MILK OR BEER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4834, 16 April 1936, Page 3

MILK OR BEER

WHAT SHOULD OARSMEN TAKE? All rowing crews train on the water, but they do not necessarily take nothing else internally, Some train on milk, some on beer and some on nothing in particular (says "Cambridge” in the Sydney Sun). A cable message reports that the Oxford crew, in an effort to stop the long-successful run of Cambridge in the University boat-race, will abandon beer when the crew commences full training. The Oxford men, according to the report, took their traditional halfpint with lunch and a pint >vith dinner. In our rowing there is nothing traditional about beer for oarsmen in training. Most coaches, however, favour it in moderation, particularly for crews undergoing lengthy preparation. With the exception of Les. Callaghan (stroke in the after years), who had only an occasional drink, the members of the “old” Mosman eight raruly failed to have their glass after a hard training spin. The A.I.F. crew, which won the King’s Cup on the Thames in 1919, had its glass per man after a row. It would be difficult to find a more robust crew than Wal Mackney’s winning interstate eight of 1935. Yet coach Geo. MacKenzie was an advocate of a glass for those who wanted it. The Rowing Association’s honorary medical officer, Dr. Athol Mobbs, records his vote in favour. “No harm can come from a little beer while training,” he says. “It has a lot of value.” I know of one strong dissentient— Geoff. Hilder, who was honorary trainer of the New South Wales King’s Cup crews of 1929-30-32-33-34.