The Evening Times Globe, Saint John, N.B., June 23, 1976

Montreal-Bound- Four members of the Kennebecasis Rowing Club leave Friday for a two-day weekend international regatta in Montreal this weekend. The regatta serves as a testing of Olympic facilities in Montreal. Left to right in the photo are: Stephen Gaunce, Wayne McConnell, Dave Allan and Mark Allan.

Six New Brunswick rowers - four of them from Kennebecasis Rowing Club leave Friday for an international regatta in Montreal on the weekend.

Stephen Gaunce, Wayne McConnell and brothers Mark and David Allan, all of the Kennebecasis and Boob Lively and Greg Gilks of Fredericton rowing club will take part in the two-day regatta which serves as a dress rehearsal for Olympic facilities.

Keith Ratcliffe, coach at KRC, says the competition should improve his rowers’chances in next month’s Henley Regatta at St. Catharines, Ont.

"Our biggest problem with rowers in the Maritimes is a lack of top-flight competition," Ratcliffe said Tuesday.

" We should certainly benefit from the competition we get in Montreal," he said.

Over 300 athletes from Canada, the United States and Europe will be taking part in the two-day event which gets underway Saturday with preliminary heats in all events and finals Sunday.

Gaunce and McConnell, and the Allan brothers will row in the coxless pairs competition, as well as Lively and Gilkes.

Then, Gaunce McConnell and the Allan brothers will teams in the coxless fours.

Sponsors by the Canadian Olympic Committee, which is picking up the tab for all Canadian teams entered in the competition, the regatta will serve as a pre-Olympic test of the Montreal facilities.

The Saint John rowers have been working out wince last October with a good performance in the Henley Regatta at the end of July as their objective.

"We’ve been working out seven days a week for the past two months," says Ratcliffe. "We’ve been working very hard."