ON THE RIVER

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16938, 12 January 1923, Page 2

ON THE RIVER

(By

"JASON.”)

NOTES FROM THE CLUBS

FIXTURES. February 10. — Dunedin Regatta. February 17.—Christchurch Regatta. February 24.—Wellington Regatta. March 3.—Tvaiapoi Regatta. The next event of importance to local oarsmen will be the Christchurch Re gatta. on February 17. that date being selected in order to fit in with the Wellington Regatta a. week later. The Vi anganui Regatta may be held in the middle of the following week, with a view to catching entries from the Christchurch clubs that will be represented at Wellington. If this arrangement is Carried out it will provide a nice little racing circuit. As the Christchurch club* sent crews to the Championship Regatta at Bluff, none of them are likely to be represented at the Dunedin Regatta on February 10. As the result- of inquiries with respect to the Tutor-provincial Fours, I have been informed that the original idea was to have the event entirely disassociated from regattas and to decide ir after nhnuol regattas had been completed. giving time to enable crews to i avo practice together before competing. It was through the knowledge of these facts that the delegatus to die C anterbury Rowing Association objected to tlie proposal of the "Wellington Association to eliminate the senior fours from its programme in favour of the Inter-provincial Fours, and on the facts, as stated nbve, the delegates were perfectly justified in their action. Possibly our Wellington friends, like myself, were unacquainted with the exact position, and will not persist with their proposal on receiving the Canterbury Association’s statement. The following places and donations were won at the Championship Regatta:— Awarua.—Six firsts and two seconds. £6O. Union (Wanganui).—One first and two seconds. £SO. Avon.—One first and two seconds. £3O. Railway.—Two firsts and five seconds, £2l. Hamilton.—One first and one second. £l9. Canterbury.—Two firsts. €lB. Auckland.—One first, £l2. Riverton.—Two seconds, £6. I am pleased to note that the remarks 1 have passed on the rowing of the Canterbury Club’s-juniors are en dorsed by an outside critic. “ Rigger ” in the “Southland Times” writes as follows: —The prettiest crew seen at the regatta was the Canterbury juniors (I. H. Brown, E. T. Beaven, S. P Godfrey, R. A.'Morgan). Their style waa perfect and they used their slides in a manner which should be an object lesson to Southland crews. They won their race from about halfway and although Awarua Came at them strongly near the finishing post, the Canterbury crew never altered their stroke and kept driving th£ir boat through the water at the same rate as they start© 1 At present this crew does not appear to be able to “ give her a dozen,” but that will come when they have be-**n together a. little longer. The founda - tion of a good crew is there and all that is required is more time together* Another season and this crew will tako a power of beating. At present even the champion four has nothing on them where style is considered.

The writer referred to in the preeed ing paragraph criticises the management of the championship regatta in a manner which must have made the officials feel very uncomfortable nil they' read his remarks, which were as follows:—It cannot be said that the management of the regatta was good In fact it was a continual muddle all day. There apears to have been a certain amount of friction between the Regatta Committee and the association. and this was carried to a point that reached absurdity. Tt says little j for those concerned that they could not. sink their petty differences and j work together for the clay, and thus en j sure that the first championship re- 1 gatta would be a success so far as management went. This was not the case, however, and the committee and the association worked against each other to a remarkable extent. I am not going to blame either body. bn. foi officials controlling an amateur sport their actions were childish. When the championship fours was postponed the control of the regatta went to pieces and crews were going to the post over an hour behind scheduled time. If regattas are to become popu lar in Southland this must be avoided, as nothing kills a sport quicker than delayed races. No one appeared to bo in charge of the crews and they turned out whenever they liked, so long as they were somewhere near the time appointed—an hour did not appeal | to worry them. At 011 c stage the j crews were running the regatta them selves, and except for the starter an.' j the judge no official could be found • The secretary’s office was empty and j anyone seeking information had a diffi- , cult task to find someone in authority j who could give him the information required. After Monday Southln ;d will have a hard fight to secure another championship regatta, and the blame can be directly attributable t.- ; the manner in which tho fixture was The single sculling championship of Victoria was won by a Bendigo youth pamed M’Gorm, who. until three weeks previous to the event, was a novice. Then he won a maiden and a junior sculls at his first try. He did all lib training on a half-mile pond. Critic-' regard him a.? an Australian champion in the near future. CANTERBURY ROWING CLUB. Things have been quiet- at the Canterbury Rowing Club’s sheds this last wee!. ihe Racing Committee are ar- j rangim:: the crews for Christchurch i Regacrs .1 c.d training will be comiliohced on Monday next. The Club ha? arranged a picnic for ; January 14. Mr Havers has offered to give a series of lectures on coaching, and the first will take place on Thursday next. The Club is to he congratulated on the success of its junior four at the Championship Regatta on New Years j Day. SUMNER CLUB. The Sumner Rowing Club has decided | not to compete at any more regattas j

this season, with the possible exception o- a maiden four at Christchurch, unless the new senile- comes to hand in the meantime. When it. is considered that the club’s news have been racing in a boat, said to he over thirty years old—at one time 1 believe it was tised by the old Christchurch Amateur Club—tliey have done really well. Members, however, have now decided that the handicap is too gTeat for the crew to compete successfully against opponents provided with the latest type of coat. For some time members hare considered the advisahiVifcv of changing the club’s name to the Redcliffs Rowing Club.” and the question will be. considered shortly. Contrary to the general impression the club lias practically no support from the Sumner re si-, dents, at the present time having only about 0110 active and two honorary members in Sumner. It is felt that bv changing the name the club will increase the support and interest from the Redcliffs side of the borough. THE SCULLING CHAMPION. The Auckland “Star” publishes the following interesting account of the career of W. Stevenson, who won the Single Sculling Championship at Bluff the honour having been achieved as the result of persoverance and determination : The amateur sculling championship of New Zealand, which has been held for many years by Darcy Hadfield and was relinquished by him two years ago. when he won the world’s title by defeating Dick Arnsfc at Wanganui, has been brought- to Auckland this year by M. Stevenson, a youth of twenty rears, who was a junior in the Auckland' Bon - ing Club’s shed last year. He won tho title in the championship regatta at the Bluff, beating two tried and seasoned oarsmen in St CJair and Molcsvorth, of Hamilton, as well as three other opponents. It is only four years ejnee young Stevenson, then a rather weedy lad of sixteen years, joined the Auckland Rowing Club, and served a season’s apprenticeship as a cox. Ho was most euthusiaslic about the sport, and was ready to help in any capacity in order to learn tho art of rowing, and. those who took aai interest in him found him an apt and willing pupil. In the course of a couple of seasons in the pairs and fours lie not only became a proficient oarsman, but he improved out of all recognition in physique, defielopiug exceptional shoulder power and furnishing into a well-built man of about* sft Tin, with a rowing weight of about 1501 b. His ambition was towards sculling, and he spared neither trouble nor expense towards this ond, being ever on the alert to learn all he could from the best critics and performers. Hadfield was naturally the fountain-head of wisdom for the Auckland youth who had this bent, and the New Zealand Olympic representative was found only too ready to help along a promising youngster. From him Stevenson got a great deal of useful information, and ho applied it practically, with the lesult that critics in his shed had sorted him out as the most promising sculler Auckland had produced for many years.Stevenson got into sculling competition as early as possible, and two years ago he had his first success in a handicap race at Hamilton, when he beat St Clair, while la.sfc year in a handicap race at the same place he was beaten by only Half a length by Moleswortb. This set him after the championship, and although only rated as a junior last year, he set to work to improve his form with a new to having a shot nt the championship. He went at it systerriaticaUfr, and has had no less than three boats built for him for the event. The first did not satisfy him and the second was accidentally damaged, while the third arrived at Auckland after he had left, accompanied by a special trainer, for the scene of the championship race at the Bluff, where lie was training throe weeks before the event. The boat was transhipped and forwarded to him by his dub-mates, and readied the Bluff in time for use in his final preparations, and in it lie decisively won the championship, heating St. Clair, his nearest opponent, bv .« length and a half. Tt was a fine performance for a lari of twenty >ears. the result- of aptitude, energy and systematic determination. 'What is more, roung Stevenson, who is of genuinely rr odest- disposition, has gained the utmost goodwill among his club-mates and opponents during his rowing career, rnd there has never at any time been a more popular win in Auckland.