Rowing

This year the V.U.C. Rowing Club team has been somewhat depleted by the inability of some members to get down to Tournament. However, the crews are strong and most have Tournament experience behind them.

Once again our eight appears to have every chance of success: the new Towns skiff arrived late last year and, with our new Ayling oars, bring our equipment up to a very high standard. The crew to row at Tournament should be: Perry Preston-Thomas (stroke), Mick Winter (7), Frank Crotty (6), Wally Loader (5), Warwick Dent (4), Jack Just (3), Steve Wilson (2), and Duncan Cameron (bow). All members of this eight have had considerable rowing experience, a number in senior crews. However, (as last year's Tournament showed only too clearly) this is not the important factor. The crew of the eight has been training regularly every morning under the expert coaching of Mr. L. Brooker, a former Champion Oarsmen, with some assistance from Mr. T. E. Wilson, who coached the Vic Eight last year.

Provided that this eight can work to gether as a crew, they could be expected to be a very good crew, but after last year when we had a good crew and promised the moon, this year we won't promise a damn thing.

The four will, this year contain two members of the eight, making it P. Mansen (stroke), John Kinder (3), Preston-Thomas or Crotty (2), and Winter (bow). As a result of the date of selection of the eight and the shortage of available members this crew will have had very little training in the four together. It remains to be seen whether they will be able to hit it off for the all-important five minutes.

The double sculls is again picked from the eight, though in this case this is the customary practice. Jack Just will stroke with Wally Loader in the bow. Both have had considerable sculling experience—Just, in particular, after successes throughout the 1956-57 season, was in the C.U.C. double last year.

Finally, Vic. will only be able to enter one women's four in the Tamaki Cup race, though this is due to uncertainty over their Tournament status, not to the lack of members or keenness. This four will be Anna Duncan (stroke), Mary Freeman (3), Diana Spurdle (2) and either Francis Roff or Dorothy Carpenter (bow). Anna, a foundation member of the V.U.C Women's rowing and champion of the cause, has stroked the four in the last two Tournaments and, with Diana Spurdle, has met with considerable success in the last season. Mary Freeman has rowed 3 in the A.U.C. crew last year and is a valuable acquisition for the Vic. crew, having had not only experience but also the benefit of coaching by Eric Craies, coach of the proposed N.Z. Cardiff team, etc. Both Francis and Dorothy are new members and show promise of being useful members of the crew. The four has been training regularly for some weeks now, under the patient and expert coaching of S. R. Wilson. Results are not to be foretold but their main opposition will be A.U.C.