TRICKETT AT PUTNEY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3008, 15 February 1881, Page 4

TRICKETT AT PUTNEY.

The following is a letter from laycock to d friend in Sydney, in which ho referred to the dofetit of Trickett, and Hanlan's first refusal to row against him (Laycock) : — " At last tho big race is over, and we have been thoroughly done. I stood and looked at it from start to finish. At the start I considered it a moral certainty, but at the finish, I can assure you, I was nonplussed aud dumbfounded, and well I might be, for it left me with bare clothes that I stood up in, and with not so much left as would jingle on a frying pan. I looked upon it as such a certainty, that I lost all my previous winnings on the venture. Poor old Ned ■was terribly cut up ; I never saw a man take ib to heart so much, and so bitterly. He also lost all he had. Of course I cheered him up all I could, but tho blow was heavy. How he lost the race I cannot tell you, for lam confident he is the better man of the two. The day was fine, and everything was fair. The only conclusion I came to is that ili Canton headed him, the enormous rtv!™LT n fr r/°tiey and responsibility dependamount ofc _,_ '- h - £ unnerved and zng on the result ox . led y fo _ overcame him. His strei--. „__,__ 01 , ' „_, after a mile and a half he » e ™-J any dash, and appeared to row without strength. He must have done so, tor f^ tei he passed under Hammersmith bridg? • Uan ' lan literally played with him, and the." 1 could see that the race was won, and ou. v money lost. I can account for it in no other' way, for in our practice he always rowed well and strong —as well as I ever saw him row —and you know when he is right no man in the world could play with him. He was in good health, and appeared in splendid condition —all muscle ; and how a little man like Hanlan could' ever beat Ned is, and always will be, a mystery to me. Although I am a ' broker,' would you believe it, I am the most popular rower upon the Thames. While lam racing the crowds howl to no ono else. 'Go it Laycock !' ' Woll done. Laycock!' 'Go it, bushranger!' ' Go it, Shark Island!' and the greetings I get when each race is finished are something awful. They stand in thousands, and take their hats off and give me cheer after cheer. When we get baok to Hammersmith Bridge it is always crammed, and then they begin again, 'Well done, Laycock!' and cheer after cheer. When we get down here I can hardly get to the house, and the last time they very near twisted my wrists, for I had to shake hands with nearly 2000. I have faced the starter's flag now six times, and mowed the whole of them down. In all cases I have been led at the start; but that never troubled me; somehow or other I always feel quito confident I can row them down, so have never allowed them to put me out of my stride at the start. " In my last encounter—the final for the Hop Bitters—l had three Yankees to contend against, or, rather, two Yankees and one Canadian ; but I settled them. They got in front of me, and each in turn ran me off in all directions, but I managed to worry them down, and finally won by over one hundred yards. Mr Ross planted himself right in front of me shortly after the start, and it would have made you laugh to see the rush I made at him, and the way he scampered out of the way. "I have challenged Hanlan for £200 a side, but he will not row me, so here is poor old Shark Island out of a job. I tried all I could to get a match on, and, as a last resource, told him to his teeth that he was afraid of me. I said, ' You beat my friend when he wa3 not right and poked fun at him. Now, here lam well and hearty, row and poke fun at me, I will row you, for £200 a side, and then if I lose I will have to ask the Orient Line for a passage home ; or I will row you for the honour of Australia and a bottle of champagne.' But it was all to no purpose. As a subterfuge be offered to row me for £200 a side and a bet of £1000; but where was I to get that amount ? You see I did all I possibly could, so poor old Australia for the present will have to bo satisfied with second honors. Fancy, none of the Englishmen could get a place in the Hop Bitters Regatta. I gave Elliott such a ' doing' in the first heat, and Hawdon also afterwards. Poor old Ned cut up badly in the second heat, and got shoved out. He was kept waiting in the cold a long time the evening before, which, I fancy, must "have affected him. I kept giving Warren Smith my wash all the way up, and called Ned on, but it was no U6e. I can assure you I am yearning for a sight of Shark Island again. Everything here looks so infernally cold and dismal. There is any quantity of frost, ice, and snow about now. It was only this evening that I had a skate on some ice. Ned's race with Ross winds us up on the 29th ; then I do not care how _oon the John Elder sails ; for I feel anxious to be on the rolling deep once more, gailing for Australia. " The Bells, Putney."