ROWING

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 140, 10 March 1938, Page 18

ROWING

Petone Repeats Last Year’s Success REGATTA REVIEWED Wanganui Crews Do Weil

(By

STROKE.)

The Wellington Regatta Club has cause for congratulation at the success of Saturday’s fixture on Port Nicholson and, though neither Star nor Wellington was greatly in the limelight, the I etone club lived up to its good record and equalled its last year's performance. of four nrsts, two seconds and £33 in prize-money. One of the most pleasing features of the regatta was the success 011 erews from the Wanganui and Union (Man o a nui) clubs. Union won £24 and Wanganui £l4 in prize-money, and, by their "ood form, showed that they will take a Tot of beating at the championships at Wanganui when the river rowing, to which Wellington crews are unaccustomed, should be a big factor in their favour. Crews which stood out were the Wanganui youths, Union (Christchurch) junior pair. Peto_ne junior four, senior four and maiden doubles, and Picton. maiden four. , The only incident to mar the afternoon's racing was the disqualification of R. Sharon ’(Petone) in the junior singles by the starter. As there was an umpire on the course, it would appear that the starter exceeded his duties in disqualifying a competitor. Because of the choppy sea it would be very easy for a boat to ge't off its course and under the circumstances a restart would have proved satisfactory to all concerned.

Petone On Top. Crews from the Petone club performed very creditably. The senior sculls was an interesting race right from the start. With half a mile to go, P. A. Abbott (Petone) was leading by two lengths from A. K. G. Jackson (Wanganui Union), but Jackson gradually wore him down to win by two lengths. Abbottsperformance was a good one, as he had not been out in his sculler more than a dozen times this season. . The Petone senior, four fully justified the confidence of the club by winning their race, clean bladework and smart recovery being the outstanding features of their performance. • , J. Killalea and M. Clark walked away, with the maiden double sculls, giving them their fourth successive open regatta win this season. These, lade are the most promising combination in the shed and their future looks bright. J Boswell and J. Tegg, Petone, performed well in the maiden pair to win from a strong field. It was unfortunate that R. Sharon, the club’s junior sculler, was disqualified at the start of his race for accidentally colliding with another boat. On his recent performances he was considered to have a good chance of winning the Bndson Cup. , , • _ The Petone junior four, stroked by K. Williams, created a surprise by staging a great finish to beat Avon by three feet. The bow man, T. Crook, deserves special mention, as he has been coaching for the past three years and this is his first season of regatta rowing for four years. . Considering that the Petone eight had been together on the water only four times as a complete crew, they did well to finish second to Union, Wanganui. With one exception, the Union crew was the same as that which won the championship at Akaroa last year, and it is to represent the club at this year’s championships. The Petone selectors are to decide this week the crews to represent the. club at the championships at Wanganui. With the inclusion 1 of the champion four, the club should be able to build up a strong eight, capable of winning championship honours.

Star’s Failure. Once again Star crews failed in the test, and it looks as though the 1937;38 season is destined to make blaek reading as far as the club's records are concerned. One of the reasons, of course, is the big exodus of senior oarsmen at the beginning of the season. The club has not replaced such men as M. Clay, F. Bowling, L. Hosking, and A. Andrews. Then, at the beginning of the season,, J.. I. Thodey was injured, and only now is he rowing again. He hopes to row at the championships. The defection of so many men has had a serious effect on the club, and it will take time to fill their places. ' , Lack of boat fitness has affected the Star crews. Water conditions have been against them, and long rows, so essential to combination and fitness, have been out of the question. This may have upset the men and caused them to give insufficient attention to training. It is n 0 good crying over spilt milk, however, and no doubt the match committee has given deep consideration to possible improvements. .It seems certain that every effort will be made to boat a senior four for the Redding Shield, and indications are that, welter and junior crews will be picked for the championships at Wanganui.

Wellington’s Showing. Although most of the Wellington crews performed well, they were not able to gather in much of the prize-money. The standard of the other clubs was fairly high, and as most of the club crews were in outside positions it would have required vastly’ superior combination to win. The maiden crew finished in fourth place out of 13 crews which was quite a good effort from the eleventh position. After gaining the lead from the outside, the junior four found the pace too hot and drifted back toward the finish. They did not make good use of their slider and rowed too fast a stroke. The welterweight crew did very w-ell and made a determined dash at the finish to row into second place; This crew has improved wonderfully since Crawford took it in hand. E. Marchant did not appear to be greatly extended in the junior singles. All crews will now settle down again for the final regatta of the year—the championships at Wanganui on Easter Saturday. Most of the crews are available and are confident of putting up a good showing.