THE SPORT OF ROWING As it had been for Craies in 1963 and 1964, this was controversial as many clubs were still reluctant to release their best rowers. Strachan: “We wanted to get the best oarsmen in the country in one boat. Everyone wanted to do their own thing under the old system. It was a matter of being ruthless.”5473 Not everybody made themselves available, but Strachan stuck to his guns, and the 1966 squad was much more representative of the country as a whole than previous efforts. Clark: “Okay, we went through a selection program, and they had to open it up to the rest of New Zealand. They brought up Alan Webster [6’0” 184cm 190lb. 86kg] from West End, and they also brought up Gordon Trevett and John Gibbons [6’4” 194cm 186lb. 84kg] from Wellington. Webster and Gibbons both had been in the 1964 Olympic Eight, and later both made the ‘68 Eight. “There was Tommy Reid from Whakatane. He was a pretty good oarsman. And then there was Wybo Veldman [6’2” 188cm 196lb. 89kg] from Whakatane. He wasn’t selected because he was only 19, a bit young. He would go on to the 1968 Eight, the 1972 one, too, so he had a lot of rowing in him, too, that guy. “Johnny Hunter [6’5” 196cm 212lb. 96kg] and Gil Cawood [6’0” 183cm 183lb. 83kg] came up from Waikato, and they were later members of the ‘68 Eight. And then of course there was the Auckland Eight, [Stevenson’s 1963-66 NZ Champion Coxed- Four plus Tony Popplewell 6’4” 194cm 186lb. 84kg and Alex Clark 6’3” 191cm 187lb. 85kg from Eric Craies 1964 Olympic Eight, along with Norm Sharpe, and David Moselen]. “We probably had about twenty-odd rowers, a good group with a lot of experience, so we went through the selection 5473 Qtd. by McMurran, op. cit. process, selected the crew and started training. I was the reserve. Al Dryden was supposed to be in there, but unfortunately he got hepatitis. Philadelphia Clark: “We just trained for probably about three months, and Rolf thought he’d do something that other New Zealand crews hadn’t done for a long time. We’d have an away race on the way to the championships, and so he chose the U.S. Nationals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They got fourth there, and that was a sort of warm up for them.”5474 The winner was St. Catharines Rowing Club, the de-facto Canadian eight. Second was Union Boat Club, made up of Harvard and MIT oarsmen, who would represent the U.S. in Bled. Third was an experienced crew of Stanford alumni. Porter also broke the eight up into two coxed-fours, and one placed a close second to St. Catharines in that final.5475 Bled Clark: “We then proceeded on to Yugoslavia, and we were there about a month before the race. We did the training and everything else that was required of a crew, and then the races came along. “Things fell into place for them, and they qualified for the final [eliminating the United States], and the result in the final was sixth. 1 FRG 2 URS 3 GDR 4 GBR 5 YUG 5:56.28 5:58.68 5:59.43 6:01.56 6:03.11 5474 Clark, op. cit. 5475 For an American perspective on this regatta, see Chapter 102. 1514
