone.- Friends. Moiig with my l'etone oorrpspbndenfr wkly-budget oojnes Christmas 'greetings, l'jch nro hehrtily. reciprocated. The iKs run ns .'under:— I'lio junior crow is now complete, and as follows:—li. Trcmnin (str.), H. Pariil (3)', P.' Arrowimitli (2), and C. H. irridgo (bow). Tremain anil l'arrant e also oulering for the junior pairs, id should take some beating. 'I'ho first.-nn.raed is well known in. reAta races, having stroked crews from uiths. upiyard, and, with Burns (bow),on the junior pairs at the last Wei-, agton 'regatta;.'Pafraat, . though, porips, not so woll known, is rowing in •eat- form this year, and would be a scided acquisition to any crow, having id liis hand in all,the club races this ■ason—four in all. - Two years ago ho ad Arrowsmith (str. and 2) won the laiden pairs at Napier, and also helped i win the youths' four. Last year he ns unable to row through an accident. Arrowsmith's record was mentioned • ill ist week's notes. .0. 11. Burridge also awed at Napier in 1909 in tho maiden nd 10-stono crow, and will fill his posiion woll. Altogether, l>"th those crews, unior and junior pairs, should prove hot imibinations, and should acquit themclvos wol| ; As anticipated, the cliallenpo youths' voat proved too good for tho youths ickcd for the regatta. ■ The. raco was owed on Friday evening, and was a Cakewalk" for the challengers, who padled homo about four lengths to ■ tlie ood. Tho losers, however, have noliiug to ,bp downhearted over. ■as they re practically alt still in the novice tago, and will improve as time goes on, ,nd may reverse this defeat before tho eason is over. Owing to tho illness nf Mr. Edmonds, :he dn-ior of lli« trmiliv fnr Hip fuinVr tairs, tlw event lias lieen postponed until ifter' Christmas. _ Mr. Edmonds is : a ;een .enthusiast in rowing and ljoatins tencrally, and all our rowing men will oin in- wishing him a complete and ipeedy recovery. . Disaster. . General regret will Ik felt at tlio unixpeetod disaster which overwhelmed tho Vw'arua (Bluff) Rowing Club on Wedneslay week, when tlio furious galo that raged' swept away the club's lxiatshods, smashing tho whole of tho boats, /ffliis is a very severe blow to the club, afpeei-' >il,v with the regatta season approaching. Hie damage is estimated at .6250, but ;«ay» a southern ,exchange) already unsolicited donations have boon, roccivod .by ho club, totalling over .£BO. and offers jf assistanco by loan of skiffs have.been from the Bivorton, Invel-cargill, ajid Railway Clubs, and also from, the Queen's Drive , Club, while the,- 0.8-.0. has offered to givo what aid lies in its power; At. an emergency meeting of tho Southland Rowing Association, held to xmsider the position, itjtrsnspired that tho Inveroo.rgill Sowing frlnb had offered n jiractice four and a racing four.; The Railway Club delegates signified : their willingness to lend a practice pair. KivBrton lind informed the Bluff secretary that a-raoi-ng pair and a four would be available for certain race* at lliverton, and' the 1 Port'-Chalmcrs Cl-ub offered a best-and four for Boxing Day. The' Railway Department has granted the club'a new -site for a shed.