Day 4 of the Rowing Competition at the World Masters Games on the 1956 Olympic Rowing course in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, turned out to be the best yet for the Kent Mitchell Rowing Club. At issue on Day 4 for KMRC crews was the men's B4+ ( entered by 25 four man crews with cox, average age between 36 and 42), the men's 4+ (entered by 27 four man crews with cox, average age between 55 and 59 ), the D2- (entered by 21 coxless two-man pairs, average age between 50 and 54 ), and the G4- (entered by 6 four man crews without coxswain, a final only event, average age between 60 and 64)
Today's results: Gold, B4+ . Stroke Mike Still, #3 Shawn Heffernan, #2 Trevor Twitt (from Australia's Barwon Rowing Club in Geelong), Bow Sean Hall, and cox Hamish ______, a school boy from Ballarat Rowing Club. The significance of this race is that this victory assured every member of the KMRC of at least one gold medal at the World Masters Games. The conditions were again hallacious, with a weather front moving in, and a direct starboard crosswind blowing at more than 25 mph, threatening the crews equally with one foot deep swells from the starboard side after the first 300 meters of the 1000 meter course. The remarkable thing is that this regatta was so well run, that even under these conditions, worst of the 4 days by far, the 8-boat races went off on time every four minutes from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm. The KMRC crew led wire-to- wire, winning by a full boat length.
Silver, E4+, (men's coxed four, average age 55-59 ). Stroke Mike Still ( rowing his 6th 1000m race of the day in terrible conditions), #3 Larry Hough, #2 Dick Lyon, Bow Dick Draeger and cox Kent Mitchell, had their 4th slugfest with Australian Olympians from the Banks Rowing Club in Melbourne. Banks moved out to a « boat length lead by 500 meters, and held that through rough water until 250 to go. The Toowong Rowing Club was running a close 3rd, close enough to cause KMRC concern that chasing Banks too aggressively in the last 200 meters might cost them the silver. Still took the stroke up anyway, moved a bit on Banks, but not enough to overcome, and then backed off slightly in the last 10 strokes to confirm the silver medal over Toowong.
Silver, G4-, (men's coxless four, average age 60-64 ). Stroke, John Nunn, #3 Skip Spiering, #2 Bryan Belacic, Bow Boris Beljak. This crew ran in 2nd place all the way, made a courageous run for the gold in the last 20 strokes, but fell short by 2 seats for the silver medal.
Gold, D2-, (men's coxless pair). "The Zagreb Boys" , Vlado Krizek and Darko Miksic, led all the way to secure KMRC's 7th gold medal of this regatta. More significantly, they defeated the Russian pair from the Dynamo Rowing Club from Moscow, which had beaten KMRC boats twice in the A4+ and C4+ earlier in the regatta.
Regatta Summary: KMRC entered 14 events with its 13 members ( plus 2 additional rowers and 1 coxswain who were recruited on site to overcome time and other conflicts). KMRC's 13 members each won at least one gold medal, and some as many as 6 medals overall. Of the 14 events entered, KMRC rowers won half of them, another 5 were 2nd place finishes, and the final two were 4th place finishes.
During the regatta and the practice day before racing began, weather conditions produced hail, pelting rain, freezing cold temperatures and warm sun, headwinds, direct crosswinds, cross tailwinds from both port and starboard, headwinds coming directly down the course and from both sides, and dead flat ideal conditions. Every imaginable condition existed to test the crews from hour to hour. Still the Victoria Rowing Associatiat organizing committee and Fisa officials managed to run 8-lane races every four minutes on time, to complete over 600 races in 4 days. Hats off to Brian Vear, Regatta Chairman, and Peter Fraser, President of Victoria Rowing, and their colleagues.