100 Years of Rowing Celebrated
WRC 1970 8 - Mark Simpson, Tom Reid, Frank O’Gorman, Dave Lindstrom, Dave Molesworth, Noel Mills (RIP), Wybo Veldman, Warren Cole, Karl Johnson (cox).
The Eight may have sat a little lower in the water and the catch may not have been as clean but the heart remained as big and the friendships just as binding when 100 years of Whakatane rowing was acknowledged over Queen’s Birthday weekend.
The past century has seen hundreds of athletes pull on the white singlet with a black stripe around the middle - a piece of clothing that united members of the Whakatane Rowing Club and made them instantly recognisable to their adversaries from around the country.
THE WHAKATANE ROWING CLUB IS STEEPED IN HISTORY.
Since 1913, only three years after a row boat was first seen on the Whakatane River, the club has been a pioneering force in the country's rowing history and has proudly produced a calibre of rower equal to, and higher than many other clubs in New Zealand.
Rowers are a special breed who share a single methodology; catch, drive, finish, recovery - stroke after stroke - kilometre after kilometre - day after day, so to have those who have been intimately associated with the Whakatane Club attending an event like this was always going to be a joining of the like-minded. All the functions were well supported, with over 200 past members, some of whom came from the other side of the Cook Strait or the Tasman Sea, in attendance.
Organised functions over the weekend included;
“Meet-n-Greet” at the club house on Friday night,
“Showcase of Rowing” over the past century at Te Koputu a Te whanga a Toi - the Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre.
Presentation by the Whakatane Mayor to the President of the Rowing Club, Tom Reid, at midday on Saturday,
Dinner / Dance held at the War Memorial lounge on Saturday evening, and
“River Challenge” with brunch held at the club house on Sunday
The club boasts a lengthy list of Olympic medallists, world champions and national title holders, all who share the same memories of dedicated coaches, blisters-turned-to-calloused hands, frosty mornings and scorching days filled with sheer, gut-busting drive and determination to cross the finish line – First!
Names synonymous with the Whakatane Rowing Club, like Cyril Molesworth, who coached the crew of eight in 1970 and 1971, and Tom Reid, who was the coach in 1974 and 1975, came up time and time again throughout the speeches on Saturday night.
Memories were further refreshed with lively titbits from the oldest past-member, Bob Byrne, who coxed crews in the 1930’s, Tom Reid’s stories of how the winning foundations were laid in the 50’s and early 60’s, the glory years in the late 60’s and 70’s as told by Wybo Veldman, the mishaps and misadventures in the 80’s by raconteur Rob Hamill, the hard yakka of Nathan Twaddle in the mid 90’s to 2005 and more recently the trials and tribulations experienced by Regan Barkla, the club’s most recent NZ representative who gave an enlightening speech and was quick to heap praise on her Whakatane coach, Dave Molesworth.
One of the highlights of the weekend, and an emotional one for many, was when the refurbished plywood and canvas eight named “Whakatane”, donated by the Whakatane Borough in 1970, was lowered into the Whakatane River on Sunday morning.
Waiting to step into the boat, with blades in hand, were the original crew that won the New Zealand title in 1970. The crew were Warren Cole (stroke), Wybo Veldman, Noel Mills (RIP), Dave Molesworth, Dave Lindstrom, Frank O'Gorman, Tom Reid, Murray Simpson and Karl Johnson (cox). This same crew won the title in 1971 and then twice more in 1974 and 1975, albeit with some crew changes. As they rowed off, the seat previously held by Noel Mills, was poignantly vacant.
There were many blurry eyes when the “Whakatane” took to the water…
Judging from the volume of alcohol consumed and the stories told, I would hazard a guess to say that everyone enjoyed themselves throughout the celebrations. Thank goodness we had a public holiday on Monday to recover!
By Katee Shanks & Owen Vaughan
