Saint John Times Globe Monday, June 21, 1999

Winchester still has a long row to realize Olympic dream

By Barrett Hooper - Sports Week

He's baaaack.

Seven months after undergoing surgery to remove a herniated disc from his lower spine that by all accounts should have ended his rowing career, Ed Winchester is returning to international competition.

The Quispamsis native has qualified as a member of the Canadian lightweight men's eight crew participating in the Royal Henley Regatta at Henley- on-Thames, England, next week.

That after giving up a berth in the lightweight men's four crew, which may be plying the waters at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Months of painful rehabilitation and exhaustive training that pushed him to the limits of physical endurance - often leaving his muscular six-foot frame hunched over - Winchester won three of four qualifying races to make the Olympic boat.

And then he turned his back on it in a bold move for someone who had fought so hard to get there. "To spend the whole winter visualizing it, and then to get it and give it up - it's empowering in a way," he said during a break in training from St. Catharines, Ont., site of the World Championships in August. "I talked about it with my crewmates and with [national coach] Volker Nolte and I decided to step back and let someone else have a shot.

The move doesn't dispel Winchester's Olympic dreams, however, as the current crew will have to requalify in November in Victoria, B.C. With his back still at only about 80 per cent by his estimation, he will use the extra time to heal and grow stronger.

"If I'm in the boat this year doesn't mean I'm in the boat next year so I'm going to let my back really heal up," said Winchester, who believes his chances of making the team in November are pretty good considering he qualified now when his body isn't at 100 per cent.

He also admitted that the possibility the injury could flare up as he re-enters competition did weigh heavily in his decision.

"I can do everything, be competitive and hang with the top guys, but I still go through some pretty painful spurts that force me to take an occasional day off [from his relentless seven- days-a-week training regimen] and I didn't want to take the chance of bringing the team down at all," he said, adding that rowing in the lightweight eights - a non- Olympic event - allows him to "enjoy myself a little" while also preparing him mentally and physically for the rigours of competition.

Although the pain is a constant - as are the doses of medication - and he has a CT scan scheduled after his return from Europe to ensure everything is healing properly, Winchester is anxious to get back on the water.

"I'm surprised to be knocking on the door of the Olympics, especially after the slow start I got at camp this winter, but now when it comes to racing I'm right there with the top guys all the way," he said.

One of the most prestigious rowing competitions outside of the Olympics and World Championships, Winchester and his crewmates, who boast a combined 12 World Championship and Olympic Games medals, will face the top rowers from Germany and Great Britain at next week's Henley.

But Winchester isn't the only local rower going to the Henley as Saint John's Nathan Chown is part of the Brock University fours entered in the Wyfold Cup event for club crews.

But the competition doesn't end at the Henley for Winchester as his crew takes on the rest of the European field at the Lucerne International Regatta, the final event on the FISA World Cup circuit, in Lucerne, Switzerland, in two weeks.

The tour of Europe is designed to give the rowers a much-needed taste of international-caliber racing, all in preparation for the World Championships Aug. 21-29.

Winchester will also be representing Canada in the men's light- weight four event at the upcoming Pan-American Games in Winnipeg later this summer as the Canadian Olympic boat will be taking a well-deserved rest after a summer of world competitions.

And what if, after all that, he fails to qualify for the Olympics in November? What then?

"That's when I step back, really step back, for good probably," said Winchester, who at 28 is starting to feel like the old man on the Canadian crew. "That's when I look at life outside, of rowing."