The Evening Times Globe, Saint John, N.B., Thursday, July 29, 1976

St. Catharines In Front 1st Day Of Henley Regatta

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (CP) - St. Catharines rowing club led all entries Wednesday at the first day of the 94th annual Canadian Henley Regatta by qualifying seven crews.

Hamilton Leanders finished second in the day's events, qualifying five crews.

Minnesota boat club qualified in four of the 20 races and Toronto Argonauts and Ecorse Mich., each had three qualifiers.

Regatta action resumes today with 16 heats and nine finals. Crews competing are representing 44 clubs from Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The rowing heats which opened up the first day of competition saw the Kennebecasis Rowing Club grab a first place finish in the straight-four heats with a time of six minutes and 50 seconds.

The crew of Mark and David Allen, Wayne McConnell and Stephen Gaunce finished way out in front of the other three Canadian rowing clubs, according to Keith Ratcliffe coach of the New Brunswick entry.

"We could have actually finished with a better time but with the sizable lead we had, boys slackened off just a little to save their strength until tomorrow."

Other finishers in that heat were the Argonaut Rowing Club from Toronto placing a close second Leander Boat Club from Ontario and St. Catharines Rowing Club finishing a distant second and third place respectively. In another heat Andy Messer a former native of Saint John was a member of the St. Catherine’s team who won with a time of six minutes and 36 seconds. Other finishers were the University of Weston in Ontario Ottawa Rowing Club Wyan Dotte New York Winnipeg Rowing Club and Buffalo West Side Rowing Club.

Ratcliffe went on to say "The reason we're saving our strength for tomorrow is because St. Catharine's finished first in their heat as expected and I think it will be between 'them and us' for the gold medal."

Another New Brunswick entry, Fredericton will be starting their first day of racing today when the straight pairs take to the water. The capital squad will send Greg Gilks and Robert Levely as their top contenders to compete against other U.S. and Canadian powerhouses.