ROWING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1599, 16 November 1912, Page 12

ROWING.

IBi "MEECnzir,"] THE DIFFICULTIES OF HARRY pearce; New Zealand's Henley, The honour of conducting the New Zenland amateur rowing championships for the present season ha 6. been allotted to Wellington, and the local association has selected Easter Saturday, 1913, as the deciding day. The programme lias been drawn up .and prize money allotted. The programme, which is published below, 'is' an attractive one, and'this, added to the' fact that the racing is to be held at holi-. day time, should make the meeting the biggest affair of its kind held in Wellington, if not in New iiealaud, Local regattas of the last three or four years Jiave shown JIOW popular the Wellington ' fixture is with i»wi.iig men, and the added attraction of tlie word . "championship" will prove a potent factor in securing outside representation, 90 by all iadi* cations the big regatta Of the 1913 season will be aai event to l)e looked forward to. The Programme. Tho events,'distances, and prize-money are as follow :— Maiden Fours. One mile.-pFiret prize, £9; second, £2. To start at 11.30 a.m. Champion Scuifa. One, mile and a_ lialf.— .First prize,. <£8; second, £2. Noon. Junior Jours. Oho mile and a hall—First prize, JU2s seooad, M.' 12.30 p.m. Champion. Fours. Two. miles.—First pnze, JC3O; second, £10. 1.30 p.m. Maiden Double Sculls. One. mile.—First prize, *£0; second, <61. 2 / Youths' Fours, One mile.—First prize, J£B; second, £2. 2.30 p.m. Champion Double Sculls. One mile and a naif.—First prize, £12; second, £'i.. 2.45 p.m. Junior Fours. On* mile—First prize, *£10.; second, £,%.. 3.30 p.m. Champion Pairs. One milo and a Jialf.— i First prize, £12; second, «£3_. 4 p.®. ■•Maiden Pairs. One mile.—First prize; £Si second, #1, 4.30 p.ip. Senior Fours. One mile and a. half.— First prize, .£l2; second, £3. S.IB p.m. Tho Champion Sculls, Junior FoUra, Champion Fours, Double Sculls, and Pairs,\and tho Senior Fours are to bo rowed in best-and-best boats, all other events in maiden boats as defined by the: N.Z.A.R.A. ' Richard Redivlvus, As was generally anticipated among rowing- men, "Hick.". Arnst's retirement wa.s not absolutely , final. His challenge to row any or all of Harry challengers for the Australian championship, Towns, Felton, ani Padden, .and to concede them 10 seconds' start,. is. a good sporting offer, and" has been .grefcted with much satisfaction' here. It has been felt all along that it is over early for Arus.t to go out of the game, and indications of his return have been eagerly '.Watched for, . *1 ' ' Now that these are. forthcoming, it is to be hoped that he will bo given on opportunity, 6t 6pport'Unities? : -tn6 more the better—of racing himself back to his proper form, so that in. the probable event of Pearce failing to wrest the title back from Ernest Barry, lie -will be able to challenge the champion' with a fair pfos- J pect of doing, himself justice, Moreover, his tactfulneis i : n not worrying Pearce with a challenge is appreciated en this side. The challehger has enough on his , hands in getting into proper champion r ship "fis" and iii raising his stake,, etc.,, without having to worry, about disposing • of invitations to defend his local title— an aspect which one would think might have suggested'itself to each and all of: his trio of challengers., The Troubles of Pcarce. Thfi complication that has arisen round these three -challenges was foreseen • by "Mercury" l sonle -weeks ago, when it was pointed out that if he wore challenged; for tho Australian .title before leaving for England, Pearce would find himselt on . the horns of'a,'dilemma. The position' now obtaining is that if Pcarco declines .to »«r for-the lesser honour within thr>&s. impnths of the receipt of the challenge, he' : forfeits his Australian title, upon. the holding of which is. based his claim to .race' Barry fot tho world- 1 ® shamp.io.nship. On the other .hand, should he de-, cide to.: dispose of the local defiances, it will seriously upset not only h.is training preparations jthß bigger race, but also -his whole He .Sfi. to meet Barry in April, and' in order to lmve the necessary tune at Home, has planned to leave Sydney- about Christmas time. All these matters would require alteration, should he bo forowl to change his mind now. Obviously, our friend Harry Pearce is caught in a cleft stick. Unpatriotic and Unsportsmanlike. Tho attitude of his, challengers 'in putting him in this false position is one that requires 6ome explaining* So far,!' 110 satisfactory explanation has hand,, It appears sirango. that after so many months of silence three challenges should be sent in simultaneously, just when Pearce had hie hand? full of; his othet arrangements. ..The reason given; by tho three is that as Pearce is being ■financed by public money, he should be made to ■prove himself tho best man available helore leaving, and'that recent occurrences ii> connection-with the Northern. Rivers regatta have convinced them that ho is not the best man..- This would ;6een eciuaro enough were it" not 60 -untimely. At the present juncture it places tho three in danger of being labelled bad. sportsmen, and bad Australians, to thus embarrass tlwir fellow countryman cin the eve of Ms departure to endeavour,to regain for Australasia ;fcer lost, laurels, Arnst to the Rcscus.* Arnst has stepped in. tho breach. If the threo are looking. for a race, he has offered them one—and one with a good pecuniary attachment—.£2oo a-side. Moreover, a. substantial handicap to boot, Thus they should now. race Arnst and first beat him off before worrying about the championship title and the right to raco Harry, for it follows that if they, cannot beat the ex-champion with a start of 10 seconds, they certainly liavo no right to stand in another mail's' path.' As matters stand at present,, Charles Towns has accepted .Axnst's challenge, with ,one ; , condition, viz., that tho 10 seponds be allowed at tho Start. "!Diclc," evidently in anticipation that he might ha™ to face All throe, very wisely; • stipulated . that it should be deducted from tho finishing times, as ho was taking no chance? about letting the three beats get away in front of him and blocking hini in, However, if Towns is tho only acceptor, no doubt they will como to terms in this small matter. Local Matters, The only local event of importance during the week j[at the time of writing) has been the tac'ing of a heat by the Star Club's senior fours. The competing crews were those stroked by Holmes and Turnbull, and as-these combinations have been looked to from the first to provide the ultimate winner, much club interest was evinced in the meeting, Tho race resulted in a win for Holmes, whose creVs condition stood them better than did their adversaries'. For half the distance tho race was a good one, but at the business end the winners wfire somo throe to four lengths clear. In the winning boat, .Holmes, and. Tomlinson, No. 3, towed'detormined races, albeit the stroko'B.work was.marked by a tendency to get short in the water before the rigger—a habit which if npt checked bid? fair to spoil an otherwise good and effective, oarsman. In tho losing boat, the best work was dono by Barron ftt No. 2 —in faot, the veteran's display was easily the best in tho raco. He was ably assisted by Brewer, oa No. 3 feat, but the quartet' ■evidently found the distanoo too'far for them, It is a fairly safe prophesy, that Holmes will win this evont right out now—even if ho has not done so before this appears in print. The Junior Four final is still to bo rowed. Tho crews left in are those stroked by M'Kay and Marin), The latter is away from (own oil business, Which is delaying tho final settlement, but a day bt so 01 calm water will See this and the senior event wound up; and a serious start mado with the training for the-Fitfc-gerald Fours for which tea crews havo been" selected. ■