lengths, which he could have made a quarter of a mile had he so chosen.”572 Cosentino: “In the final yards of the THE SPORT OF ROWING Nobody race, Hanlan was rowing consecutive strokes, first with his right oar, then with his left, as the boat zig-zagged toward the finish line. Cannons erupted, whistles blew, bells pealed for Hanlan. A very downcast Trickett slipped from sight, retiring to his quarters. It was reported he took sick and refused to see anyone.”573 In their second meeting two years later in 1882, “Hanlan displayed total command of the situation, crossing the finish line almost a minute and a half ahead of the giant Australian. “Having won the race, he wheeled around, rowed back down the course until he was even with Trickett and then spun around and once more beat his opponent to the finish line.”574 Just imagine Trickett’s desire to defeat the arrogant Ned Hanlan. Other professionals would have been similarly motivated, as beating Ned would have made their careers. In 1881, the Australian Elias Laycock agreed to race Hanlan only under the condition that “there were to be no antics in the water. Hanlan agreed. ‘After all,’ he was to say later, ‘I didn’t want to make a show of a decent plucky man.’”575 However, he had no problem returning to his antics the following year on the Tyne against British sculler Robert W. Boyd. “Hanlan teased his opponent by ‘blowing his nose and using his oars in a comical fashion.’”576 572 Championship Sculling-Match, The Illustrated London News, November 20, 1880, p. 506 573 Cosentino, op. cit., p. 50 574 Ibid, p. 56 575 Ibid, p. 53 576 Ibid, p. 55 could beat Hanlan. Barnstorming the world, he retained his World Championship for four years. The Riddle Nobody could beat him because nobody figured out how he went so fast. In 1880, The Sportsman, covering a race between Hanlan and James Riley, had this to say: “How Hanlan stands the terrific work he cuts out for the men behind him is a question I shall not attempt to solve. “That he does endure it and well, too, is a fact everyone who has seen him row will acknowledge. He never appears to labor or to tire and the motion of his body and arms affords no clue to the wonderful pace he gets on his craft. “It is true that he slides some inches longer than any other oarsman ever did – over twenty-six inches [66cm], and that his knees go down at the same time that his arms straighten.577 This no doubt eases the strain in such a manner as to enable the Canadian to keep at his work long after his antagonists quit. “When he goes forward for his ‘grip’ he has a round back, his knees are up under his arm-pits and his whole appearance is a complete refutation of the doctrines promulgated by some would-be-experts and adopted in the modern schools of rowing [i.e., he did not display rigid English Orthodox posture and maximal body swing forward unencumbered by uplifted knees]. “Some people have suggested that Hanlan needs coaching. I should like to know what for – certainly not for the development of speed or staying power, for his worst enemies must concede that ‘the 577 What this cryptic sentence means is that his legs only finished their drive at the moment of the release, when the arms were straightened to begin the recovery. 156
