AQUATICS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 772, 17 December 1886, Page 13

AQUATICS.

(special to united press association.).

London, December 11.

Hanlan is in good condition,, and iff l delighted at Beach accepting his challenge to row on the Nepean River December 13. Hanlan has sailed for New Xork. BEACH AND THE CHAPIONSBIP. Beach allows it to be understood (says the Melbourne Argus) that he is pretty well satisfied to resign the championship unless Hanlan should come to contest it. He will row Hanlan at any time, whether the championship is at stake or not, as he i» anxious to once more prove that he can beat him. Beach regards Neil Matterson as the coming man, and composedly looks forward to the time when he will have to resign his place tb him. If Matterson teats him he says, they will be as good friends as ever, but he will put off the beating as long as possible. He thinks he has had a good innings, and that it would not be a good thing for one man to hold the championship too long, even if advancing years did not put art end to his supremacy, but he wonld be of quite a different opinion if Hanlan put in a claim to the championship! Beach expresses the belief that Hanlan is not as good a sculler dow as Gaudaur and Teemer, and that if Hanlan had meant to bring about a match with a view to> reversing his defeat on the Parramatta he would have put in an earlier appearance in England than he did. Apropos of Hanlan’a pretensions to the championship, Mr Joseph Thompson has explicity directed Mr Deeble to send a cable message to England offering Hanb* £250 for expenses and £SOO forfeit money as the conditions of a match for £IOOO. between Beach and Hanlan, to> be rowed on the Parramatta river. Beach adds a little to the story of hi® great struggle with'Gaudaur. The American he says, was as fresh as he could be after along spell. He (Beach) was as fit and well as he could be after having been- so long in training and rowing so many matches, but he had not the elastic vigor which marked his condition when he rowed Hanlan on the Parramatta. Still, he does not wish todetract from the credit due to Gaudaur, who, besides being a thoroughly good and game oarsman, is a thorough sportsman.. Beach says he tried to get in front, as he always does, bnt Gaudaur forced him to his fastest pace to enable him to keep his lead. Then the only question was who would crack first, and when he stopped the first time Beacht thought he was beaten. It was only when Green told him to look at Gaudaur that h& found that the latter was so exhausted that he was scarcely getting his boat to move, and. after Beach had stopped a few seconds th&. American was only a length ahead.. This gav» him new courage. ‘ I will have another go at him,’ thought Beach, aDd on bending again to his sculls he got up alongside* Gaudaur with so much ease that he kaew ha had him beaten, and then he stopped again, but only for a rest before taking the decided lead which he maintained to the winningpost., If the latter part of the race had been done at anything like the customary speed it would have been considerably the fastest on record. As it was done in fast time notwithstanding that the last stretch was merely : paddled over, it was no wonder, Beach says, that he and his opponent were rowed to a : standstill, but people in England, he admits, were never convinced that he stopped from. . exhaustion. Gaudaur has not, so far asBeach knows, any intention of coming tc* Australia to row, but he said he would like, to tempt Beach to go to America. Beach remarked that when _ he went to England the rowing men there thought they could teach him how to row, but they bao. not done so. He had a style of his own and. he still kept to it, and he naively avers that it has pulled him through pretty well so far. In his opinion English scullers am only fifth-rate, and he places Gaudaur, Teemer, Matterson, Ross, and Lee m the order named in front of Bubear. The foul , which took place in the Bubear match dea-

troyed Beach’s favorite boat, and he does not consider that the new one which he had built suited him quite so well, as he did not ■have it long enough to enable him to adjust the gear to a nicety for the race with Orau--daur, especially as he did not think the American was as good a maxi as he turned out to be. The chief reason why Beach is reluctant to row any more—always excepting Hanlan is that he has grown so stout since leaving oft training that he is unwilling to try toTeduce to his old weight. He thinks that he will never again scale the 12st 61b which while he was in England he regarded as his proper racing weight. He is about 14st 61b at the present time. He is going to Sydney to settle down, but what business he intends to follow he has not yet determined. '**■

The Wellington Bowing Club took advantage of the change of wind to row off the final heat for the “Young Trophies” last night week. The course was from Point Jerningham to the Te Aro Baths, distance one mile, and the crews were stroked by J. W. Bickman and G. B. Wylde respectively. Mr John Young acted as starter, and both crews got away well together. Opposite Oriental Bay, Bickman ' had a lead of two lengths, but, by spurting, this was reduced by a bare length at the finish. Mr George Cummins acted as judge. The crews were composed as follow : —A. Petherick (how), J. L. Bell (2), W. Bridson (3), J. W. Rickman (stroke), and S. Waters (bow), W. Murdoch (2), G. Morial (3), G. B. Wylde (stroke). This makes the third consecutive time Mr Bickman has stroked the winning crews in the Club fours. Another set of fours for trophies to be purchased by the Club are now being arranged to be rowed off early in the new year. It will be noticed that both Wanganui and Nelson Boating Clubs have adopted the same definition of an amateur oarsman as that drawn up by the Wellington Eowiug Club in February last, a fact which is highly satisfactory to the latter club. The Wellington Eowiug Club will not be represented at the Nelson regatta. A party of five gentlemen, members of the Star Boating Club, who were out boating on Sunday, had rather an unpleasant experience. The party had gone as far as Petone, and were coming back to town, but owing to the strong wind and sea very little progress could be made in that direction. Finding that little headway could be made, they decided to beach the boat, which was accordingly done with some little difficulty. ' The party afterward returned to town by train. Several heatsof the Star Boating Club’s races name off on Wednesday evening. In the final heat of the junior pairs the crews were Morrah (stroke) and Hutchinson (bow) against Evans (stroke) and Johnston (bow), the latter crew getting the best of a good race. In the final heat of the Club’s junior fours Cooper’s crew, which was as follows : Cooper (stroke), Gibbon's (2), Tripe (3), Hirschberg (bow), beat by five lengths E. N. Barraud (stroke), Seed (3), L. Hasell (2), and Treadwell (bow). In the Club fours Bendall’s crew beat Bucholz’ crew by three lengths. In the senior trial fours Batger’s crew beat Barton’s by six lengths.