THE ERA OF POLARIZATION 3. Richard Hull 4. Hugh Pelham 5. Tony Ward. Strokeside: 1. Chris Huntington 2. Chris Penny 2. Gavin Stewart 4. Donald Macdonald 5. Paul Gleeson On strokeside, Macdonald was “a little more than a second”7529 behind Stewart and Penny, while Gleeson was a bit further back. Clark was nowhere to be seen because he had yet to make himself available for a single seat race all year. Gill accuses Macdonald of having “the advantage of knowing which of them was to be seat raced that day” thanks to private strategy sessions with Topolski, whom she characterized as actively protecting him.7530 Indeed, according to his diary, Macdonald knew he would be seat racing Clark the night before the boatings were announced,7531 and he knew it was for real. Macdonald: “It was the race of my life.”7532 However, Macdonald was not alone in that knowledge. According to every participant and every retelling of the story, every man on the crew assumed that Macdonald would be seat racing Clark. Every one. So much for any presumed “advantage” that Macdonald might have had. Topolski has written that on this crucial day in Henley he had originally intended to seat race Clark against Huntington, “but Hunt called in sick, so I decided to substitute Gavin Stewart, who was by now extremely close to the American camp. But he also 7529 Topolski, p. 125 7530 Gill, pp. 77, 85, 86 7531 Topolski, p. 130 7532 Kiesling, op. cit, p. 93 called in sick.”7533 Though Topolski doesn’t suggest a conspiracy in his book, after speaking directly to the oarsmen, Kiesling definitely does.7534 Topolski was intentionally being forced into a corner. Topolski has firmly stated that when he finally decided to seat race Clark against Macdonald, it was his only option left and he was only testing Clark’s fitness against a known quantity before insisting that he again switch back to bowside where the team needed him.7535 Topolski: “That race would be run to test Clark rather than his opponent. I knew all about his opponents. They had proved themselves many times over.”7536 In retrospect, this flew in the face of universal perception, as the entire crew had already come to a very different conclusion, namely that the race was for the last seat on strokeside. In addition, all the seat racing that day was severely compromised. In the very first race, Pelham’s footstretcher broke, invalidating that race and any comparison to any other race. They should have started over right then. And then of course the Macdonald/Clark switch was anticipated by all beforehand, allowing some to call in sick and the others who did row in the two coxed-fours to attempt to influence the results if they so chose. Further, according to Gill, “those who had rowed with both Macdonald and Clark had no doubts that Clark would be taking the fourth seat on strokeside, which would leave Macdonald on the bank.”7537 Self-fulfilling prophesy. Then the seat racing was allowed to proceed despite material differences in ratings between the two boats, universally 7533 Topolski, p. 128 7534 Kiesling, op. cit., p. 92 7535 Topolski, p. 128 7536 Ibid, p. 125 7537 Gill, p. 81 2095
