THE WANGANUI REGATTA

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 55, 11 March 1881, Page 2

THE WANGANUI REGATTA

(By our Special Reporter.) The above event took place on Wednesday last. The Foxton crewa reached | Wanganui on Tuesday morning, and the same day the j»niors went for a spin on the river. The Union Club kindly allowed the Foxton Club to house the boats in their shed, ami exercised every possible kindness to the visitors. The weather on regatta day j was beautiful. The day was warm, but ths j heat was tempered by a light breeze, whilst the river was perfectly smooth throughout tha day. The atteudauce of the public was very thin indeed throughout the early part ot ihe day, but about two o'clock the people be«au to roll up, though the fair sex predominated. At the time the senior outrigged face was rowed there would probably be between two and three thousaud persons present. The steamer Manawatu was anchored as the Hag ship just below the winning, post, but only a very few were aboard her, as the races could be seen far better from the shore. The excellent baud of the Wellington City Rifles (the same as visited the Foxton regatta) were on the steamer, and played selections during the day, whilst the Wanganui Volunteer Band was stationed on the bank, and played in a most creditable manner, the bands performing alternately. The course for the matches was from a point abo-< c the railway bridge at Aramoho to the winning p^st, jusfc below the Wanganui Hospital. It was thus almost a straight course. Tho river is admirably adapted for rowing purposes. The following is a list of the events : — 1. Maiden Race : Four-oared Inrigged boats ; prize, £6. Only two boats started — the Wanganui Rowing Club's Rata and Union Club's Maiden, both Wanganui boats. It was won by the Rata. 2. Scullar's Race, for scullers who have never won a prize of the value of £10. Prize, £5. Although four boats were entered f-r this event, ouiy two started. Mr Anson, the starter, is a model of punctuality, and made a rule that when r.wo boits were at the starting post afc the hour fixed for tbe race, he would allow only five minutes' grace. &In this in.tauce he waited the five minutes, and then Batkiu, of Wellington, and Braithwaite, of Wanganui, being the only two ready, he sent them off, notwithstanding that the other two men, O'Donell aud Bates, were in sight. The race was won easily by Batkiu. 3. Senior Fours inrigged ; 2_ miles. First prizrf, £15 ; second prize, £5. For this were three entries. The Foxton Club's M-mawatu — Howe (stroke), J. Symons, W. Collins, J. Collins, Joe Collins (cox.); Union Club's Maiden — Bassett (stroke), Garner. J. Roscoe, F. Roscoe ; Wanganui Club's Rf ta— Powell (stroke), Wheeler, T. Cummins, Miller, Syer (cox. ). Although the three boats were entered, only the Manawatu aud Rata raced. One of the Maiden crew being sick, they were doubtful of starting, aud only at the last minute determined to row. They accordingly \vent up the river, but when about six or seven lengths below the starting post, the starter so »t the boats away. The crew of both the Manawatu and Rata wished to •vaifc for the third boat, and the action of the starter in sending fche boats away when the Maiden was only a few lengths from the starting post, was generally condemned is a piece of caddishness. The boats got •i way to a good start, but the Foxton crew were more than a match for their adversaries, and won the race easily by six lengths. 4. Junior Fours, outrigged ; IJ miles. First prizo, J. 3 ; second prize, £2. Prizes <o be given in plate. For this race only Vvn boat* cime to 'he starting post, viz , .Manawatu Rowing Club's D dly Varden — Burr (stroke), G Gray, W. Robinson, and C. Symons ; Wanganui Rowing Club's Tigur Lily — W. Smith (stroke), Allison, Gower, and Woon. This was a capital race throughout. The Foxton boat was not steered so well as fie Tiger Lily, and consequently the latter had an advantage, still the Dolly drew steadily ou her opponent, and the last part of the race was most exciting. Both crews worked as if for life, but the Wanganui boat maintained her advantage to the last, and passed the judge about ten feet in front of the Foxton boat. 5. Sailing Race. First prize, £5. By some oversight the course was not stated on the " c'recfc cards," and consequently >ur reporter did not see anything of the sailing race. Ile heard later in the day that the course was right away from the ipectators, being from the town bridge towards the mouth of the river. Mr Liddell's boat, th- Thistle, was entered for the race, but owing to the person who was expected to sail her being unable to obtain leave of absence was not sent to Wanganui. 6. Inrigged Fours, for men not over 10 atone; first prize, £7; second, £3. For this race three boats started, the Manawatu, manned by Messrs Howe, J. Collins, Gray and Burr, and two Union Club boats —Maiden and Transit.— lt was won easily by the Foxton boat, which was never pushed. 7. Junior Fours, inrigged. — First prize, £7 ; HPcond, £3. For this there were three ."•tries, the Manawatu, Rata, and Maiden The Foxton crew was the same as in tho outrigged race, excepting that G. Williams took the place of C. Symons. The Rata junior crew was the same as pulled the Tiger Lily in the outrigged race. The Maiden unfortunately broke an oar at the start, and was consequently out of the race. The other two boats pulled steadily, but the Tiger Lily slowly drew away from her opponent, and won by two and a-half lengths. This victory was very popular with the Wanganui people. 8. Champion Four-oared Outrigger Race ; •2h miles. First prize, £25 ; second, £5. Ouiy two boats started for this race, the Dolly Varden and Matai. The latter is the new boat just built for the W. R. Club by Mr Cumirina, of Waneanui, and is a capital piece of workmanship. Her slides work with marvellous smoothness, and sho is in every way superior to the Dotty ! Varden, which is getting rather the worse for age. Tlie race was a most exciting one. The hopes of the Wanganui men were built i upon their new boa\ and it was evident I that they were determined to fight hard ! for this race. A capital Btart was effected, I

and after the boats had raced half a mile they reached the railway bridge. They had been racing "neck and-neck, ' but in going under the bridge, the Matai got au advantage of half a leugt . Howe put on a spurt, aud got along-iie the Matai, but nufortunately at thia point his oar cracked. They still stuck to their work, however, and the two boats kept dead alongside each other, the Foxton boat pulling 40 and the Waa<*anui loat 33. There was juts a ripple on the water afc the time. Once or twice the two boats sheared over towards each other, and on one occasion there was imminent danger of afoul. This did not occur, however.- The superior knowledge of the river of the Wanganui men now came to their assistance, for while they steered their boat straight across the river towards the winning post, the Foxton boat kept close in to the bauk, too close in fact, and consequently had further to go. When the boats got together for the straight run down to the post, the Matai was a geod three lengths ahead of the Dolly. Howe a<_in gave his men the word, and as there was only half a mile to go a frightful race ensued. The two crews worked nobly. On the bank the scene was one of intense excitement. Carriages, buggies, horsemen, and hundreds of people on foot all foßowed the boats or kept beside them, screaming, yelling, shouting, cheering, racing along to watch the final contest. The loudest cheers were of course for Wanganui, but a number of Foxton people kept gallantly to their favorite crew, and cheered them on, following them down the river. Their hopes increased when with a splendid spurt Howe got even with the Matai " Foxton wins !" shouted huudreds,. and the excitement became still greater. "Keep up, Matai !" cried the partisans of the red aud black. The boats were now racing on a dead level, and kept so for several hundred yards, but as they were Borne fifty yards from the judge's stand, the Foxton crew stopped rowing, as the stroke called out, "My oar's sprung !" Tho men appeared to become unnerved. They stopped dead, and the race was lost. The next instant the gun was fired amidst the cheers of the Wanganui people, who were delighted with the victory their men bad at laßfc gained. Tho troubles of the Foxton men were not over, for as they paddled alongside the bank they leaned over and their boat upset. Tbey got out of the water none the worse for their "dncking." There caii be no doubt that the Foxton men made a great mistake in contesting the " ten-atone" race. Burr and Gray had to row the junior inrigged race directly after the ten-stone one, and of course were not in a lit state for the second one. The same remark applies to Howe and J. Collins as regards the champion outrigger race. Instead of taking part in the ten-stone race, they should have saved themselves for the big event. My impression is that had the ten-stone race been left alone by the Foxton boys, they would have won both the juuio inrigged and the champion outrigged. Hitherto the steady " slogging " pace of the Foxton boatduriugthefirsthalfmile has invariably outwinded and outpaced all opponents. On Wednesday, in the outrigger race, they were not able to run away trom the Wan anui boat at the start, first, because the Wanganui boat was better than the Dolly Varden, and secondly, because the Foxton stroke and bow oar were not so fresh to their work, as they should have been, having rowed the tenstone race only an hour or so before. /. nother_ feature was that having a boat alongside or ahead of them was an entirely newexperience. They have been so used to watching their opponents behind, that when the Matai got ahead they kept looking round to see how they were getting on instead of watching the stroke, thus making their rowing at the end unsteady. 6- The last race on the card was called the Volunteer Race, the Fire Brigade manning the Rata and the Rifles the Manawatu, lent by the Foxton Club. The Rata obtained the prize, £o.