EIGHT-OAR EVENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22389, 8 April 1936, Page 21

EIGHT-OAR EVENTS

INTER-PROVINCIAL RACE Two eight-oar events of Dominionwide interest will be rowed next Saturday. The annual inter-provincial eights contest is to be decided at Wanganui, while the inter-university rowing contest is to be rowed at Wellington on the same day. In the interprovincial race, Auckland will be represented by the Tauranga crew which defeated West End in the challenge race for the Somerville Shield last Saturday. It is not expected that the Auckland University eight will do as well as last vear's crew in the race for the Hebberley Shield at Wellington. Four of the winning crew last year will again be rowing, but there has been an infusion of new blood, and it remains to be seen whether the crew is as strong as previous combinations. Stiller opposition is expected this year from .ill three southern universities. and the Auckland representatives have a hard race before them if they are to retain the shield. Cambridge University's five-length win from Oxford in the world-famous race on the Thames was not unexpected. The light blues were in training earlier than their rivals, and from the initial stages it was clear that they would not permit their phenomenal run of successes to bo broken without a struggle. The fact that the tune, 21m 6s, was the slowest since rJA> does not necessarily indicate a fallingoff in the standard of university rowing. One critic, in summing-up Cambridge's chances before the race, stated that the crew would prove itself one of the strongest combinations which had ever rowed in the contest, Ihe Oxford crew was reported to be the best from that university since the war.