ROWING SEASON

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22405, 29 April 1936, Page 21

ROWING SEASON

PAST YEAR 4 REVIEWED FEW OUTSTANDING EVENTS gAD WEATHER HAMPERS CREWS Generally speaking;, tho past year has jjot been an outstanding one for Auckland oarsmen,'"and several clubs which iflid well in previous seasons have had a ii ean time. The interest taken by practically nil tlie harbour clubs in the maiden events, however, gives promise l 0 f an exceptionally good season next lyear Young oarsmen have predominated'at regattas this year, so a general gtrengthening of tlio junior and senior glasses should result. Bad weather hampered Auckland jtoarsmen for several weeks early in the season, and their lack of training and condition were shown when they competed with crews which had enjoyed lile sheltered conditions of river rowing. It was not surprising, therefore, that only one Auckland club, WaiteWta, registered a win at the first xegatta of the season on Boxing Day. liA. month later, however, the Auckland light maiden four came into prominence with its splendid win at Hanull't</c. West End won the maiden eights Bt the same regatta and It. B Smith, 'of Waitemata, proved that he had ijnore than a remote chance of winning the New Zealand single sculls title by convincingly defeating the title-holder, K. G. Jackson. As the season progressed, better form Vas shown by the harbour crews. The ijjercer regatta saw St. George's to the fore in winning,.the junior fours event. Waitemata established itself in the youths' fours, and a new West' End combination came into prominence in .the heavy maiden' class. At Ngarua[jvahi Auckland scored a convincing win in the heavy maiden race.

The Auckland Rowing Association's championship regatta was held on March 21. Two days before the fixture 'took place tragedy was narrowly averted when the West End Club's junior eight swamped in the upper harbour, and the,; crew was rescued after dark in a cold and choppy sea. The boat was recovered, however, and on the Saturday following the mishap the jcrew competed in one of the most successful provincial championship meeting to be held for many years. Competition was keen, and some of the finest racing of the season was seen on (the Whan course. Arrangements made Jy the executive of the Auckland Rowing Association were complete in every (detail. EIGHT-OAR CONTESTS GREATER INTEREST EVIDENT One particularly notable feature of the season, culminating in two of thp finest races of the day at the championship regatta on the Whau, was the greater interest in eight-oar rowing. £The Waitemata Club was unfortunate in being unable to land its best-and-sbest racing eight in time to compete at Hamilton or Mercer, but its crews Fere well to the fore when the championship events /were decided on the iWhau course. West End, which had a particularly stropg maiden crew, won by a canvas, but in both the junior and (maiden eights good performances were ;put up* by the Waiffemata crews. A further impetus was given to this (branch of the Sport earlier in the year when the chairman of the executive of the Auckland Rowing Association, Mr. C. G. Herdman, made his offer to subiSidise purchasing eight-oar boats. His generous offer will have a far-reaching effect on the development of eight-oar rowing in New Zealand. R. B. Smith, of the Waitemata Club, tipheld the traditions of Auckland oarsmen by bringing the New Zealand single sculls title back with him from the Dominion championships in Wellington. Auckland achieved a further success when/ the Hamilton combination, B. Sandos and J. Flynn, won the pair-oar title. It was disappointing to note, however, that there was no four-oar crew [(apart from the Hamilton senior four), which was considered sufficiently outstanding to represent the province at Wellington. Throughout the season it was evident that there was a definite .weakness in . the senior class, and at almost every regatta the senior events .were the most.poorly supported. Junior races drew slightly better entries, but neither class was as strong as it should have been. INTER-CLUB EVENTS RACES ON WATERFRONT COURSE Ah experiment which proved most successful was the rowing of five annual inter-club events on the same day over the waterfront road course. Much Valuable time was saved, and more interest was taken in the events than Would have been the case if they had been rowed separately. The failure of tbo eight-oar races to come up to expectations on this occasion led ,to .more strictness regarding starting times, which resulted in a muchneeded speeding up of subsequent programmes.

The past season also saw the inauguration of the Jubilee Club, an offshoot of the Jubilee Institute for tho Bhnd. The new club has done remarkably well, and has made splendid progress. Housed in a slied of its own. next door to the St. George's Club, its members are among the most keen and ponsistent oarsmen on the harbour. Ladies' ?rowing has also shown a fcnarked improvement. The first race of the season was held at the Mercer regatta, when crews competed from 'Auckland, Raglan and Mercer. These clubs were represented on tho Waitemata Harbour when the first race for lady rowers to be licld in Auckland Vas decided under the control of tho ffamaki Yacht Club at its annual Xegatta.