THE CHAMPIONSHIP SCULLING RACE. MASTERTON PARK TRUST.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 662, 8 January 1881, Page 2

THE CHAMPIONSHIP SCULLING RACE.

MASTERTON PARK TRUST.

AN EXTRAORDINARY SPECTACLE. WHY TIiICKETT WASBIATKN. Referring to the victory of flanfen ittthe Championship Sculling .Race, .the • European Mail remarks that '.Hanlan's triumph adds another to the viciories oi style, and can not but encourage In England a sedulous attention, to the principles of sliding and the proper use of the. legs and back. Pew were prepared to stains Canadian quietly lie down at full length in his boat, bathe hia face, work his skiff along with one scull at a time, and indulge in various other antics, without, apparently losing any ground. Such performances when competing against an undoubtedly good man, were certainly marvellous, but we cannot Bay they were in very "good taste. We fancy that the one-Bided result is attributable, not to the fact that Trickett is a bad sculler, but that Hanlan is a perfect phenomenon, and incomparably superior to any of his predecessors, or to any other man of the present day. . The special reporter of. the same journal^'• describing the race, Bays ;t-" Trickettjvasm the first to appear upon the river,! As. hex shook Harry Kelly's hand, before embarking in his outrigger, it was noticed that the Australian was trembling violently, and that his face was pale and haggard. Hanlan, on the other hand, stepped-into his boat smiling and confident. He touched, his cap, to the cheering crowd, and pulled away to the starting-boats good-humored and light-hearted as a schoolboy. When the men got in front of the steamers I at onco realised the striking contrast they presented. Hanlan was the picture of rosy health. He.was playful, easy, and self-possessed, and appeared to delight and revel in the whole affairpulling about the river with supreme ease, laughingly striking the water first with one scull and then the other,'but even in this burlesque fashion sending his boat along evenly and fast. Trickett, on the other hand, was palo, serious and determined. He looked painfully, aware of the serious nature of' the business in hand, -and ■was evidently in no humor to give his mind to anything' but the most serious part of the business. Then the accompanying eight-oared cutterß got into position, with Harry Kelly to ateei Trickett, and Bright to direct Hanlan's course. Then the men stripped—or at any rate Trickett' did, for Hanlan rowed in a sleeveless jacket of some dark blue .mate- . rial, which, though it concealed bis chest back, showed off. to great advantage tie powerful throat and splendidly-d§T veloped arms of the Canadian, whose,skjn wore unmistakably the ruddy hues of health.' I turned to. Trickett, and there ,'Baw what to my eyes was an overtrained man-a man stale and fagged with too much hard man whose pallo was. unmistakable, and whoaedull skin seemed to cover muscles grand, indeed, jhjhejr size and proportion, but too wiry-ra man who, in trainers' language, was 'too fine,' and had.'.trained-off.'":: After the first mile, adds the writer,---"the race- was practically over';'(or' Hanlan's IbWws in* no danger, and Trickettwas laboririg'harcj. The expression, of determination on his Sall'ow'face. had been replaced by a'look of despair.. .All could sea that-Trickett, the .Oharapioft of the .World;.' was aifjaten man I The.last three miles, of- the course were covered in one way—Trickett rowed ■ short and without dash-or energy, but still in fair form, and with lots of pluck, while Hanlan went on li'ippy and jolly, ■and as full of tricks and antics as aoircus down. Now lie stopped rowing ajtggethor foran appreciable %e, and let n >3 adversary come up to him; now he kissed his hand to the applauding crowds, or waved his handkerchief with delight; now he leaned right hack in his boat, to the (terror of. his backers and friends; and for the last mile or more (the great Canadian carried on an animated conversation with the English sculler, Elliot, who was alonside in an outrigger practising for the Hop Bitters. Regatta. At last the winning post was readied; the gun was fired, and Hanlan was Champion of the World, having beaten Trickett by three lengths or f seconds, in 96 minutes 12 seoonds. The slowness of the race goes for nothing, as there was ho tide to. Speak of, and for at least three miles the wiuner simply played' with his opponent, It does not look, much of a .beating this three lengths, but beyond doubt Hanlan, if he had rowed his hardest all the way instead of indulging in tricks which were risky and in bad taste could have won by at least a quarter of a mile. Indeed many good judges say he might had he liked been half a mile m front at the finish, So thorough and complete a triumph, over a sculling champion, has seldom, or never been' witnessed in England, and whether or not my surmise be correct that Tricket was stale and : unfit, my conviction emphatically is that Hanlan is far and away'the better man, and would always beat whenever they met in a match oyer foqc miles 'of water, if not indeed • under any circumstances and over any di«r tance. Ifanlan js very much better than I expected to find him, and is, it must be admitted, the best and most accomplished sculler.of the world, past or present. Tridjett is. a good sculler, even in his pre; sent condition, and, but that 'l° tyet &. powerful oarsman, would have rendered a. capital account of himself.; An enormous sum of money has been lost.'by what ia called oyer here 'The Australian Division.' .'■ There Was, I am told, quite a quarter of a million depending upon the result. With this startling.' statement I dismiss the greatest and most important boat race that was ever rowed,"