Tuesday, November 23, 1999

TOUGH LOSS: Ed Winchester suffers a heart-breaking loss, but the Rothesay rower still has a couple of chances to qualify for next summer's Sydney Olympic Games.

In the race to earn an Olympic berth on the Canadian men's rowing team, Rothesay's Ed Winchester isn't exactly setting the pace but the most important thing for the product of the Kennebecasis Rowing and Canoe Club is that he's still in the race.

While his head is barely above water, he's not yet dead in the water.

Winchester and his partner Ben Storey finished third in the final of the lightweight pairs 2,000-metre, event on Sunday in a time of six minutes, 34.2 seconds, just 1. I seconds behind Ian Brambell and Chris Davidson and winners Jon Beare and Gavin Hassett, who posted a time of 6:31.0.

"It was the fight of our careers and was a fitting finale to the Olympic Regatta," said Winchester who, along with Storey, showed improvement each time they hit the water over the weekend.

"Ben and I put together the best race we could have and it wasn't good enough. In all my years racing at this level that was the toughest selection race we've had yet. Both of us really committed ourselves to trying to win the race and in that way, it is a little disappointing. But on the other hand, those two pairs that beat us really put on a good show. They executed their race plans just that little bit better than we did. At the line, we were a boat length out of first and a few feet out of second. Actually, in the last 500 metres we had a huge sprint and started mowing down the two front boats as we passed by the crowd. I saw the whole thing on video, it was pretty dramatic and fun to be a part of.

"I'm a little bit stunned with what happened, especially because we were so close, but you have to draw the line somewhere. We just fell on the wrong side of it."

In order to reach the final, Storey and Winchester finished second in their heat in 6:42.5 seconds and to reach the semi-final, they had to win their repechage in a time of 6:44.9.

While the final selection is not official, it is likely that the four men in the top two boats from the trials will make up the Canadian men's light- weight four crew that will compete at the Olympics in Sydney, Australia next summer.

With that in mind, you would think Winchester's Olympic dream is dead in the water but that's not necessarily the case. The national rowing association has decided to concentrate on trying to qualify a lightweight double crew for the Olympics and Winchester, had been invited to take his best shot a- the Olympic camp in Victoria, starting Jan. 10. He is one of eight lightweights who have been invited and the leading contender for a seat in the doubles boat if it indeed qualifies. His partner in this attempt will be Dan Martin a Canadian who lives and trains in Los Angeles. Lightweight doubles is an event that Canada has not put much emphasis on in recent years. By the way, the difference between doubles and pairs is two oars are used by each member in doubles, who are referred to as scullers, and in pairs one oar is used by each member, who are called sweepers.

"I'm treating it as a positive and it is an honour to be among the chosen few for the Olympic camp," said Winchester, who plans on heading for California for a few weeks around Christmas to prepare for camp.

"If we don't succeed, and this should be pretty obvious come May, I have been told I will have another shot at the sweep camp," said Winchester.

"So, in effect, I now have two chances to get into the Olympic Games, instead of one.

"That is certainly one way of looking at things. "