1982

Stories by Bruce Munford

BRONZE MEDALISTS - One of the crews at the Kennebecasis Rowing Club is the straight-fours team of brothers Henry (right) and Brian (second from right) Flood, John Allan (second from left) and Rick Cassidy (left). The four finished third this year at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and third at the Canadian championships.

It hasn't been accomplished yet, but Saint John is slowly becoming the rowing force it was more than a century ago.

The Kennebecasis Rowing Club in Renforth is responsible for the revival of a sport which died in this area and province in the late 1800s and never returned until the club's inception in 1972.

"One hundred years ago Saint John, New York and Boston were the big rowing centres in North America," said Club president Dr. Humphrey Bonnycastle.

"In those days, there weren't any clubs. There were just individuals who built their own boats and raced them."

What inspired Bonnycastle, who has been president since 1972, and the Kennebecasis committee he chaired, to reintroduce rowing was the Centennial celebration of the "Great Race" between Canada and England.

In 1867 Canada defeated England in a six-mile race. When they met again two years later, the Canadian boat sank and the Englishmen won, evening the score.

To settle matters, Canada challenged the English crew to a tie-breaker and in 1871 the deciding race was held on the Kennebecasis River, where the Kennebccasis club is now located.

Captain of the England team, James F. Renforth, collapsed early in the race and died after he was taken to shore. To honor the oarsman, the village was named after him.

The Kennebecasis River never saw any major competition after that day, until 1972.

That's when the Kennebecasis club started from scratch and only got going when the Mic Mac Rowing Club of Dartmouth gave them an old straight-fours boat.

"It was an old heavy boat," explained Bonnycastle, "But, we made a start out of it."

The following year they received a $2,500 loan from the City of Saint John and bought a new straight-four.

In 1974 the Canadian Amateur Rowing Association gave them $3,000 that they'd have to repay, without interest, in three years and that paid for two pairs.

Two years passed before another pairs boat was collected and, in 1977, a new fibreglass-type straight four was bought in England for $4,000.

This boat was the "diamond" of the bunch as all the others were constructed of mahogany. With good equipment you can do wonders and that's exactly what four members of the Renforth club did three days after the new boat arrived.

Brothers Dave and Mark Allan, along with, Wayne McConnell and Andy Messer, caputured the men's straight fours title at the 1977 Canadian championships at the Olympic Basin in Montreal.

It was the first major crown the Kennebecasis club garnered and weeks after the Allans won the men's pairs title at the Canadian Henley championship.

Since then Kennebecasis members have accomplished much.

Brothers Henry and Brian Flood won the 155-pound straight pairs crown a few weeks ago at the Canadian Henley Regatta at St. Catherines, Ont. while Messer was a member of the Olympic team which would have, participated at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow had there not been a boycott.

The Floods teamed with John Allan and Rick Cassidy to place third in the straight fours at Henley and also third in the same event at the Canadian championship a week earlier.

Two years ago the Allan and Flood brothers joined oars to capture the straight fours title at the Redding Regatta in England.

With 40 members, including 15 females and 15 males who actually row competitively, success at Kennebecasis appears bound to continue.

"We have good coaching and that's the key to the whole thing," said Bonnycastle. "We go to Dartmouth for competition and we can now claim that we're a national quality club. We can compete nationally and be very competitive. We're right up with the best of them."

The club, which purchased its final boat in 1978, that being a Carbo-Craft -- eight with cox for $8,000, has Englishman Keith Ratcliffe as coach. He’s been around since 1974, after replacing Gerry Leinhert of St. Catherines, who coached when the club was born.

"We have very, very good equipment. . . The best . . . And that's why we win," explained Bonnycastlte.

Another reason why Kennebecasis, which has members ranging from 12 to 25 years of age wins is the effort members put into training.

"Rowing is not a sport you go into for fun," added Bonnycastle.

"It's a very highly technical sport. It's not like going out and playing a round of golf. It takes an awful lot of work."

"It's one of the elite sports. It's one of the top, tough sports around."

And the local club is right amongst the best.