ROWING SEASON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19889, 7 March 1928, Page 16

ROWING SEASON.

CLOSE OF REGATTA RACING.

CLUB TRIALS ARE DECIDED. A CHALLENGE FROM HAMILTON. Last Saturday the local clubs, with the exception of West End, were engaged at the Rangiriri regatta. The annual gala on the Waikato River attracted good entries, and although the standard of rowing was not high, the races were closely contested. It was clearly evident that the crews on the township side of the river held a decided advantage. Chief interest centyed in the races in which an Auckland provincial championship was contested. The Hamilton Club was- most successful, winning the heavy maidens, the Dewar Shield, the youths' fours and Nash Cup and the maiden single sculls. D. Nicholl was the only starter in the last event. Hamilton also gained second place in the junior fours. North Shore came next, scoring two Wins in. the light maidens and the junior fours.

YVaitemata's best effort was second place in the light-weight maidens, while Auckland could do no better than gain a third in the youths, and the dead-heat with Waitemata in the heavy maidens. The, results of the championship events at Wanganui came as ft" surprise to rowing enthusiasts in Auckland, especially the failure of the Hamilton crews.

Wanganui Union scored a great triumph in winning three titles, the fours, doubles and single sculls, while the pair-oar title event was annexed by the Avon crew, of Canterbury. All doubts among Auckland followers should now be at rest concerning the strength of the Hamilton light-maiden four. It registered a fine performance by wifming its race by a margin of one and a-half lengths'. Another success was that of the Whangarei crew in the heavy maiden fours. This' crew also got second place in the junior fours.

Club Trial Races. The West End Club held a set of pairoar trials for trophies donated by Mr, Reynolds and during the week-end managed to reach the semi-final stage. The final will be decided during this week. Next Saturday local clubs will turn their attentions to trial racing. Auckland has subscription fours pencilled, Waitemata the final of the Fearon pairoars, St. George's the Luke double sculls and North Shore trial fours. , The next challengers for the Somerville Shield are Hamilton, a n d if the conditions are favourable, the race will be rowed on Sunday morning. The course will probably'be from Orakei to Queen's Wharf. For some time Hamilton has been regarded as likely to win, but local enthusiasts are now placing more confidence in Waitemata, the holders of the trophy. A trial race for the Olympic eight crew was rowed at Wanganui on Sunday between two crews selected bv the New Zealand selectors and resulted in a win for Brough, the Otago stroke's crew. Included in the eight were K. Page and L. Brooker, of Auckland. The losing crew was stroked by G. Healy, of Wanganui Union, and F. Solomons, of St. George s, was also in the e-ight. The Ngaruawahia regatta on March 17 will close the racing season for ihe Auckland Province. The local clubs intend being represented and in spite of the tricky nature of the course, some closelycontested races should be witnessed.