1984

Two Meets To Help Rowers Prepare For 1985 Games

Click here to see full size. LAST MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS -- Coach Keith Ratcliffe (centre) goes over some instructions with Kennebecasis Rowing and Canoe Club members (left to right) Tom Russell, John Oxley, Rob Lutes and Peter Oxley. The rowers will be taking part in the Canadian rowing championships in Montreal Saturday and the Henley Regatta in St. Catharines, Ont., that starts Wednesday.

Several prospects for the 1985 Canada Summer Games will be getting their first taste of top rate national and international when they depart today for the Canadian Rowing championships in Montreal.

Montreal is actually the first of two stops for a total of 30 rowers from the province. After the Canadian championships Saturday and Sunday, they move on to St. Catharines, Ont., for the 102nd Henley Regatta.

Team coach Keith Ratcliffe of Quispamsis is using the two competitions as part of his preparation for next summer's games.

"The youth eight for the (Canada) Games is an excellent prospect to do well at the nationals," he said. "We have a good chance of winning the junior eight with St. Catharines being the main competition. But we're still aiming for, next year."

Of the 30 going to the nationals and later the Henley, 15 are from Fredericton and 15 from the Kennebecasis Rowing and Canoe Club. Of the Fredericton group, 10 are girls, twice the number of females as Kennebecasis.

Ratcliffe is in the third year of a four-year program utilized to try to bring some rowing medals to New Brunswick when the Games arrived in August of next year. Those on the eight that will be getting their chance to see how they match up with the rest of the country are Chris Flood, Wayne MacFarlane, Tim Oland, Doug Boyle, Dave McKenna, Peter Oxley, John Oxley, Rob Lutes and Tom Russell. The coxswain - the man who does the steering at the front of the boat - is Mark Fawcett.

Having nine rowers in a junior eight does not pose a problem for Ratcliffe.

"We work them all in," he said. "We'll be involved in two's, four's and two eights (two four or eight in the boat at the nationals so everyone will get some work."

The team has been together for three years and their growth has not only been in strength. Doug Boyle stands an impressive six- foot-five-inches and weighs 220 pounds. John Oxley looks down at anyone shorter than six-foot-three. In fact the only one of the nine under six feet is MacFarlane but he more than makes up for it.

"He's very strong and has good flexibility," said Ratcliffe of the five-foot-10-inch MacFarlane.

Whether the provincial Games prospects will meet any of the opposition coming this way, in a year's time at the nationals is still unknown.

"The Ontario contingent might be Canada Games people," said Ratcliffe. "I've heard that Saskatchewan might be there. The other provinces will probably raid their schoolboy system to make up their teams."

In addition to the hopefuls of the Canada Games, Ratcliffe will also be taking two veterans to the two events.

Brian Flood will be involved in the 155 pound senior sculls and Rick Cassidy will try to put his mark on the 145 pound single sculls category

Flood was a recent winner at the U.S. championships and Cassidy took first place in his class at the Independence Day regatta in Philadelphia.

The wins for Flood and Cassidy will mean they will move up to the senior class next year, but can still take part at the Junior level at Henley this time around.

The fact that Henley - billed as the largest rowing regatta outside the Eastern Bloc - is happening at the same time as the Olympics does not diminish the competition for the New Brunswick participants.

Ratcliffe explained that the senior level would be short some potential quality, but the junior level would be unaffected.

The task of coaching the Kennebecasis crew has been Ratcliffe's job for the better part of nine years.

In 1975 he came to Canada from England, where he was involved in rowing for 11 years. He won several events and helped rebuild club near his home in Hertfordshire, just outside of London.

He visited the Kennebecasis club to make his presence in the country known and within two weeks the coach had moved out of the city.

"I was in by default," he quipped. "Instead of a casual visitor, it became a full-time, part-time job."

And Ratcliffe with the coach's hat has been a break for Kennebecasis. Since Ratcliffe took over, Kennebecasis has won the straights four and pair at the 1977 nationals, the lightweight straight pair - Mark and Dave Allen - at Henley the same year, the lightweight pair at Henley in 1981 and the lightweight straight pair at the nationals in 1982 and 1983. They’re hoping to add to that list next week.