THE ERA OF POLARIZATION Charles. In the fall of 1981, I had started thirteenth and caught a guy at the B.U. Bridge.7112 I never thought I could catch someone that quickly. We overlapped oars. We had to totally stop and push ourselves apart, and then I had to get going again. I ended up losing to Tiff by two seconds.”7113 Wood: “After the Trials in ‘81, I knew that John was faster than I was. I remember finishing the Head that year and coming back to the boathouse and finding out that I had won, and it was probably one of the happiest rowing moments of my life. I felt like the gods had decided to give me a present. I felt like I had actually won a race I didn’t deserve to win.”7114 Biglow: “In 1982, before going home to Seattle, Tiff helped me set the course record at the Head of the Charles. Twenty-five years later, the record still stands. “As a consequence of our 1981 placings, in ‘82 I started number two, and he started number one. He was like a rabbit in a greyhound race. He pushed me to row harder than I ever could have rowed alone. “I didn’t catch him until the Riverside Boathouse,7115 and then we rowed right next to each other all the way down the Powerhouse Stretch. It wasn’t until Newell Boathouse7116 that I finally passed him and started to open up on him. Then he faded, and I lengthened my stroke, and that’s how I set my record with Tiff’s help. “Then I went out to Seattle for winter training so I could row on ice-free water, and I happened to go out for a few workouts with my old high school coach, Frank Cunningham. 7112 Boston University Bridge, about 300 meters after the start. 7113 Biglow, op. cit. 7114 Wood, personal conversation, 2009 7115 about 1,000 meters after the start. 7116 about 2,900 meters after the start and 1,900 meters from the finish. “I like to ask people’s input. I wasn’t going out there saying, ‘Frank, will you be my coach again?’ I was thinking to myself, ‘Harry’s my coach,’ but I was also wanting to share my successes with people who had helped me early on, like Frank and like Charlie McIntyre.7117 “Charlie was one of the first guys to look at me and say, ‘John, you are really moving that boat!’ I didn’t put any stock in what he said at the time, but look at what happened. “Charlie was devoted to me and so proud. I just wanted to give something back, so I went out a couple of times with Frank and with Charlie.”7118 Cunningham: “When I picked him back up, he was quite a mess after his years back East. I told him: ‘You’re going to have to forget everything you know and start all over again.’ “He was very methodical. I only coached him once a week or so, and Charlie and Stan Pocock7119 also contributed, but I remember after one session he told me, ‘Well, that’s twelve things I have to work on.’ “Every day he would work on one or two.”7120 Biglow: “Because Harry had told me I didn’t want it enough, I really pushed myself that winter. I did the workouts that Harry told me to do. They were long pieces, but because Harry had told me I didn’t want it enough and that’s why I had lost in Lucerne, I kept pushing even when my legs started to get numb. “I remember one workout vividly. It was 5 x 12 minutes or something, which I loved, and then something really scary 7117 See Chapter 87. 7118 Biglow, op. cit. 7119 See Chapter 83. 7120 Cunningham, personal conversation, 2008 1989
