ROWING

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 137, 6 December 1930, Page 22

ROWING

By "STROKE"

LOCAL REGATTAS

FIXTURES MADE

INTER PR O VINCI A-L .EIGHT S'

So fur,' .no inpve : has -been made, in Wellington in connection with fixing a. clato for tlio ehampiouship .regatta., ?wliich.'is. to be held.herb this/season." It is' fairly : definite that the regatta will jbe held some"time in' Eobruary,'probably la tho'early part'of..the:mouth, aucl as the various local associations arc aiixious. to fix. their : -,own da.tcs "and avoid clashing-with the, championship fixture it .is. necessary., for• tlio clianipioiiship date to be known as' early as possible. Moreover, with, the Christmas holidays near at hand theTe does not remain a great deal of time in which to 'fiiialiso.arrarigemeits. "for tho regatta. 'By the time the holiday,period is over/therq.wiil.be only.aboutone 'month before; ■ tlid/chai^pionship /mepting, 'and it..would .be iinwise 'to' leavo every thing' to' .'the/: last minute,'/so to ■speak.' .'.-■'.' : ~ /■;. ~ ...-/,/ ,- ■ . ■ Some .difficulty was ; experienced by tho Otago Association in deciding upon the.date for1 tlio intprprovincial eights by reason of tho fact that the/datoof the- 'championship meeting/ had not 'been fixed.'. ..The principal'"business o£ ■p.-Recent, meeting 'of./.the Otago' Bowing Association. * was the/. decision 0f... the dato.1 for. the": Interprpyineial eights championship,'/which' this serison have been , allo.ealtQii to; ptagol ■ 'After ; a lengthy -discussion.--it was decided /to hold the race on Saturday, 21st March; It was stated by the chairman .: of tho meeting that the association was in an awkward position to decide the date. as Wellington had not yot fixed the date for the championship regatta, and the Otago' Kowiiig' Association did not want to. have the, fixtures closer than could be ' avoided. The championships would bo held some time in .February, lie said,.and to give, all clubs a. fair chance of being represented at them the association did not want to have tlie dates of tho events any closer than necessary. In regard to the local regatta,., he. said,that.'something had to;bo sac/rine'ed jfor..the .eights,, . and they., could .not:ask...men ■ to" fa:ain. for the O.R.A. regatta, as well as tho, eights •at the same time. , In fixing the. .course it was stated that t;he race.would be contested over three miles, and it was moved that tho championship course,, .from, Maeandrow . Bay, . finishing ' in' the shipping basin, be; used.; , As an amendmentj it. was moved-that the race.commence in the Upper Harbour, and. finish at Maeandiew Bay, but tho . amendment .was-lost, ■ •',.,. .. .; . ~', : , Tho. meoting. also discussed, the Upper/Harbour v..'Lower Harbour' .eights race. .-. ''. '' / , .'. ' A full report of tho annual .mooting of tho New Zealand Amateur /Rowing Association had been forwarded to the various clubs, stated tho secretary, Mr. Stycho said that he had brought forward at! the meeting all that the Otago Bowing Association had'asked him "to ■do, although he was in an awkward position. The Otago Bowing Association was apt to tako exception to" tho methods adopted by tho chief association; .but the members comprising tho New Zealand Amateur. Rowing Association were very keen and doing all in their power. to., assist the sport. •".. Mr. i/Styehe was congratulated. ' on being /elected president *of tho' N.Z.Ai E.A., which, it was' stated, - was. the highest honour in New Zealand- rowing tlia.t ho.could;have conferred on .him. He had worthily upheld the-interests of tho Otago Bowing Association j and ,ho was deserving of -thanks for acting as: th;©.association's delegate. /' ' Sculler's Visit? ~ ' ..','■ ' .' : •' TKough- a cable message published this week reported that AV.E. Scott, . tho i -Now' South' Wales: champion scult Ter, liad accepted au invitation to visit the .Dominion this''season, the New Zealand Council has iiot yet received con-i urination of its offer. . ' Should "Scott make the trip he will probably compete at Wanganui, on 22iid. January; at Hamilton, on 29th Jaijuary, and q-t the chanipiojiship regatta at. ■Wollingtoli,..Which, will, probably, bo lield' on 7th February. . :.,. l^t-is, spiiio . time since New Zealand had a visit from .an overseas oarsman, and there is no doubt that Scott's trip will.be 3yelcomccl../At tho present.time New- Zoatand-'s senlliiig strength is ■ represented by Turner, of Tauranga, whohas twice won. the; amateur championship. . Those, ivlid ..wero-present." at the cliampidns'liip:.'meeting at Marlborough. th^; season..befortf ..last .will no doubt vividly reirieniber. how. Turner, after very nearly coining to grief in the last stages..of. the race,, won the title from Jaelcsoii/'of :AVaugaiiui,-by- tlio narrowest of margins,...and how last season Turner .retained his. title,, again ..defeating ; fiis . Wa.ngahui . representative. Jackson, himself, .made a fine impres-. sioii when he first won the title on, the Wanganui ' river, and tho subsequent meetings of these' oarsmen is" always likely to be a big attraction. With Scott competing, this season's championship1 sculling eveiiti at Wellington ■ should.'bo Outstanding.: Tt will afford an. :.opportuuity :r of arriving ~at, the strength of New Zealand sculling today, and in atldition there is always the chance that .new talent might come to light. Bright, of Wellington, hd.s taken up sculling again, and ho has already intimated his intention of competing for the championship title. Application for Oars. The recent'announcement made by the New Zealand Council that it was prepared to sell at a reduced prieo the special set of racing oars that were u?d by tlio New Zealand crow at tlie. Empire Games has resulted in several, applications being made. Petone, Wei-, lington, Marlborough, and Otago have already-applied for oars, and it is pij-olbable. that before very long applications will. bo received, .from..other associations'. . ' Club or Provincial? , ■ The suggestion macre recontly that the competitors, to the championship regatta shpuld. be; provincial, and not club representatives,: has. already occasioned, discussion in some quarters. In Canterbury, the proposal is to bo fully discussed by the Canterbury Rowing Association, and no doubt, as the question is a: big one, othor associations will also seriously consider it. As far as Canterbury is concerned, it is stated in some quarters that if provincial representative crows aro sent they will be robbed of individuality as a crow, and that the expense will fall- upon the associations instead of on the clubs concerned. The association, it is contended, has already tho in-ter-provincial eights to attend to.