ROWING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16580, 22 February 1928, Page 3

ROWING

L.V.A. SHIELD REGATTA KEEN CLUB RIVALRY (Notes by “Slide.”) In tho course of the next fortnight, crews from Poverty Bay and Gisborne rowing clubs will visit Wuiroa, for the annual competition for the Licensed Victuallers’ Association Shield, now held by the Wairoa Boating Club. This trophy lias been eonipoted for annually over a considerable number of years, and while the principal rivalry in the past lias been between Poverty Bay and Gisborne, the Wairoa club has come into the picture to some purpose since the war, and has held the trophy for two years in succession.

The history of the shield has been one of some interest, and some of the contests conducted in. the past have been worthy of wider publicity than they received. Oarsmen maintain their sport, under recurrent financial difficulties, mainly due to tho fact that they can take no “gate” at ;fny of their regattas or dub races, and have to bear the burden of plant purchases and repairs almost entirely out of their own pockets. The fact that the sport has been kept so lively in the jurisdiction of the Hast Coast Association, despite the financial difficulties and the impossibility of sending crews frequently to participate in the big regattas,’ is a source of much satisfaction to those connected directly or indirectly with the clubs, and the smallest regattas of the domestic type, such as the L.V.A. Shield competition, give opportunities for a display of interest that is encouraging to the oarsmen. That the competitions do nob lack interest is very evident to those who witness the racing, for on regatta day Wairoa residents turn out on masse to follow the course of the contests. (Similarly, at Gisborne, when the races were held on tho Taruheru course, hundreds of old members of the respective clubs and interested civilians watched the events from the vantage points along the river. CONDITIONS OF RACING It. is 100 early to venture opinions upon the chances of tho respective clubs in the forthcoming regatta. All races for the L.V.A. trophy are powed in four-oared craft, the competition being divided into four classes, viz., seniors, juniors, lightweights and youths. The crew winning the senior race scores three points for its club, and each of tho other races counts two points'; thus it is impossible for a tie t-o occur in the matter of points scored, no matter how many crews are engaged. Tho senior event is the crucial race of the competition, for a. success in this division gives a club an excellent chance of appropriating tho shield, and consequently each of the clubs concerned endeavor to boat a. senior four of high quality. This season will see only two senior crews engaged, the Gisborne club lacking oarsmen of the necessary weight to rival the crews of tho Poverty Bay and Wairoa clubs. This condition has obtained since 1925, when the. senior race fay between Poverty Bay and Gisborne, a close contest resulting in Poverty Bay’s favor. Two years ago Wairoa sent a senior four to contest the shield, and scored a surprise win against Poverty Bay, who in the following season suffered another defeat on tho Wairoa River. Not one of last year’s crow is available for this season’s senior four to represent Poverty Bay, tho club having suffered a heavy loss in experienced personnel; however, the senior four recently selected should make a good bid for* tho principal race at Wairoa, and the club believes that among the other three crews to be boated in the respective divisions, it will be able to produce another winner. Its best chance seems to lie with the seniors and lightweights. WAIROA CLUB’S STRENGTH

Wairoa will put out four crews) one in each division of the regatta, and from early reports will defend tho shield with a good chance of success. Gisborne has only three crews, and appears to be competing this year merely in order to maintain the continuity of th e competition. This club was a bit unlucky in the matter of its new boat, which failed to materialise during the year, though an order was placed ’and accepted; the crews will therefore race in a 16-year-old boat; which under rough-water conditions will place them at a disadvantage. However, tho crews are not to bo despised. and if conditions are suitable on tho Wairoa River, they may effect, a surprise. Tho date of) the regatta is March 3, and all crews selected by the respective clubs are now training assiduously, dqing fast work on the local river-courses. As the day of tho competition alpproaches, a decided advance in interest is likely to develop.

THE NEW CHAMPION BERT BARRY’S RECORD r n.'f- ■»'• ' I r. Bert Barry may well, be called the scion of a rowing family. He is the eldest son of W. A. Barry, who was champion of England in 1898, and the nephew 0 f Ernest Barry, who was champion of the world from 1912 to 1914, and then again iri 1920. Four days after Bert left England for Vancouver, his brother, Lu, won tfio ©oggett’s coat arid badge, a four-milo English, classic on the Thames, from London Bridge to Chelsea, making the fourth Barry to win this honor.' The race is open.only to apprentices in their 1 last year, so that a sculler has only one chance. Bert’s father won the event in 1891, Ernest, in 1903, and Bert in 1925. y

“H-AtV.'was born on April 8, 1902. At the age of 8 years bis father took him in, hand and began to teatoh him the rudiments of sculling. He wt>u his first major race in 1920, the Putney coat and badge. In 1921 he won the Kingston coat and badge, and in 1922 the Staines diamond jubilee challenge' shield from a field of 19. He was scratch man in this event, and was made scratch in England from that year on. He next added the Staines eastern handicap to his list, leading home a field of 18 in 1924. In winning Jim Dqggett’s he beat B. Barber in tint filial, setting a

new record for the event despite the fact that he finished with a damaged shell. He lost the fin of his craft when he hit an obstruction during the course of the rase. His time was 2t5 minutes as compared with the record 26. Giving the limit man 45 seconds and the nearest to him 10, Barry won the George Dunbar handicap from an entry of 28 over a, one and three-quarter mile course. Hammersmith to Putney, in 1925. He ‘gave G. Green, winner of Doggett’s the next year, 25 seconds, Bert Bitten, winner of the Hammersmith coat 'and badge, 22 seconds, and J. Phelps, Kingston* coat and badge winner, 18 seconds. While never beaten from scratch, Barry lost the Tyne sculling handicap over a half-mile course, by 2ft to T. Brannon. This was in the semi-final. Brannon proved the ultimate winner in a field of 125 competitors. Barry stroked 28 (consecutive wins in fours and eights, representing the Barnbridge Rowing Club. In all these crews Z. W. Coles, his trainer, rowed No. 3 in tho fours and No. 7in the eights. Two days before leaving England for Canada, Bert stroked Barnbridge eight to victory for the open eight-oared championship of England at Putney regatta. Coles was in bis customary No, 7 position.

FIRST-TIME DEFEATS Bert Barry’s victory over Major Goodsell > for the world’s sculling championsbipj coming after Goodsell’s decisive victory over tire Englishman on Labor Day, is not unusual in that, only -two scullers in the history of the - world's title event have succeeded in winning on their first'crack at Nearly all of them were badly beaten in their initial attempts, Beach and Hanlan were the only men to score first-time victories, tho former, an Australian, boating Hanlan on the Parramatta arid tho latter accounting for Trickett on the Thames. Ernest Burry, the new champion’s uncle, lost to Dick Arnst, the Now Zealander, by 10 lengths in his first attempt at the title. This was in 1911. In 1912 he came back to beat Arnst by just as much to carry off tli'o crown.

DOUBLE SCULLING DOUBLE G.R.C. COX CUP FINAL Winning the final of the A. .f. Cox double-sculling cup series Inst evening, a member of the Gisborne Rowing Cl ill) •completed a “double” that has no parallel in the recent history of rowing in tliis district, having already won the T. it. Gordon double-sculling series from scratch, which mark he occupied in the series just completed. The opposition was less formidable than in some previous seasons, but in both series the finals provided extremely hard-fought races.

Last night’s final race of the Cox doubles was rowed on still water, on the peak of the tide, the conditions favoring tlieli scratch pair, G. 0, Jones* and W. Ricketts, rather more than their opponents, W. Ppcoek and L. Snowsill. The latter received a handicap of 6sec, and in a faster race with the tide would have been a, mor| difficult proposition even than they proved. They made good use of their handicap, however, and were two and a-half lengths out when Jones and Ricketts were scut away. The latter pair made up over half a length in the first two dozen strokes,Jnß in swinging out lost- some of their Weigh, and on the long run between Reliance street and Derby street bridges they bad over two lengths to recover. Two sprints brought them almost to level terms at Derby street, and in a hard-rowed finish the most experienced stroke quickened up and forged ahead, to win by nearly a length. 1 . The losers made an excellent impression, foi* considering their lack of experience in the doubles they smiled well and extended the'r opponents to the full. The bow man'in the winning boat also showed skill and determination, and responded well to the call for a sprint at the finish. A number of enthusiasts are engaged in training for the Buscke Cup singlesculling series, which will be disposed of prior to the regatta races on March 7). This series is to he handicapped, and will be conducted over a course between Roebuck road and the clubhouse.