The Telegraph Journal, Saint John, N.B., August 24^th 1979

Kennebecasis Rowers:

By Ian Sutherland, Staff Writer

"Generally, we did slightly better than we thought (we would)."

Those were the words of Serge Bergeron, captain of the Kennebecasis Rowing Club as he reflected on the past year's accomplishments of their members.

Explaining - the word "generally." Bergeron said the club is in the second year of a five-year rebuilding program in which it would like to grow with more members, more boats and of course more coaches. "Along with this will come the experience that we need for the national level," he said.

What they did do at the nationals this past year was finish third out of six teams, including teams from larger centers such as London and Toronto, Ont.

Later on in the year, the team went to the International rowing championships along with women rowers from Fredericton and finished third. The international event is held each year at the Royal Canadian Henley in St. Catharines, Ont., and attracts teams from such places as Florida, New York and Detroit-as well as the Canadian National team and the Australian National team.

Later on in the year, the team competed in three local regattas and finished third in the first one; second in the second one and copped top honors in the final one. "We were peaking all the time." Bergeron said. In those three regattas they had competition from the Fredericton Rowing Club and the Mic Mac and North Star clubs, both from Nova Scotia.

At the nationals Brian and Henry Flood completed in the pairs while in the four with cox they were joined by Rick Cassidy and John Allan, Danny McGuire was the coxswain.

The team that went to the national consisted of six men and five woman, plus three coaches and a captain.

As you may have already guessed, rowing is not a sport that is easy on the pocketbook, Besides the expense of going to all the regattas, there is also the cost of the boats. To buy a cox eight will run you about $71,000 plus shipping from England will cost another $1,000. This compares to about $2,000 for a singles boat.

To raise the money, the rowing club has a Captain's Dinner every year that raises about $10,000 plus various raffles and other projects.

"At the Captain's Dinner, you will see everyone from politicians to businessmen to executives to the next door neighbor. To that end we serve something for every taste, from fancy cigars to the best wine," Bergeron said.

The dinner is held every May and costs $50 a plate.

I think the reason so many people attend is that they know they're helping a good cause," Bergeron said.

Bergeron said since rowing is a sport that requires good conditioning, the members of the club lift weights, skip rope and do other exercises year round, as well as in-water training during the spring and summer.

As part of their five-year rebuilding program, the club is planning a promotional high school program in which rowing will be introduced into physical education classes in the area as well as getting people interested in the fast growing sport by word of mouth.

With this quantity, Bergeron said he hopes to find some quality.