August 5, 1975

Despite being ousted in the preliminaries in the five events in which they were entered, coach Tim Frink of the Kennebecasis Rowing Club of Saint John expressed satisfaction with his club's performance at the five day 93rd Royal Canadian Henley Regatta completed Sunday.

The Regatta, featuring club entries from Canada and the United States was held in St. Catharines, Ontario. The host St. Catharines Rowing Club dominated proceedings and took the Maple Leaf Trophy for the 15th consecutive year.

In the five junior events the Kennebecasis Club did enter, they failed to qualify for the finals, which were held Sunday. They finished fourth in the heavyweight four with coxswain heat while finishing third in the heavyweight four without cox. In both the lightweight four with and without cox, the club placed third in their heats. A pairs competition saw them also place third in the heat.

Initially, the performance disappointed Frink, who shared coaching duties with Saint John's Keith Ratcliffe, but in his overall assessment of his club's showing, in only their second year in the regatta, he expressed optimism.

Training, or the lack of it, was cited by the coach as being the primary reason the results weren't as favorable as would have been liked.

Frink expanded on why the proper training wasn't there. "It was because we had lousy weather. One day it would be the fog, the next it would be rain. Then we get up there (Ontario) and it's in the 95s and 100's. The weather made it hard for us to conduct a proper training schedule, to get the crew at the proper pitch at the proper time."

The training aspect wasn't the only thing holding back the New Brunswick boys at the Regatta. The strength of the competition had a lot to do with the unsuccessful effort. "I thought our kids did very well, they rowed better than they ever did before, but unfortunately, so did everybody else."

Frink indicated the club performed better this time around than last year. "They definitely rowed better this year, but there was just more competition. I think what we have to do is maybe get the boys down to Halifax for about two weeks before the Regatta, so they can get a couple of regattas under their belts. For some of the teams at this year's Canadian Regatta, it was the seventh Regatta of the year. For us, it was our first Regatta."

Will the club be participating in the 94th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta next year. "Oh, sure," replied the coach.