Interview Series - Gary McAdams
Brian Morpeth sat down with Gary McAdams, Club Captain for the past 3 years for a chat about his rowing career and how he sees the future of the club developing over the next few years.
How did you start rowing?
I didn’t come through the school rowing system so at the end of 6th form an old friend asked me what I was doing over the summer and as I didn’t have a lot on he talked me into coming down to the rowing club and giving it a go with the promise of lots of beer, wine, women and song-sounded pretty good to me.
What was your first crew and who was in it?
We had probably about 20 guys who went thru the squad which our coach “Chick
Hammond” gradually filtered down as he does in his way and there was four of us left.
There was myself ,David Tutbury, Paul Brunetti and the 4th guy was Ron Stockman and our cox was Wayne Hay who had been involved with Richard Newey and Robbie Hamill and the eight that Chick took through to a NZ title.
Who was your 1st coach?
Chick was my first and only coach at the Whakatane Club and he mentored me right from my novice year, thru the grades, thru the under 23s and into premiership racing and before I went overseas I was a member there for 7 years.
In 1990 you teamed up with Richard Newey and won the NZ Champion Mens Double Sculls title with Miles Hammond as your coach. How did you and Richard Newey come to be in a double sculls? Also who did you have to beat to win this title?
After a year in the novice 4 and a year in a coxed pair I then rowed with Wybo’s son Shaun Veldman and won some good races. We rowed in a double in intermediate and under 23 and of course we always did our races in single sculls at the same time.
Richard was single sculling at the time and he joined Shaun and I along with Tim Goodson who was my coxed pair partner and we rowed senior 4 for a year coxed and coxless and we came 2nd and 3rd at the nationals – we won the North Island titles but never quite the nationals. After that Tim left and Shaun went off to University and Richard and I were left looking at each other so we thought let’s give it a crack in the doubles. We had some pretty formidable opposition with Eric Verdonk being the top single sculler late 80s early 90s winning a bronze medal at the world championships and an Olympic bronze medal in 1988. And almost a 3rd in Barcelona in 92 –a very competent sculler. Richard and I had 3 years in the double and we won the title once and the other times we were close 2nd to Eric and his 3 different partners. We won the North Islands which was nice but a little bitter sweet as the one that really mattered was the national title. But we did get our win. The three of us (Richard,Chick and I ) had a really great time over those years and we are still good mates to this day and share a lot of good memories of adventures like when Chick took us over to Lake Barrington in Tasmania in 1990 where we raced the Australian National Championships.
I see your name as a NZ representative in 1989(sen 1x) and 1989 and 1990 (sen 8+)-tell us a bit about these races?
I made the under 23 team as a single sculler in 1989 and both Richard and I made the elite team in 1990 and then we missed out 1991 and 1992 despite the fact we met the criteria the selectors laid down for us. They put down a time and said if anyone matches these times you will be selected for the Olympics. We qualified that time twice but the selectors in their wisdom decided they would change the goalposts so Richard and I went overseas together and tried to force selection by doing the European circuit- but that was unsuccessful. Richard came back to NZ and joined forces with Eric Verdonk and won a few national titles in the single and in the doubles. Even though I was sculling in the under 23s in 1989 I was picked in 1990 in the elite 8 and went to the Australian Championships in Tasmania from there NZ had an invitation along with Italy to send crews to a prestigious University race in the USA called the Windemere Cup. When we got there we discovered although I had been sent as a single sculler there was no single sculls race. The Italians also discovered they had sent a pair oar crew and also there was no race at this regatta. So being a number 8 wire Kiwi we decided to make up a crew of myself,the 2 Italians and a spare USA rower that the States coaches thought was no good and we went on to win the coxed four race to everyones surprise.
In 1995,1996,1997 and 1999 you rowed for Great Britain. How did you come to be in the UK at that time and where did you race?
I stayed on in England with my parents British passport criteria and at that time I was a bit sick of rowing and I just wanted to put the fun back into it. I had heard about the Henley Regatta and I moved to Nottingham and got involved with a group of young guys and we just rowed and had huge success. At the time I thought I would just be there for a year and I ended up staying for nearly 9 years. It was quite a change from Whakatane where you had a crew and coach and pretty much stayed in that little world. At Nottingham we had a squad of about 20 so there was plenty of changing crews around, settling the pecking order ,competing for a seat etc. which made rowing really enjoyable. I thought I would just stay for a year and see what happens and each year we became more and more successful and competing in International Regattas sometimes up against NZ crews and beating them -so that was very sweet for me to do that so I had no inkling to go back to NZ.
I believe you had the honour to row alongside both (now Sir) Steven Redgrave and his long time rowing partner Matthew Pinsent. Tell us a bit about this experience?
Most of the rowing in England is done on the Thames at clubs like Leander and London Rowing Club and is run rather along the elite class. I had a contact in Nottingham with a friend of Tom and Gary Reid called Ian Wilson who was the head coach so that drew me up there to row. Nottingham was a lightweight rowing stronghold where there would be 10 or 12 that had world lightweight titles. When I arrived they were just starting to attract good heavyweight rowers and we were able to feed off the training and technique of the lightweights just about all of them representing England.
I rowed at Henley and succeeded in winning the single sculls 3 times while I was there which was a great experience in sudden death racing. I rowed in the winning Great Britain 8 at the Commonwealth games in 1994 and our 4 came 2nd by 2 feet both times beating NZ crews which was very satisfying. Sir Steven Redgrave was around before and during my stint in the team as was Matthew Pinsent both standing around 6 foot 5 inches and weighing 16stone. Both men won multiple gold medals in both World Championships and Olympic games and it was a great experience to row in the same squad .Redgrave and Pinsent dominated the coxless pair oar in much the same way as Bond and Murray. They won the World Champs coxless pair in1991,93,94 and 95 then teamed up with James Cracknell and Tim Foster to win the coxless four in 1997,98 and 99 and the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
I was appointed Head Coach at the Notts County Rowing Club for the last 2 years I was there. At the time Nottingham was the only 2000 metre course in the country and it was only after I left that the new man-made course at Eton was created for the Olympic Games.
What was your BEST race?
Very hard to choose. As far as both physically and technically my bets race was making my first world final in a four. The race was won by Rumania and the next 3 crews were a photo finish and even though we were awarded 4th I had great satisfaction in the way we attacked the race and this gave us the confidence that we had the boat speed and the goods to win races.
The other races were in beating Eric Verdonk both in the singles and the doubles titles and then competing in the UK and succeeding after everyone writing you off. Being able to work hard and come through and win races showed them I had the goods-very satisfying.
What was your WORST race? Do you have a worst race?
Yes, but I don’t want to talk about it.(a wry laugh)
Who would you most like to row in a boat with?
I would love to have my time over and row again with Richard Newey knowing what I know now with training technique and fitness knowledge. But of course imagine putting an eight together with the likes of Wybo,Warren, Rob Waddell, Mahe,Bond and Murray,Redgrave and Pinsett and be able to sit in the middle of that lot………..wow,wouldn’t that be great.
What job do you do in Whakatane?
I live here in Whakatane rebuilding rowing boats/fishing boats/surf skis/hockey sticks anything to do with carbon fibre/fibreglass and composites. When I came back from the UK I went dairy farming for about 7 years and then the opportunity came along in boatbuilding with a friend of mine who was importing boats and he needed someone to fix them. This was what I was doing in the UK so it was a natural progression for me..
As Club Captain how do you see the club at present and what do you hope to see it achieve over the next few years ?
For me as Club Captain I see my role as gelling everyone together so we can all work on the bigger picture. As you know we had a very successful 100 year centenary which celebrated some extraordinary successes over the years. I felt at the time it was a good point in time that we could cap off all the good rowing and move the club forward into the future. Rowing has changed a lot from being very big in club rowing to not so big club rowing but huge school level rowing and to an extent masters rowing which is growing- that is really neat. If clubs are to survive we need to embrace the school system and obviously if there is to be club rowers- certainly encourage them as well. Even in the school rowing system I don’t think it is as good as it can be. It is very hard on the kids and the regimes and the drop off is very high –it is only 3% of the kids rowing at school go on to club rowing mainly because it was just so hard with the early starts, the amount of training and the pressure from parents and coaches etc. Because I took up rowing after school that may have allowed me to have more fun years and could be the reason I had such longevity in the sport. I was a young adult and there was the socialising aspect of it which for me was hugely important.
For us to be looking forward as a club we need to be looking at building numbers and to me that means school rowers, club rowers and masters rowers and I believe if we have 10 members in the club 1 will step up to championship level,if we have 100 members in the club we will have more standing up and this will enable our club to punch above our weight. And long term I still believe Whakatane has got one of the best pieces of water to train on and I would like ultimately like to see it as a club of excellence. If we had 200 members I don’t know if or how we could accommodate them but I think it would be cool if every kid in town at least sat in a boat had the opportunity to give it a go. This is my dream.
Tell us a bit about your family?
My father passed away recently and my mother still lives in town and keeps herself really active. I have 2 sisters who live in town with their husbands and a younger brother who is a policeman here in Whakatane. We all get on well and often have family get togethers. I am now separated from my wife but I have 4 beautiful children in town with one who is off to University this year and of course I am involved with the Club.
