NEW ZEALAND EIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 125, 30 May 1930, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND EIGHT

FUNDS BEING RAISED

SHORT COURSE SELECTED

Satisfactory progress is being made with the campaign to raise- the necessary funds to send the New Zealand eight-oar crew to Canada for tho Empire Games in August.

Ten men are to make the trip, and they will bo selected from the following twelve: F. Brough, L. Fountain, G. B. Johnson (Otago), V. Olsson, C. Saunders, J. M'Donald (Marlborough), 'F. H. Thompson, F. J. Gilby (Canterbury), G. C. Cooke (Wellington), A. Boss (Auckland), B. Sandos and G. St. Clair (Hamilton). .' " The twelve are to assemble at Wa-ng-anui on'loth June, and will go into training uncler the coach, Mr. Hf Ayers, of Christchurch. . They aro to sail from - Auckland on Ist July.

The cost of the trip is estimated at £1800. Of that amount, £1000 donated by Canada to New Zealand lias been voted by' other sporting bodies in the Dominion to tho oarsmen, leaving the rowing associations'to-raise.' the balance, £800. The New Zealand Rowing Association has donated £200, and of the remaining £600 about £300 is in hand. Wellington and Christchureh have been responsible for collecting £100 each and Auckland £70. The remaining local rowing associations throughout New Zealand are interesting themselves in the matter, and it is anticipated that the balance will bo raised.

The distance for the eights race, one mile 550 yds, is not viewed with atisfaction by the rowing authorities here, and an effort was made, recently to have the raco rowed over a longer course. A reply has been received from Canada that the distance cannot be altered. The course for the race is approximately as long aa^ the southerly course on Wellington Harbour —from' Point Jerningham, in Oriental Bay, to the Taranaki Street Wharf. This is mainly used as a course suitable for four-oar races. New Zealand eight-oar championship rowing is usually contested over a course of between two miles and a half and three miles. Even for the championship four-oar title, a course of two miles is specified, and it will be seen that the Empire Games course of a little over a mile and a quarter is an unusual course for championship eights as far as New Zealand is concerned. The shorter course is a factor that will have to be taken into consideration when tho crew goes into training.