Interview Series - Tom Reid
“There was about 15 guys who turned up to our meeting in Ferry Road and after I outlined my programme there was an instant response to get stuck in and see how fit we could get. Everyone remembers those runs up Mokorua Gorge, over the top, down the Ngati Awa farm hill, over the stream, up to the trig station and back down the same track. If you arrived late as Warren well remembers you had to catch up by the time you hit the top of the gorge. ”
— Tom Reid
TOM REID
How did you start rowing?
My Dad Tom Senior was rowing at the club at the time and he took both Ray and I down and taught us how to cox.
What was your first crew and who was in it?
There was a High School four training to compete at the Head of the Harbour regatta in Auckland. I wasn’t in the crew but one of the boys didn’t turn up to practice one day and to put it mildly coach Cyril Molesworth was much displeased. We all knew what happened when Cyril got angry he would storm out to his Ford V8 pickup truck, crash it into gear and tear off in a shower of flying gravel. He was off to the boys home-where is Johnny(not his real name)-his mother said”he is still in bed-shall I get him up?” NO says Cyril- leave him there he’s fired! That is how Tom Reid started his stellar winning career. The crew of Ray Reid,Barry Cave, Brian Slipper, me and Neil Reid(cox) stunned the Aucks by coming from down country and winning this prestigious race.
Who was your 1st coach?
Cyril Molesworth. When Cyril arrived in Whakatane Bert Norman was the club captain and although club members competed at local regattas it was with rather mixed success. Cyril took over the coaching role and made it quite clear if he was going to spend the time with his crews he wanted them to train hard and win races-not just compete.
Who at that time was your sporting hero?
Don Rowlands and Jimmy Hill were the 2 top scullers at the time and they had a huge tussle every time they raced. This impressed me immensely and made me determined to have a go at sculling. The club was mainly active in sweep-oar rowing at the time so I decided to give sculling a go.
You and brother Ray teamed up with 2 novice rowers from the Board Mills Baden Watkins and Mick Gosling to compete in the Business House race on the Tamaki Estuary course in around 1955. You won this race and competed again a few times….tell us about this?
This race in Auckland was called the Thompson Memorial Cup and for years had been won by crews from Mason Brothers. Having already been up and stamped the Whakatane name on the Auckland rowing scene Ray and I decided to get Baden Watkins and Mick Gosling from the Board Mills and give it a crack. The rules stated you could have 2 experienced rowers but the other 2 had to be novice rowers. We won it with this crew and had a few other tries as well –it was a good way to get new rowers into the sport and Baden and Mick rowed for the club for many years.
How did you and Dave come to be in a double sculls?
New boats had to be ordered from England and it was a huge effort for the club to raise funds to get boats good enough for members to compete in decent racing craft. Cyril decided he would buy a double sculls himself and he could say who could row in it. He offered it to me and Dave and said he would coach us to a winning standard. We raced against the Watkinson brothers at Mercer who were at the time NZ title holders and we came second by 6 lengths. Bloody Hell said Cyril – you are just useless! I pointed out-that second was still OK –the other crews were a long way back. Don’t know if he was very impressed with that explanation. He then took the boat off us so we had to row in a new Sargent & Burton that had just arrived. We went on to win both the double and pair at Karapiro.
Given you have rowed in most boats at NZ championship level –what is your favourite event?
I just loved rowing in the 2 seat of our champion eight. One of the measures of how well you are moving the boat is when you are able to “clear the puddles” where by the time the stroke blade is going into the water all the puddles have gone past his blade - we used to be able to clear the puddles in 6 strokes-quite remarkable. The other thing I remember is in the two seat you have the “feel” of how the boat is running and I swear at times the bow was lifted so far out of the water the skin of the shell under my seat was in the air. I just love that boat still sitting in the ceiling of the clubrooms and when I look at it I still get that marvellous feeling.
What was your BEST race?
My best national race was with Dave winning the champion pair and champion doubles at Karapiro as the first of our New Zealandtitles.
My best internationalrace was the one Warren Cole often refers to. In 1967 there was an internal tour of NZ vs Australia for the Ampol Trophy. Warren did not get a row in any of the 4 tests but wemade up a scratch crew of Warren, myself in 3,Noel Mills in the 2 seat and the Aussie sculler Peter Edwards(in the bow)who Noel had beaten earlier in the day. The crew just “clicked” and we ended up beating not only the Aussie four but also the official NZ crew by a narrow margin. Warren attributes this race and his WhakataneRowing Club teammates performance as the catalyst to being invited to the 1968 Olympic trials and selection in the 4+ which went on to win agold medal at Mexico.
Another race on the international scene that gave me great satisfaction was teaming up with son Gary and winning the masters doubles at Henley.
What was your WORST race?
1967 at Lake Waihola. The wind was blowing and the lake was too rough to row the singles title race so the officials postponed the race for an ½ hour waiting for reasonable water. Conditions 30 minutes later were still no better but they decided to race anyway.
My arms tied up in the rough conditions and Dave finished up the winner. …… Bugger!
You and Dave had a trip to Henley and Europe –what races did you have?
We raced at Henley and at the World Champs in Amsterdam and a few other regattas. We really didn’t do very well and I realised although we were champions in NZ we were really behind the eight ball when we saw the fitness and training the European crews were doing. All our training at the time was done IN the boat. What I saw over there was crews training OUT of the boat in the gym with weights,running up hills,cross country skiing in winter etc. and getting super fit. Dave and I talked about it on the way home and I made a plan to get a group together and give them a fitness schedule with the aim of getting selection in New Zealand crews.
When you came back from Europe you called a meeting to form a squad to capture some redcoats. How did that evolve?
There was about 15 guys who turned up to our meeting in Ferry Road and after I outlined my programme there was an instant response to get stuck in and see how fit we could get. Everyone remembers those runs up Mokorua Gorge, over the top, down the Ngati Awa farm hill,over the stream,up to the trig station and back down the same track. If you arrived late as Warren well remembers you had to catch up by the time you hit the top of the gorge.
When you started the training squad did you think you would achieve such outstanding results in the ensuing years?
No. But I knew if we were going to make a mark on the New Zealand Rowing scene, there had to be a change to our training program.
Cyril Molesworth to put it mildly was a very forceful man with very strict ideas about a lot of things. How did the transition from his being the main coach to you taking over go?
There was really never any discussion about this –it just happened. Cyril always coached from the bank and occasionally would get into a boat and demonstrate what he wanted a rower to do. We learnt from Cyril how to get the power on a stroke by implanting sculling techniques. All of our squad rowed in singles as part of our program which included the eight,doubles,pairs and fours, so when it came to the NZ Championships we split up into pairs,singles,fours and of course the eight. Wybo and Warren had the biggest load with the eight,four and pair. So Cyril still coached from the bank andIimplemented a rigorous training schedule and got the troops ready to strike. As they say “the rest is history”.
A greencoat is awarded to coaches of crews that win a title at the New Zealand Championships-tell us a bit about the crews you coached.
While I was still rowing I coached the pairs and Cyril also carried on as a coach. When he retired I took over the rest of our championship crewsand was awarded a number of greencoat wins. The crews I coachedincluded NZ Champion men’s eights ,coxed and coxless fours, coxed and coxless pairs, double sculls, quadruple sculls and single sculls.
Aside from Dave -Who would you most like to row in a boat with?
Reg Douglas. Reg and Bobby Parker dominated the pair oar and double sculls NZ titles for years and won a gold medal in the pair-oar at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver.. They considered Cyril to be their coach and they often came down to Whakatane and Cyril would watch them from the riverbank at the back of his house in Eivers Road.
For some years after I had competed in the NZ Championship regattas Reg and I would go out for a paddle(for fun) in a pair the next day. We absolutely “clicked” as a pair and the boat really sang along. Reg had worked in the flax mills in Mercer all his life and although not all that big he was powerful on the end of an oar. As recently as 3 years ago Reg came down and we went out for a row in a pair-it was still a great feeling.
Where do you live now?
I still live in Ohope(voted NZs best beach) with Margaret and we play golf together, I go fishing with John Retta and take my single out with Dave & Co on the odd Sunday morning.
Our children Jennifer,Dianne and Gary are not too far away and we have grandchildren and great grandchildren scattered around to keep us all busy.
Tell us a bit about your family-Tom(snr), brothers Ray and Bruce and son Gary?
My Dad Tom snr rowed on the Whakatane river out of the old shed, my brother Ray rowed both here and for Waitemata Rowing Club when he went to work in Auckland and Bruce started off as a cox in our Thompson Cup crew(can you imagine Bruce being small enough to cox?) and also rowed briefly for the Club before going to Canada. Gary gained quite a few titles for the Club but we will let him tell his story in a later interview.
TIMELINE
1940
Tom’s father was rowing for Whakatane and took Tom and Ray down and introduced them o his favourite port by teaching them to be coxwains.
1950
Tom and brother Ray teamed up with Brian Slipper and Barry Cave and Neil Reid(cox) and ompeted in a Whakatane High School four and won the head of the harbour title in Tamaki stuary in Auckland. Tom then rowed in maiden,junior and senior crews and again teaming p with brother Ray they pulled in Mick Gosling and Baden Watkins and won the Thompson hield for business house rowing, once again in Auckland.
1963
Dave Molesworth teamed up with Tom and they wonNZ Champion Men’s double sculls and oxless pairs titles.
1964
Dave and Tom won pairs title and also doubles title again.
Dave and Tom rowed for NZ in FISA European Championships(forerunner to World Champs) n Amsterdam,Netherlands.
196
Dave and Tom win double sculls title. Also represented NZ in Australia-NZ Test Series at Iron ove, Nepean River, Lake Wendouree, Australia and won the 1st test in the double sculls .
1966
Tom coached Wybo and Warren mens coxed pair
1967
Tom coached Dave and Noel Mills to double sculls title also Wybo and Warren coxed pair.
Tom coached Noel Mills who won 3 tests in the single sculls in the Aus/NZ Test Series in NZ
1968
Tom coached Wybo and Warren to NZ Champion Men’s coxed pairs and coxless pairs titles.
1969
ditto above coxed and coxless pairs
1970
Tom coached coxless pairs, coxed fours
Tom in 2 seat champion 8
1971
Tom in 2 seat champion 8,coached coxed four and also coxless pairs
1972
ditto coxless pairs and also Wybo and Noel in coxed pairs.
1973
coached Wybo and Noel in coxless pairs and also coxed four
Coached Coxed four at Colts-Australian Tour in Tasmania,Canberra,Penrith,Sydney
1974
coached coxless pairs and mens champion 8.
Tom coached the coxless four and Quad Sculls at World Champs in Lucerne,Switzerland
1975
ditto above coxless pairs and also Grant McCauley and Bob Murphy in coxed pairs.
Coached champion 8 and coached John Alexander to singles title
Tom coached the quad sculls at World Champs in Nottingham,England
1976
coached Wybo Veldman to singles title
Coached the coxed four and coxless four at 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada
1977
coached mens coxless four and Grant McAuley to singles title
1978
coached John Alexander to singles title
Coached coxless four and John Alexander(single sculls) at World Champs at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.
1979
coached John Alexander to singles title
Coached NZ eight, John Alexander and womens double sculls at World Champs in Bled,Yugoslavia.
Coached NZ eight and John Alexander(singles) at West Germany Champs in Essen, West Germany
1980
coached John Alexander to NZ singles title
Coached NZ eight in European Tour in Lucerne, Amsterdam and Henley(replaced competition at Olympic Games in Moscow USSR)
1981
coached John Alexander to NZ singles title
1982
Coached John Alexander and Gary Reid to double sculls title
1983
coached Gary Reid to singles title and John and Gary to doubles title
1984
coached Gary to singles title
Coached Gary in single sculls at Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA
1986
coached Gary Reid and B Riordan to double sculls title
A simply outstanding contribution to the sport of rowing at club, national and international levels. Tom will be remembered fondly by all those who came in contact with him as a man who just loved the sport of rowing.
