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FIRST ROWING RACE BETWEEN WOMEN
The first exhibition of women's sculling took place on Albert Park Lake in May of 1901. It was part of the gala celebrations for the visit to Melbourne by the Duke and Duchess of York. Prince George was in Australia to open the first Federal parliament.
The women's exhibition was between Cassie McRitchie of Victoria and Wilhelmina Messenger of NSW. The latter was from a very famous rowing family. Her father was Charlie Messenger, a former sculling champion of Victoria and her grandfather was James Arthur Messenger who won the English sculling championship in 1854. Wilhelmina also had a famous brother, 'Daily' who was to go on to become one of the early greats of Rugby League.
This event was considered a major sporting breakthrough for women in Australia.
NZ's ROWING SUCCESS IN 1968
While Australia tasted Olympic victory in rowing for the first time at London in 1948 when Merv Wood won the single sculls, it was to take another twenty years before our Kiwi cousins were to experience the adulation of winning gold at an Olympic Games.
New Zealand sent two crews to Mexico City. They were the much-favoured eights and an almost forgotten coxed four. The remarkable, Rusty Robertson coached both crews.
The coxed four of Dick Joyce (stroke), Ross Collinge, Warren Cole and Dudley Storey, along with cox, Simon Dickie, easily won their first heat. In the semi-final they again controlled the race even though the Italian crew tried to stick with the New Zealanders early in the race. However, they were gradually worn down by the black-clad quintet and the race was won in 6 minutes, 48.6 secs, twenty five seconds faster than their heat win.
The other semi-final was won by East Germany in a time a little faster than the Kiwis but Robertson was not concerned. He knew his team could have gone faster had there been a need to.
Back then, the coxed four was traditionally the first race rowed on finals day and this was the case at Xochimilco, the venue in Mexico City.
The New Zealanders gained a slender margin at the start and they soon established a smooth and controlled rating. At the 500 metres they had increased their lead and everything was going to the plan laid down by Rusty Robertson.
By the halfway mark the lead had become more substantial however the East Germans increased their rating, as did the Swiss.
As the crews approached the stands, New Zealand was still ahead and every muscle was straining on the crew. Dickie continued to bark out his orders.
At the line, the boat with the number four on its bow and the five men in black sped through the finish, relaxing for the first time in 6 minutes, 45.6 seconds. They had won! They were Olympic champions!!
When Melbourne was in the process of bidding for the 1956 Olympics, much discussion took place over the site for both the rowing and canoeing events of the Olympiad.
Consideration was given to the Yarra River, which runs through the Centre of the downtown area. However, it was decided the many bridges that cross this famous waterway would interfere with the lane divisions required for International Regattas. Another venue that came into contention was Albert Park Lake near South Melbourne but it was found to be too short and too shallow. A third facility, which was seriously looked at, was Lake Learmonth, near Ballarat, but while it had an excellent watercourse, it lacked shore facilities. In those days, Lake Learmonth was "out in the shrub" and the costing involved to provide the proper infrastructure, was prohibitive.
Finally Lake Wendouree, also near Ballarat, was selected. The International Rowing Federation chose the Lake even though it lacked the required depth over the length of the course.
The course that was required was 2000 metres long and 75 metres wide. In the lead-up to the Games the local Council and various volunteer groups cleared over 50,000 cubic yards. This was sufficient to provide the required racing and training facilities. A satellite Olympic Village was erected on the Learmonth Road to house the rowers and officials.
Lake Wendouree had ample accommodation for the 72 visiting boats from overseas who had come to Australia for the Olympics. They utilized the boathouses of the Ballarat, Wendouree and Ballarat City Clubs. Special stands were erected to seat 2300 spectators and the course provided for over 50,000 additional viewing points.
The Olympic
events took place from 23 November to 2 December. There were 249 oarsmen
from 24 countries who took part in the regatta.
"Big Jim" Stanbury's rowing style was described by his contemporaries as rough and Bill Beach once claimed he had never seen so much power gained from such bad rowing. Yet Jim Stanbury was one of Australia's earliest rowing champions ranking up there with the likes of Henry Searle, Peter Kemp and Beach himself.
James Stanbury was born on 25th February, 1868, at Mullet Island in Broken Bay. In his youth, the family moved to Nowra and the future champion learned to row on the Shoalhaven River. By 1887 he had relocated to Sydney to join the ranks of the professional scullers and in 1888 he gave notice of his potential by finishing a close second to Henry Searle. This was the race in which Searle set a new Parramatta River record.
Although he had a raw style and appeared to gain all his power from his arms, he came under the tutelage of Peter Kemp. Stanbury soon confirmed his early promise when he captured John McLean's world title in April 1891. He defended this title, successfully, in July 1891 and the following May, overwhelmed the New Zealand champion, Tom Sullivan.
There appeared to be no Australians willing to challenge the big man so in 1893 he sailed for the United States to row against the Canadian, Jacob Gaudaur. Unfortunately, terms could not be agreed upon so Stanbury returned home.
In July 1896, the Australian successfully defended his world title against the English champion, Charles Harding. Following that race, Gaudaur agreed to race Stanbury on the neutral course of the Thames River. The race took place on 7th September, 1896, and the Canadian came up trumps. Stanbury claimed a foul and refused to row out the match at racing speed. This was not received very well back home and when he returned, he was greeted with cool reception.
Stanbury was to again row for the world title in July, 1905. Four years previously, another Australian, George Towns, had wrested the championship from Gaudaur. Stanbury rowed against Towns in 1905 and surprised the champion by regaining the title but in the following year he was easily defeated.
The moustachioed
Stanley was well built and was like a huge ball of muscle. One observer
stated that he looked 'ridiculously out of proportion to his little boat'.
In 1891, James Stanbury's racing weight was 84kg and he was 184cms tall.
He died on 11th December, 1945 and is buried in the Presbyterian section
of the Field of Mars cemetery in Sydney.
The eight-oar crew race is one of the classic events on the Olympic program. It has been contested at every Games since 1900 and going into the Melbourne Olympics, USA teams had won nine of the eleven gold medals contested. In fact, they had won the previous seven Olympic titles.
At Melbourne, the Americans were represented by the Yale crew and on the second day of the Games, they rowed in a qualifying heat. Shock! Horror!! USA came in third behind Australia and Canada. With only the first two finishers going on through to the next round, it meant the Americans would have to row in a repechage if they had any hope of keeping the winning streak of gold medals alive. However, never in the history of the Games had any team won the gold medal after losing its first race.
The repechage was rowed two days after the first race and the Americans won it convincingly from Italy, Great Britain and France. They were now through to a semi-final.
This time they again had to face the Australians but both crews were clearly more superior to the other two teams in the semi. They could have rowed a casual race but instead, decided to pull out all the plugs and race like it was a final. They won easily and were severely criticised by the Australian press for being on some kind of 'ego-trip'. However, John Cooke, a member of that Yale crew said, "We didn't care about criticism. We wanted a psychological boost."
The final was rowed at Lake Wendouree, near Ballarat, on 27th November. It was between Australia, Canada, Sweden and the USA. The Americans trailed until the 1500 metre mark and then increased their rating to an incredible 40 strokes per minute.
The result
was a victory to America with Canada coming in second and Australia, third.
The United States had created Olympic history - the first team ever to
win the gold medal after an opening round defeat.
There are very few oarsmen who have been able to equal the series of world standard performances that British rower, Jack Beresford, achieved between 1920 and 1939. In that period he won three Olympic gold medals and two Olympic silver medals in a variety of boats over five consecutive Games.
Beresford was born in 1899 and in his early years he shone as an international schoolboy rugby player. He dreamt of competing for England in his senior football years but was denied this when he was hit in the leg by machine-gun fire during war service in northern France. He turned to rowing so as to strengthen his leg and joined the famous Thames Rowing Club in London.
His first major victory came in 1920 when he won the Diamond Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta. This was to be the first of four victories in this event.
He went to his first Olympics in 1920 when he rowed in the single sculls event at the Antwerp Games. In this event, Beresford was narrowly beaten by the great American champion, Jack Kelly. The two raced side by side until they were 100 metres from the finish when Kelly surged ahead and won by a mere one second.
Beresford won his first Olympic gold medal at the 1924 Paris Games. He had lost his heat in the single sculls but reached the final by winning a repechage. This was the first time the system of repechage was introduced. He took the gold medal in a time 7:49.2 and defeated the American, Bill Gilmore, by more than five seconds.
Between Olympics Jack Beresford one both of the two famous annual Thames regattas, the Wingfield Sculls and the Diamond Sculls. The latter event was open to the world though the former was restricted to scullers of the United Kingdom. He won both events four times, in 1920 and the period 1924-26. Beresford actually won ten Henley titles rowing in winning eights, pairs and fours.
In 1928, at the Amsterdam Olympics, this great British rower won a silver medal as a member of the Thames Rowing club who finished second in the eights. Again, in 1932, he won a medal when he was in the crew of the coxless fours who crossed the line in the first position.
It was at the Berlin Olympics, in 1936, that Beresford featured in what many consider as Britain's greatest Olympic rowing triumph. Beresford had teamed up with Dick Southwood the winner of the Wingfield Sculls in 1933. They competed in the double sculls and in their heat, were beaten by the German team of Willy Kaidel and Joachim Pirsch. They had to get through to the final by winning the repechage. This they did by about 300 metres.
In the final, the Brits employed a bit of gamesmanship. Firstly, they deliberately false started. Then they caused a further delay by taking off their sweaters.
When the starter's gun went off, the Germans took the lead. But the British pairing caught them at the 1800 metres mark and the two boats went neck and neck for 100 metres. Finally Beresford and Southwood pulled away and won by two and a half lengths.
At Henley, in 1939, the combination of Beresford and Southwood were again starters and winners of the Double Sculls Challenge Cup. All looked promising for Beresford to pick up a sixth Olympic medal in 1940 but unfortunately World War Two intervened.
Jack Beresford
capped off his Olympic career when, in 1952, he was selected as manager
of Great Britain's rowing team for the Helsinki Games. He passed away
in 1977.
When the name Kelly is mentioned within the rowing fraternity, our minds usually turn to the great American rower of the 1930's and father of actress Grace Kelly, Jack Kelly. Without doubt, he is one of the standouts of this wonderful sport.
However, there is another Kelly, an Australian, who rose to great heights as a rower but also achieved fame as an outstanding musician.
Frederick Septimus Kelly was born in Sydney in 1881. He was educated at both Sydney Grammar School and Eton, in England. He went on to attend Balliol College at Oxford.
Kelly rowed in the Eton eight in 1897 and stroked that crew to victory in the Ladies' Plate at Royal Henley Regatta in 1899. He begun to scull at Oxford and won the Diamond Sculls at Henley in 1902, 1903 and 1905. In that last race he set a record that stood until 1938. In 1903 he also rowed in the Oxford eight and won the Wingfield Sculls.
From 1903 he rowed for the Leander Club. Rowing in the eights crew, he won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley from 1903 to 1905 and as a member of the coxless four he took the Stewards' Cup in 1906. He also rowed in a veteran's eight in a competition which was held in conjunction with the London Olympic Games of 1908. That team took out the gold medal.
Contemporary reports of his oarsmanship were glowing. One report stated Kelly had a "natural sense of poise and rhythm that made his boat a live thing under him".
Fred Kelly was also a wonderful piano player. He studied at Oxford under Sir Donald Tovey and often performed at the Oxford Musical Club of which he was President. His musical desire was to become a great player and a great composer. In 1911 Kelly performed back in his native Sydney much to the acclaim of the local critics.
Kelly was
a man of extraordinary vitality and physique. In 1914 he joined the Royal
Naval Division and the following year sailed for the Dardanelles with
the Hood Battalion. He saw service at Gallipoli and was awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross for 'conspicuous gallantry' there. He was killed on 13 November
1916 while leading an attack on a machine-gun emplacement at Beaucourt-sur-Ancre.
ROWING AT THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES
The Commonwealth Games are to be staged in Manchester, England, in July of this year. While rowing is not on the program for 2002, it is timely to examine just how Australia has fared at these Games over the years.
Rowing was one of the original sports on the program at the First British Empire Games held in Hamilton, Canada, some 72 years ago (1930). While Australia had limited representation at these Games, one H.R. Pearce won the single sculls title. The great Bobby Pearce was possibly at his zenith in 1930 and a greater champion, this country has never produced.
In fact, Australia has featured quite heavily when you go through the list of champions in this single sculls event. Apart from Pearce, Herb Turner won in 1938; Merv Wood took out the title in 1950; and Stuart Mackenzie was successful in 1958. In the modern era, Peter Antonie won the lightweight single sculls title the last time the sport was conducted at the Commonwealth Games, in 1986.
Rowing has come and gone from the Games program and after 1930, it was dropped from the London Games in 1934 but reinstated for the Sydney Games of 1938. It then had a continuous run up until 1966 when it was again dropped but made a brief reappearance in 1986 at Edinburgh. (Unfortunately rowing was rejected by the organising committees for both the Manchester and Melbourne Games (2006) but it is to be hoped that future Games will include this popular sport).
In the double sculls event, the combination of Merv Wood and Murray Riley won in Auckland (1950) and Vancouver (1954). These two are an interesting pairing as Wood went on to become Police Commissioner of NSW and the other, Riley, is a convicted drug criminal presently 'on the run' in England.
Also at the Auckland Games, the pair of Walter Lambert (stroke) and John Webster (bow) was successful in the Pair Oar event.
The Four Oars with Cox event has been won by Australia at the Commonwealth Games on two occasions. The first was in Sydney in 1938. That team comprised Stewart Elder, Jack Fisher, Don Fraser and Gordon Freeth with H.F. Kerr being the cox. Following the Games, Gordon Freeth went into politics and became a Federal Cabinet Minister.
This event came Australia's way again in Vancouver. That team comprised David Anderson, Geoff Williamson, Peter Evatt and Merv Wood and was coxed by Lionel Robberds.
The Eights title have seen victory come to Australia on three different occasions. There was the 1950 team in Auckland, the magnificent team in 1962, of which I have written about previously, and the team in Edinburgh in 1986. That team of Batten (Qld), Cooper (Vic), Doyle (Vic), Evans (NSW), Galloway (ACT), McKay (Vic), Popa (Vic), and Tomkins (Vic), and coxed by Dale Caterson of NSW saw many victories in Europe that year and several members were to go on to "greatness" in the form of the Oarsome Foursome.
Women rowers have tasted Commonwealth Games action on only one occasion and that was the last time rowing was on the program, in 1986. In Edinburgh Adair Ferguson was successful in the lightweight single sculls and our eights won the gold medal. However a number of our other female rowers picked up minor medals and we were certainly a force to contend with.
It is to
be hoped Rowing will again find its way back onto the Commonwealth Games
sports program. It is a sport conducted in many of the Commonwealth countries
and has a great following here in Australia.
George Rogers was born on 19th May 1882, in London. He learned how to row from professional oarsmen on the Thames and soon became the national amateur sculling champion and won the Sandow trophy, England's highest sculling prize.
Rogers came to Australia in 1907 and joined the Western Australian Rowing Club in Perth. The following year he won the State sculling title and remained undefeated for seventeen years. He first represented WA in eights at Melbourne in 1908 and stroked the State crew at Hobart in 1910.
Following World War I he again represented his adopted State at Brisbane, in 1920, and next year was selected and stroked WA's victorious crew at the inaugural race for the King's Cup. George also stroked two winning Stewards' Challenge Cup crews at Melbourne Henley, in 1928 and 1936. He was 54 when he competed in the latter event.
On the Swan River, Rogers won thirty-nine State championships in sculls, pairs, fours and eights. His last winning champion eight in the stroke seat was in 1945 when he was 63. His last winning champion eight race was three years later when he rowed bow.
'Old George' was considered to be a bit of a freak by some but his philosophy was simple. "I believe in keeping myself fit and the only way to do that is to stay active", he said in later life.
In 1947, George Rogers was selected by the University of Sydney's department of physiology to undergo tests conducted by the famous Professor Frank Cotton. These tests were carried out to assess the amount of exercise necessary to keep a man fit and well. At the end of these tests, Cotton concluded Rogers was physically superior to the average man of 30.
In 1952, this amazing man won the 11and 1/2 mile sculling race from Fremantle to Perth. It was claimed to be the world's longest and most gruelling race. In that race, he competed against men some fifty years younger.
Because he
was a tradesman, a carpenter, Rogers was originally barred from Henley
Regattas. However, at 55 years-of-age, he fulfilled his lifelong ambition
by racing on the famous course at a regatta organised at the time of the
coronation of King George VI.
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