ROWING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1710, 29 March 1913, Page 12

ROWING.

(By Mercury.) THE YEAR'S CHAMPIONSHIPS. Ring out the Old; Ring in the New. Last Saturday saw a shuffling of championship titjes of a most decided character. In every individual case was the title won by a crew other than tho holders. Thus Inst year Picton won the Fours and Pairs; this year Wanganui Union got this double; last year Wangamii Union won tho Double Sculls, this year Akaro.i; and, whereas last season Stone, of St George's, annexed' the Sculls, this year this race fell to Hadiield, of Waitemata. ' ' : Congratulations are now in order to the fresh batch of champions, and the clubs which they represent; likewis3 condolences to tlio unsuccessful aspirants, whoso oonsojatiou it is that' it is better to have rqwed and lost than never to have rowed at all. To that very too club, tho Wang,mui Union, thp felicitations ' ivill be extended most ringrudgingly, albeit, fine as the'p'erfprmanco .of its representatives was, it fell somewhat short of ? 'Mer-. cury's" anticipation, inasmuch as they lyon only two cbampipnships, -\vhercas hp, "picked' 1 them to capture three. To. the Akti'ron Club also wi(l the glad I\aild bo extended. To. losa a shed and cqmpleto, plant by fire and win a championship' withal in one week'is a performance of a variegated nature that seldom falls to the lot (if a iwing club. Also I): Hadfield, of ' the Waiteinata. Club, the neiy sculling chairipion, mus't'ba meutiqnpd in dispatphes. He not only sculled Veil, but lie rqced veil—not always th? saine thing—and H}9 /doggpd mannerl in which he stuck to his task' of shaking off the' doughty C. E. Stone and that brilliant, youngster, A. Sharp, qf shpws thqt he has' tlio 'needful tenacity pi to combine with his gooq watpr- j maitship and clejin sculling ability-

The Story of 3 Stalwart. •The list of honourable mentions cannot be closed without a reference to A. D. Bayfeildi\the captain of the Star 8.C., and strode of its setiipr crew. The ex ; champion made'w his mind early in the season 'tliat his club was to be 'worthily repvesented in' tlift big event, and carried put his object in tho face of seemingly unsuriiio ( obstacles.' Despite tho absence flf "class" in tho active rowing ranks' of his club, he got together a crs\r of less old-timcis, whose chances of getting , back to fprm looked, to say the. lead of it, decidetUy problpmnticqj. Despite the : fact that his crew, was hardly takeii seriously; he persevered, only to fed that jusf as the cqnibinatipn was striking form'of .sorts'a. 'ago, the bow oat, ex-champion Os\fih|. was forced to. retire through pressure of business. ' No' Booiier >Vas. this set-back remedied by the" inclusion •of W. 11l Brewer, X'ld tilings running smoothly (irain, than,came the break-down- in health of the strike,'. R. L. Evatt, arid tho work was all to do again. ' Nothing daunted, Bayfeild took the stroke seat himself, and was able to manago matters so that Oswin came'li'ack to hfs bow seat arid Brewer moved down to No. 2. '

The work of training steadily on, mostly, on account or the unfavourable weather in town, from the Potono'shed, and it' has only been recently that the little' rowing' that the crew yetk. able -to dp in town forced tho critics to .'sit up and 'take notice. Tho crew wiis undoubtedly "coming back," but still tho sceptics shook their heads and said it would not be able to.'stand the strain of a big race.: ' Then, in tho champion., race, noippeped the foul with Blenhpim, which completely put tho crew out of a ohanco of a place, but,.in spite of this, tho quartet so impressed the, spectators, with it? forth aind strong finishing power that it was.freely stated that,; but for. tlip foul, it must hsve. rowed into 'second p(a'ce. Then on Monday, in the m;tponed senior'race, all its toil and tion, came tho crew's . innch-(Jesery6d success.'. It is trup that on tnis pccasiop tho ■ opposition was wealed somewhat by the • absenco of tho Chflstqhurch Union crew, which fould not wajt oyer, but it is quesjgonable. whether, affeot-. cd tho result. ' Bayfeild and his men rowed an excellent race, and the rowing form displayed was. equal, if not, actually bettor than,- that of any 'of the championship,, aspirants, with the exception always of thp winners. Also the condition of thft Star, men \yas excellent. They ' finished ~. easily the strongest crew, in Monday's race, so the opinion that they, oould still" hps" won eyen -hW thei Veen'. \ip. tp full strength has good reason' to hack it. Now tfiat has got and in foiifl, oiisi woujjl'.likp to' seo. stick 'together, do steady "work thrflugli' the WW lloxt year. thyir pressnVshoiying, on<} cannot help,'tli'inl:|ng' it fo.uljl" bo.'"worth wliile. ' ' ' ■ '' .

The Limit in Regatta Weather. Tho actual racing has "been ■ amply oovered in tli-ft daily, columns. It remains for the present "scribe to -make a general comment on the mooting. Firstly, then, as to the wfather: Vp till the present occasion it has been the proud boast of the Wellington rowing' enthusiast that, whatever the wind, a regatta, can always be successfully brought off ou the harbour en schedule time. . Well, last week's experience shows that, boast may be justified, it- does not cover all the possibilities of the case. It is true. for.'any one wind, what, if the same afternoon brings two different winds, as was the case,'Jast Saturday ? No' regatta committee can ,combat. Nature in_moods like, these. Ai:d illy curious thing, is that it. seems to p|ojVSP, Nature to develop, this contrariness just, at championship, rpgatty day." At Eicton, for cxauipl?, therp aj?' 36jt! calui days in a year—the 365 th is' wiqdy, roughs and regatta day, so at Lake Waihola, Late li'orsyth, r(gl(t though % piece. On Saturday the nprtl\erly .was bad enpqgli, oven without tho, ultimate, Qnu decisjvp interference of the southerly. 11l tho races, with' the sinaller.; fields tho water was rpasontibly gpod, but the outsido \>oats in t^'big %ld events had a bad run.i

Particularly was tlii?, $0 in the Maiden Fours, in which a fine field of eleven crevs started; The outside bpat—the "Stai o"--)iiul cv parlous time, and, despite a bfuvs struggle' \vith''the'elements, could do nogpps at air in a race'in "which, Qn form, they must' have" hqd' a, 'big chance, as.'wis proved later by the success of the stroke'and No. 3 in the"Maiden' Pairs. "It is "questionable, too, ' whether the etning" head wind" did not have its"' effect on the Result pf the Champion Sculls. - It was in every way just tile day for the powerful steady sculler—the man of weight and brayn—and here it was that Sharp was at a disadvantage.' He has not yet attained his full' strength and development —he is npt ye.t years of age—and it was soon apparent tlia,t his. undoubted skill, paoe, and dash wore not sufi\ciei\t recompense for lack of weight at\d povrer. "Hadfield is of a mo,rp sturdy growth. Hp is well kn'it, woll proportioned, and well on, if not over, the 12-stoue mark — in fact, just the make. of man (°r the day —and hp made tho most of his physical advantages. ' One does not wish to' decry his 1 performance in' any way—it was a ytfy fine, display—but one cannot help wishing that it would be possible to 6ce t(ie two come, togpthor on a caljn, still course. The Form of 1913 and Previous Years. Comparisons are proverbially odious, but they are, liard to supprwW During tho vrepk tliey liavo b»sen "cropping up wholesale.;' T'hus, 'how " does this y<Sar's' rowing as, a whplo coniparo with last year's? How does the present Wanganui crew compare with tho Hobart winners'from the same club? Ho.w do .the present champions compare with this Picton and Blenheim combinations? and sp, ad lib.' These'are thc ; three' prinpipal quorios that are being fired off'wherever two or tlireq rowing meii are gathered together, so "ilercur.y" will venture his opinion ou these matters.

As regards the general standard of tho cbaiupionship rowing (sculling is not included ip ' these remark's), it must regretfully bo said tliqt it fell short of tho standard of tho last year or two by a good deal.' Barring the ' winners, there were no crews of the calibre, of the Picton crew of last year, the Blenheim crew of the year before, ' and the Chrislchurch Union crew of both these.' years. Tho pvessnt champions from the, point of view of gpo<! rowing form are perhaps as good as we have seen—quite as pood, for example, as' the combination which won (lie Australasian Four-oared Championship at JHobart tlireo seasons ago.

There is but one difference in the personnel of tho two combinations, H. Sharp having replaced Dustin at No. 2, but .there is a decided improvement nil through the boat in ' the rowing of the crew as compared with its work of the past two ss'asons. Now it is hard to pick a fault—tlio slidework, which last year was poor, is now sound, and the combination' is perfect. The grip and release of the water, the log drive and hand work all seem to defy criticism, so it will bo seen that if the crew lacjts anything it is power. this brings us to the third query: How do*s tho Wnncanui crew compare with its predecessors from Blenheim and Picton? Well, as a purely rowing combination, it docs not compare at all, it is immeasurably superior, but the writer doubts if it could get the pace of Iqst year's crew. The l'ictoii men were a phenomenally strong quartet, and, while their form was not all according to the liook, they made no mistakes that stepped tho boat. They simply tore their blades through tho water, and tore them through at about 40 to the minute, and got exceptional paco owing to their physique and stuninai They were, in ''Mercury s" opinion, the fastest crew tho Dominion has sean during his connection with tho sport, but for precise and correct rowing nifty must yield the palm to tlm. present champions. There is much more that could bo said {m the general aspects of the championship, but lack of ipaco forbids. In all the meeting was a successful one. •Tho arrangements were complete, thanks to the energy of Mr. B. A. Mums, the association's non. secretary) who was untiring in his efforts to surmount the many difficulties that best the path of a regatta secretary. , . Financially the local association is on the wrong, side, but' as this is inevitable when the northerly course is used, a reserve had been built up to face this contingency, and it is understood that the call upon this fund will be smaller than was anticipated, so tfyat oil the whole, despite tho adverse weather conditions, tlio championship regatta 'of 1913 can be written °ff I s a Successful function.