The Telegraph Journal Saint John, N.B., Tuesday, August 4th 1981

Floods Disappoint At Rowing Event

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Flood brothers of the Kennebecasis Rowing Club are hoping for a strong performance at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta here beginning Wednesday will help them forget their poor showing last weekend in Montreal.

"They'll be out to redeem themselves and show what they can do - there's no doubt about that," said Humphrey Bonnycastle, president of the New Brunswick Rowing Association and the KRC.

Bonnycastle has high hopes for the brothers at the 99th running of the Henley, considered the premier rowing championship in North America. Clubs from England, Mexico, Australia and Guatemala will compete with Canadian and American clubs in the five-day event, which starts Wednesday.

But if Brian and Henry Flood do what they did at the Canadian National Rowing Championships in Montreal last weekend they'll be going nowhere.

"We were very disappointed in them," said Bonnycastle in regard to the qualifying beat Saturday at which the two failed to qualify. "We can't explain it.

"They had the race won and started to take it easy. They got caught and didn't seem able to respond," he said. "They should have won it on conditioning alone."

The Floods finished fourth in the race and as a result didn't make it to the final Sunday. Neither did the other men's pair from the Kennebecasis club, Rick Cassidy and John Allan.

Of the nine entrants from KRC only womens doubles and the mens foursome qualified for Sunday's finals. The foursome - the two Floods, Cassidy and Allan - finished second in the qualifying heat and fourth in the finals.

Kathy Webb and Maureen Flood fought "a courageous race" Saturday and placed Third. On Sunday they finished fifth.

The girls foursome might have placed second in the qualifier Saturday but their inexperience showed and they ended up fourth and were disqualified, even though they finished only two lengths off the winner.

Bonnycastle said the girls - Webb, Flood, Denise Poirier and Carla Vandenberg along with coxswain Cathy Wallace - were in second place but fell back when they twice lost control of their oars. "That's what happens when a rower is inexperienced," he said.

In Montreal the rowers were competing against both seniors and juniors but at the Henley they'll be going against only juniors. Bonnycastle says this should help the Floods in their battle for top spot.

"The competition will be tougher from outside," said Bonnycastle, noting the entrants from outside Canada and the U.S., "But they'll be rowing junior so it shouldn't be as difficult overall.

The nine New Brunswickers are among 1,300 athletes competing in tile Henley, with 805 entries competing in 74 events during the five days.

Entries have been received from clubs across Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. American entries have been filed from clubs in New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and California.