THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT FISA 1991 Video Canada Women’s Eight 1991 World Champion, Vienna Neue Donau Bow Kristen Barnes, 2 Brenda Taylor, 3 Megan Delahanty, 4 Jenny Doey, 5 Marnie McBean, 6 Kathleen Heddle, 7 Jessica Monroe, Stroke Kelly Mahon, Coxswain Leslie Thompson 0°, +35° to -20°, 0-9, 0-9, 0-10 Classical Technique Concurrent Schubschlag, ferryman’s finish featuring a long pendulum arc of the back to a very strong send at the finish. FISA commentator Daniel Topolski in 1991, describing the Canadian Pair: “They’ve got the lowest rate and a very effective, very strong, solid, a very determined stroke there.”6761 You could readily see their connection to the water in the pair in ‘91. They led from the start, put open water on the defending World Champion Germans by the 1,000 and never looked back. Heddle: “I think the world of Al. He was a huge factor in our success, without a doubt, but he would be the first to say, I think, back when he was coaching us anyways, that he is not a technician. He would say, ‘You know, I’m not a technical expert like some coaches really are,’ but we would have lots of people tell us that we rowed beautifully in ‘91 and ‘92. 6761 FISA 1991 Video “We certainly worked on our technique, and we had beautiful rhythm and beautiful style, but I think a lot of it was feeling prepared. He had us mentally prepared for anything. “We never used a sports psychologist. I think it’s a lot more common now, but we really had one in Al.”6762 McBean and Heddle also rowed 5 and 6 behind stroke Kelly Mahon in the 1991 Eight. Mahon showed the same concurrent force application as Heddle and the same commitment to accelerating the boat, but she cut her layback shorter and finished the pullthrough with a more noticeable ferryman’s finish. Kathleen Heddle had begun her rowing career at the University of British Columbia. 6762 Heddle, op. cit., 2010 1873
