Rowing Avon has good chance at Waihola

Press, 1 March 1982, Page 20

Rowing Avon has good chance at Waihola

Hundreds of rowers from throughout New Zealand will now be at Lake Waihola for the last national championship regatta on the controversial course. Racing begins with heats in most of the 40 events today and ends with the finals on Friday and Saturday. . 4 Some will feel nostalgic and others (mostly long-suf-fering North Islanders) will breathe sighs of relief when the final nationals at this wind-prone lake near Dunedin are over. Future championships in the South Island will be. held near Twizel at Lake Ruataniwha, at present a hole in ground which will be filled with water later in the year. Christchurch’s three river clubs, Avon, Canterbury, and Union were all represented at Waihola during the Otago and Wilson Memorial regattas on February 20 and 21. The Canterbury contingent stayed on for the week and will be borrowing several shells to replace those lost in a road accident last month. All those clubs have good chances of titles in one class or other and there is even the possibility of the Avon men and the Canterbury women pulling off a “first” by taking the champion eights double for Christchurch. Avon’s premier eight is unbeaten in the South Island this year, but the coach, Mr David Lindstrom, is aware that both Waikato and Wairau will be very bard to beat. On February 21 the powerful Waikato eight (with five survivors from the 1981'red coat crew) narrowly beat North Shore in the AnOkland championships with a very fast time of smin 40.6 s for the 2000 m. “That proves a point,” said Mr Lindtrom. "It’s going to be a tough race.” However well the Avon eight performs it should be awarded some sort of prize for looks. Even a prominent Union club official rated it the neatest Avon has had at this stage for years. Avon has actually entered five championship events, taking in the eight, the coxed and coxless fours, and both pairs. ‘ It will not be physically possible to contest all five finals on one day and Mr Lindstrom intends to “play it by ear.” He added: “I’m

confident that well be in the hunt in every final we race.” The former New Zealand Olympic rower said that his premiers had had two-weeks of very heavy training which was now starting to taper off. “Both our crews (the eight and the four) are going faster than last year.” With the same crew of Steve Donaldson (stroke), Les O’Connell, George Keys, and Mark Meates Avon “scared off" most of its opposition in the straight fours at the 1981 nationals. But Mr Lindstrom also seems keen to regain the prestigious Boss Rooster for the coxed fours, won by Avon exclusively from 1974 to 1977 when he was himself a crew member. Avon’s best prospects in other events include the senior four and the fastimproving novice eight which will seek to prevent Wairau's , hat-trick in the event. The lightweight single sculler,Roger Babington, will try out a new boat weighing 25 per . cent less than his old one. * ( The Canterbury club cap-' tain, James Sheehan, says that the womens’s eight, . looking very tidy in recent outings, will be the No. 1 priority. One minor draw- ‘ back was that the crew only took "ownership” on Thurday of a borrowed Haar eight. In both the eights and the fours Te Awamutu (the reigning champion) is considered the only one to beat. Canterbury’s top four will be . tandem-rigged with Jacqui Duncan stroking and Marie , McCoy, Marie Kilbride, and Julie Saul in behind her. Another crew with a strong chance is the Canterbury intermediate coxed pair of Andrew Thorpe and Malcolm Fraser, while the lightweight eight has already made a six-boat final without having to race. Christ’s College should — show up in the junior class while Union is ardently chasing the senior fours title with its combination of Dale Maher, Bob Davidson, Richard Cretney, and Dave Han j I disides. Cretney is a fairly':: recent replacement for Barry Scott, unavailable be-' cause of university field trips.

that senior four will split up into pairs while Maher will also tackle the chain- 1 pionsip lightweight single.. Union’s other representative will be an intermediate coxed pair, beset this week . by sickness.