Evening Times Globe, August 7, 1979

Welland, Ont. - The Kennebecasis and Fredericton rowing clubs are disappointed with their weekend performance here but confident as they set for the international competitions at the Royal Canadian Henley in St. Catharines, Ont. starting Thursday.

"We had problems, not excuses," said Serge Bergeron, captain of both teams, following the Canadian Amateur Rowing Association Championships here over the weekend. "There are good reasons why we had problems, and there things just happen. We could have easily come out with two or three gold medals."

The Kennebecasis club, a men’s team, were the first to experience problems Saturday during the finals of the men’s lightweight pair competition. The boat rigging broke just prior to the start of the race so Brian and Henry Flood had to borrow the Fredericton girl’s team’s boat.

"They’ve been training for months in the same boat, and then all of a sudden they had to use a strange boat, and they still finished fourth (behind Leander, Ont., Toronto and the second team from Leander)," said Bergeron. "They had problems steering and their footstands were not situated properly because it was a women’s boat. They weren’t used to it. It was very cumbersome."

Technical difficulties were also prevalent for the Fredericton team during the women’s cox four, when they were competing against four other foursomes, including Canada’s and Australia’s national teams. Midway through the race, Lachelle Brewer’s seat broke loose off the track, so she had to finish the race rowing on the board. The Fredericton team still made a run for it however, but finished last, a length behind the team from Brock, Ont. Canada’s national team finished first.

The best performance by a local rower was given by Andrew Boyles, who finished third in the finals Saturday in the 135-pound single competition. London, Ont. placed first in that race.

In the lightweight four race Saturday, the Kennebecasis team, comprised of the two Floods, John Allan and Rick Cassidy, finished a dismal sixth out of six.

On Sunday, the team placed third in the lightweight cox four, missing second place to London, Ont. by a length. Brockville, Ont. came first.

Looking to the international meet, which will feature teams from Egypt, Cuba, Mexico, United States and Australia, among others, Bergeron said the team "feels confident."

"A lot of other clubs were saying we are on the upswing. The boys and girls are confident because of what happened this weekend."