THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT “There weren’t any other female scullers, and here we were in June, and Marnie had been training in the single all year and she didn’t want to hop back into the sweep program . . . so she phoned me. “It was late into the season, and I was working in Vancouver. She asked if I would row in a double with her and said that she had consulted with Al [Morrow]. “Now this isn’t how you do it in Canada. You follow the system and go through trials, but I guess they said they’d make an exception . . . “So I went back.”6820 David Goldstrom: Rowing Canada Aviron Canada Women’s Coxless-Pair 1992 Olympic Champion, Lago de Bañolas Bow Marnie McBean, Stroke Kathleen Heddle “Quite a brave decision for her.”6821 Heddle: “We both laughed and said it was good in a way because being in a different event there wouldn’t be any pressure. No expectations. It was not like we were rowing the pair again. It would just be fun!”6822 McBean: “When Kathleen came back in late ‘94, we returned to working with Al.”6823 Heddle: “So then I started training, and we had minor regattas like the Commonwealth Regatta, and then the Worlds that year were in Indianapolis, and we ended up winning the Silver!”6824 In the 1994 final on Eagle Creek, the defending World Champion New Zealand Women’s Double of Philippa Baker and Brenda Lawson quickly pushed to an open water margin over Germany, Netherlands 6820 Heddle, op. cit., 2010 6821 FISA 1994 Video commentary 6822 Heddle, op. cit., 2010 6823 McBean, op. cit., 2010 6824 Heddle, op. cit., 2010 and Canada. At the 1,000, McBean and Heddle had moved into second place by half a length, although by this point the Kiwis seemed untouchable. They were close to two lengths clear of Canada. These positions remained relatively unchanged all the way until 250 meters to go when the Dutch began to attack Canada. Ten strokes later, Heddle responded as the Germans began their own push to the line, and the field as a whole began to close on a fast fading New Zealand. Canada finished half a length behind the leaders, with Germany another half a length back and Netherlands fourth. Interestingly, bow in the German Double was Jana Thieme, the woman who had denied Marnie the singles Gold Medal the year before. Heddle: “We were thinking, ‘Oh, wow!’ and for me it was a total gift because I’d had a year and a half or more off, just keeping fit, certainly not training. “After that, I was right back in it.”6825 6825 Ibid. 1889
