THE SPORT OF ROWING As the year continued, land training was discounted, disparaged and/or avoided by all the Americans. However, the testing that seemed most respected by the entire team were a 5k ergometer test in November (skipped by Clark) and seat racing during December and early January (also skipped by Clark). From these tests, three athletes on each side seemed to separate themselves from the rest of the squad and lock up their seats in the Blue Boat: Chris Huntington, Chris Penny and Gavin Stewart on strokeside, and Dan Lyons, Tom Cadoux- Hudson and Richard Hull on bowside. The lone American rower not yet seemingly assured of a spot in the final boating was Chris Clark, presumably still trying to rebound from his injury the previous summer. Ward: “After Christmas, there was a bit of an explosion with Chris on bowside, where he got totally, totally frustrated with what was going on [and lost his temper and threw a cup of soup]. The upshot of that was that Chris was going back on strokeside.”7524 Actually, this switch back to strokeside was done unilaterally by Clark behind Topolski’s back when Chris was temporarily assigned to row with Isis, the Oxford second boat. The switch violated an explicit agreement the two had. By this time, Topolski had completely lost control of Clark and very nearly lost control of the team as a whole. With the benefit of hindsight, it is perhaps too facile to lay the blame for this terrible situation on Topolski himself for his handling of the squad in general and of the Americans in particular. Later, Topolski’s every compromise and attempt at accommodation since October would be thrown back in his face as a sign of weakness and inability to make up his mind. 7524 Ward, op. cit. When Topolski later found out that Chris had placed himself back on strokeside in the Isis boat, Dan chose to temporarily allow him to continue to row there in the interest of avoiding further confrontation and because he was encouraged by Clark’s sudden progress and improved attitude. Ward: “After Chris made the switch in January, he trained and performed very well and visibly improved.”7525 Clark’s being allowed by Topolski to remain on strokeside, even for a few days, had an immediate impact on the team. It left the firm impression that Brits Tony Ward and Hugh Pelham would be competing for the final bowside seat without Chris, who would instead be fighting it out with Donald Macdonald for the last strokeside seat. Reinforcing this widespread assumption, Clark even privately promised Pelham and Ward that “he wasn’t going back on to bowside.”7526 Topolski later maintained in True Blue that he never even for a single minute entertained the possibility that Clark would ever be allowed to continue on strokeside, where he was not needed. Ward: “Then there was the famous seat race.”7527 The Famous Seat Race The seat race that everyone remembers took place on Henley Reach on Saturday, January 17, 1987.7528 During the seat racing in the days and weeks prior to that day, Topolski had already established a ladder on each side. Bowside: 1. Tom Cadoux-Hudson 2. Dan Lyons 7525 Ibid. 7526 Gill, p. 82 7527 Ward, op. cit. 7528 Gill, p. 85. Topolski, p. 127, says it was a Friday. 2094
