THE SPORT OF ROWING fourteen times and the Maadi Cup, the New Zealand national schoolboy title, eight times.”5426 The Maadi Cup Jim Renaut tells the story of the origin of the Maadi Cup. Apparently it all began with Kiwi troops stationed in Egypt in 1940. When they had organized a Head of the River race on the Nile, a cup was presented to the Army team, mislaid and eventually replaced by a General Freyberg, O.C., 2nd NZEF. Renaut: “This Freyberg Cup was later handed to the Cairo River Club for competition within the club. In response, Dr. Youssef Bahgat, the Egyptian Champion sculler, asked the New Zealanders to accept one of his own cups as a token of friendship, and to ensure that this one was not lost, it was offered safe conduct back to the NZARA with a request that it be used to foster rowing among secondary schools. It was named the Maadi Cup and is now the centrepiece of the Secondary School Association’s annual regatta. “The Freyberg Cup itself was later returned to New Zealand and is now the trophy competed for by the men’s single scullers at the Championships.”5427 After 1950 Two men from Craies’ 1950 West End Eight, Bill Tinnock and Kerry Ashby, rowed in a composite coxed-four at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The boat failed to advance past the repêchages. Two years later, according to Conway, seven members of Craies’ West End squad, including four members of the 1950 Eight, “were selected to represent New Zealand at the 1954 British Empire 5426 G. Craies, op. cit. 5427 Renaut, op. cit., p. 6ff and Commonwealth Games at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It should be said that an obvious injustice was done to Eric Craies by the New Zealand selectors in passing him over as coach of the team, for at the time he was undoubtedly New Zealand’s outstanding coach.”5428 The West End Coxed-Four won a Silver Medal in Vancouver,5429 and Don Rowlands from the 1950 West End Silver Medal Eight won Gold in the singles. Popplewell: “For the 1956 Olympic in Melbourne, the Council Games nominated a sort of composite crew put together at West End Rowing Club by Eric Craies. They were rejected by the NZ Olympic Committee selectors, so they did not go.”5430 The boat contained four rowers and the coxswain from that year’s New Zealand Champion West End Senior Eight and three rowers from Queens Drive Boating Club, situated in Port Chalmers, near Dunedin5431 on the South Island, about eight hundred miles from Auckland. The final rower, Mark Irwin, rowed for Otago University Rowing Club, Dunedin. Irwin, the 4-seat, also played front row forward for the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team, in their 1956 game against the South African Springboks. Grant Craies: “Dad said it was a real shame that they didn’t go because they were clocking world-class times in training.”5432 Mark Irwin in 2009: “Eric Craies was a mild mannered, not particularly athletic man who had very special skills in managing not only the rowing ability of his crews but also the way they managed their lives. He was also a multi-skilled master of the small 5428 Conway, pp. 147-8 5429 The winner of the race was Australia rowing in Clipper Too. See Chapter 61. 5430 Popplewell, op. cit. 5431 emphasis on the second syllable, a long e. 5432 G. Craies, op. cit. 1500
