12 Dec 2011
What made 1978 so memorable?
Don Rowlands was the president of the organising committee when the World Rowing Championships were last in New Zealand in 1978. Rowlands talks to World Rowing about what made those World Rowing Championships so memorable for him.
“We were all volunteers and for one and a half years we spent every week-end and public holiday down here (at Lake Karapiro) preparing the course, building platforms for the 2000 and 1000 metre starts [women raced 1000 metres at that time].
“We constructed the finish tower over five weekends with material we graciously received and while we were building it, a Mr. Johnson, who was at the lake with his kids, came and said he’d like to help us to solve our biggest problem. At that moment our biggest problem was the food hall. As he was building houses he said we should leave it to him. He took out a bank loan and prepared several houses at the regatta course. He sold these after the championships. The only payment he asked for all this work was the interest on the bank loan – amazing!
“Auckland City also helped a lot by supplying busses for each team. The driver of each bus was living with the team which meant they had no timing constraints for the transport. And there are more examples like this. Food was bought locally at wholesale prices and cooked by the army cooks who are really very good cooks – great nutritious value and cheap so that no restriction of quantity was set for the athletes. They were very happy and so were we because we made a $153,000 profit!
“On the emotional side, the closing ceremony stays as a highlight for me. The Marines’ Band played a farewell song which said “Soon you’ll be sailing far across the sea; when you’ll return, you’ll find me waiting here” and as you see 32 years later we were waiting for you! When the band played, all athletes were around the podium and all spectators joined in for the song. It was a very special moment. A hundred thousand spectators came here and could park really close because we had arrangements with the farmers.
“Two more things that jump into my head are that we paid TV to be here by the sponsorship we received from the Guardian Royal Exchange of London, a sponsorship I arranged over the phone.
“Personally I distinguished myself by breaking my hand and spent the World Championships with a cast. My wife said that, although I was the chief executive of a large manufacturing company, the World Championships kept me more awake than my job. Both the 1978 and the 2010 World Rowing Championships are very important for New Zealand because of the economic gain and the international countries here.”
Lesley Milne competed in the first New Zealand women’s boat in a World Championship event, in the women’s coxed four. At the 1978 World Championships, she was in charge of women’s rowing.
“It was interesting because I had to think about what to so especially for women. I ended up doing hospitality. I found it a great privilege to be involved and even more because I pulled down one of the flags at the end. But I must say that my nicest memory was to be granted the World Champs. Don Rowlands convinced Thomas Keller to come and have a look.
“It was a new thing for New Zealand and we had to get the expertise to stage a world event because we don’t often have big events. Another great moment for me was to greet the Chinese delegation at the airport; they were very different from today, quite small and new to the world.”
FISA Executive Committee Council Representative Tricia Smith rowed in the Canadian eight in 1978 and was very impressed by the amount of spectators “We had 40,000 people here and you really wondered where they were coming from as at that time they were no houses around. The fields were filled by cars and it reminded me of the film “Fields of Dreams” in which an Iowa corn farmer builds a baseball diamond in his fields because he heard a voice whisper, "If you build it, he will come."
“The army cooking for us was spectacular as was the beauty of the course and the genuine enthusiasm of Kiwis for sport. It was the first time I was asked for an autograph!”
“But the wind was also there and my race was one of those postponed. As we were waiting in lane 6, very close to the umpire boat, I heard Thomas Keller saying that the race was postponed for an hour and we promptly went away. We were so wet because of the waves that we wanted to change as soon as possible. Our race started an hour later but it’s very difficult to be as well mentally prepared after it has been postponed. I always think about my experience in 1978 when we have to make a decision to postpone a race or not. In Athens (2004 Olympics), everybody proposed to postpone for an hour but I managed to prevent it as the race course was fair and rowable.
“Another memory is the unjustified pressure our coach put on us to come and fix our boats when we arrived, that is to say in the dark and of course we lost some fittings! As a president of the Bulgarian federation I often think about this as well. In fact, I realise that I learned a lot in the 1978 World Championships I still use today.”
Three French former boat mates are also here and they feel some nostalgia; Roland Weill, Jean Raymond Peltier and Charlie Imbert went back to see the hotel they stayed in in 1978.
Roland Weill, Vice-President of the French Federation raced to silver in the men’s quadruple scull. “I remember the amount of spectators; they were so spontaneous. I’ve never seen this anywhere else. The Kiwis were also incredibly enthusiastic because they never saw a world event like this. It really was as if there was something in the air, it was really touching. I also remember being blinded by the sun while going to the start on the final day because the sun reflected off the windshields of all the cars parked in the fields around the race course.”
Jean-Raymond Peltier, French coach, also part of the silver French quadruple sculls. “We felt, and still feel, here a particular state of mind. Everything seems calm, serene especially in comparison with the Europeans which are always excited. It gives the feeling they are able to preserve themselves from the very stressful world of business. My son is rowing here, 32 years later and for me it’s actually huge!”
Charlie Imbert, coaching the men’s single for Monaco here, participated in the French eight. “New Zealand had something mythical for us, not only the country, but also the NZ eight of 1972 and rugby. The championships in New Zealand also meant a different season because we had to cope with a longer season and the group stayed at lot more together than usual. I must say I’m a little bit nostalgic and would like to go back in time; actually it did not change that much, it’s more luxuous but the atmosphere is still as nice!”