Saint John Times Globe - Friday, September 12, 1997

THE LEADER: Ed Winchester of East Riverside hopes to lead the Canadian men's rowing team into the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

By PETER McGUIRE

Times Globe staff writer

East Riverside's Ed Winchester readily admits his ultimate goal of competing in the 2000 Sydney Olympics is miles away but his accomplishments over the past year would certainly have you believe he's on course to reaching that point.

Winchester has been Canada's top light-weight rower over the last 12 months and in turn has taken on somewhat of a leadership role with the national program as a member of both the lightweight fours, an Olympic event, and the lightweight eights. In fact, only one athlete was given an automatic seat in the fours at the worlds and he was the man.

Last weekend, the eights crew won a bronze medal at the world championships in France. CBC will televise the race tomorrow at 2 p.m. While the bronze medal came up short of the team's expectations - that being a gold medal - Winchester has had a few days to realize that things aren't that bad.

"We thought we were going to win. We thought we had the crew. With the right race, we could have won it but it didn't happen. Initially we were all hanging our heads pretty low but it's been a few days now and we realize it was possibly the best race of the world championships for the spectators."

Only a split second separated the first three boats with Australia placing first with a surge at the wire and England took the silver.

The lightweight fours crew won the B final and was seventh overall. It missed qualifying for the A final by .3 seconds. The B final was staged just three hours after the gruelling bronze-medal performance.

"That was an exercise in mental toughness," said Winchester, who is enrolled in the first year of a two-year masters in journalism program at Ryerson University in Toronto.

"I was in the medical tent for a while and another guy was throwing up. It was really quite a mess. The race went extremely well, given the circumstances."

Winchester, 26, got his start in the sport as a teen-ager at the Kennebecasis Rowing and Canoe Club. He was too young to make the 1985 New Brunswick Canada Games team and by the time the 1989 Games rolled, around in Saskatoon, he was too old - by two Weeks.

"The Olympics is the long-term focal point but what we are looking forward to now are the worlds next year in Germany. The ultimate is Sydney but it doesn't really seem tangible, It's so far away. It's the big carrot that is enticing people to stick around."