1985

Optimistic - New Brunswick Canada Games rowing coach Keith Ratcliffe (right) seen here with Dave Dickison of Fredericton, is confident his team will bag a couple of medals during the upcoming Games.

TORONTO --- Call it confidence if you want, but coach Keith Ratcliffe of Renforth took little time in predicting at least three medals for New Brunswick's rowing team at the 1985 Canada Summer Games.

The team is strong, said Ratcliffe, and medal expectations are high, certainly for coxless pair Chris Flood and Wayne McFarlane of Renforth, who earlier this summer won the Canadian schoolboy championship.

"I think we'll do well," said Ratcliffe. "We started four years ago. We planned ahead. We didn't have much to choose from. We had a small group, but of high quality."

Another medal is expected to come from the coxless four Flood, McFarlane, Doug Boyle and Tim Oland. The double scull of twin brothers Dave and Don Dickison of Fredericton should also capture a medal of some sort.

There may be even more than three medals won by N.B. rowers. Ratcliffe points out the strong possibility of the men's sculls four of brothers John and Peter Oxley of Renforth and the Dickison twins winning a medal.

The men's eight with cox could win a medal as well. The team includes Flood, McFarlane, Boyle, Oland the Oxley brothers, Dave McKenna and John Barrigan. The cox will be Mark Fawcett of Renforth.

"I think they've all got good expectations," Ratcliffe said. "We've trained hard and we've taken them to national championships. Two weeks before the Canada Games we'll be in Montreal for the national championships and that should give us a very good indication of how we'll do."

"I don't know what color the medals will be, but we should win three. I'd be satisfied with three bronze. I'm very pleased with our team. The boys lifted weights during the winter and have worked hard."

They'll get a pre-Canada Games test this weekend in Montreal at the Canadian National Rowing Championships at the Olympic Basin as eight provinces will send their Canada Games' teams to the event as a final warm up for competition in Saint John, which is slated for Aug. 19 to 23. New Brunswick has entries in the doubles, quads, single, fours, pair and eight.