1984

By Mark Tunney, Staff Writer

Pulling to Victory - It was hard pulling over rough waters in the Great Bicentennial Challenge Race Saturday at Renforth, but in the end Saint John area crew triumphed, by 10.5 seconds in the six mile race, over the crew from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The winners are (left-to right), Wayne MacFarlane, Tim Oland, Doug Boyle, Chris Flood and coxswain Mark Fawcett. The crew exchanged jerseys with their opponents after the race. Action in the race is shown in photo at left.

RENFORTH - Tension was up, bets were down and oars were in. But, as it turned out, "The Great Bicentennial Challenge Race", ended up the same way as the 1871 match, with the local boys winning out over ,the team from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

And while the original race ended, in tragedy, with world-renowned British rower James Renforth (for whom the village is now named) collapsing in his boat, and dying shortly after, only some of the spirited partisans in the crowd of nearly 1,000 at the Renforth Warf appeared to be in danger of 'heart failure’ as the determined English crew began closing the gap on the last of lap of the six-mile race on Saturday.

"No heart attacks this time," said Allen Ballantyne, coach of the Newcastle cox fours. "Although, I think I nearly had a couple of them during the race."

Although the race was not for world supremacy or young national pride as the 1871 match between the home-bred "Paris" rowing crew and the team from Tyneside, England, was, there were still some bragging rights on the line for the teenage crews.

On the victory podium. the local crew of Wayne McFarland, 17, Tim Oland, 17, Doug Boyle, 16, Chris Flood, 16, and 12-year-old coxswain Mark Fawcett, were as laconic as they were proud, gracious and tired. "Pretty awesome," said Tim Oland while bowman McFarland nodded and credited the victory to "timing."

The British' teenagers thought the size of their opponents and the roughness of the waters on the Kennebacasis might have also had something to do at the outcome, but did not take away anything from the triumph of the upstart colonials.

"It was pretty rough out there. It's different from what we're used to, but they're an awfully strong crew," said 17-year-old Newcastle oarsman Neil Dunster who was relieved that the long and grueling race was over and that there will be no need to rename the village Dunsterville.

He and, the rest of the English crew, Gary Routledge, 16, Craig Routledge, 15, and Tony Ballantyne, 17, remarked on the friendliness of people of the area and said they are still looking forward to the social events of their visit.

After the race, the teams were presented with shields mugs, pins, and for the winning squad, pewter trophies. After the presentations, there was the ceremonial exchanging of jerseys and dunking of the two young coxswains (the backup coxswain for the Kennebecasis club, Sean Alchorn, served for the English crew) in the drink.

While the crowd was over whelming cheering for the locals, the strains of a Geordie lilt could be heard screaming "You d'good lads. We're proud o’ you," as the presentations were made.

Marian Bainbridge, Who was responsible for those congratulations, was one of only about 20 area residents, originally from the old county, present at the festivities. Her husband, Alan, a building inspector with the city, was adorned with a Union Jack cap and flag-emblazoned boxer shorts, which on the advice of Mayor Elsie Wayne, he chose not to expose.

"All the Geordies (the name for residents of the Newcastle area in North-East England) are out today," he said. The Bainbridges, who are from Gateshead, the hometown of James Renforth which is across the Tyne from Newcastle, were disappointed in the results, but buoyed by the occasion.

"It was a good time and they made it a good race going down the stretch he said, although the home squad still prevailed by 10.5 seconds.

Kennebecasis club president Dr. C. H. Bonnycastle said he's hoping the English crew can make it back again and the Newcastle coach said he hopes to race a Saint John area crew on the home waters of the Tyne.

While it might not pay to carry coals to Newcastle, Mr. Ballantyne says he's hoping the resources can be found to bring some Kennebecasis sculls over in the near future.