The crowds at Penrith, the Sydney Rowing Lake, shouted and cheered till they were hoarse during the Olympic Regatta. But they didn't all shout - some of the races were full of emotion and not a few tears.

I shouted just once, I think - which is once more than is my custom. As the GB Eight approached the closing stage of their final, the commentator named the eight members of the GB crew, starting at bow. If you listen to the background thousands, and use a bit of imagination, you might here me shouting "What about Rowley?" The commentator got the message and included him in the next roll call.

Steve Redgrave's autobiography includes this paragraph about his very first race:

Paragraph omittted for copyright reasons. See printed Newsletter or Stev Redgrave's book.

Four friends - What about Rowley? Tut,tut, Steve. There were five people in your boat, not four. The cox helped you to win that race, even if only by avoiding some of the notorious bays on the Avon at Saltford. But perhaps the four friends included the cox, and omitted bow, who is so far from the influential stern of the boat? I doubt it, somehow, though I have known not a few bow-men who have been further from the centre of gravity of friendships within a crew than the cox, who is so often one of the most powerful characters - a vital link between coach and crew and in some sense a neutral party in tensions which can build up in a close-knit enterprise that works together for a season.

And who were the young Monktonians who let that race slip through their grasp? Steve Regrave's note of that race became of lasting interest only years later, but he was not the only one to keep records!...

I fear that mine differ from those kept by Steve. A Great Marlow crew won fours on 1st May 1976 (not as far as I can make out 1977), and the winning crew beat Monkton in the 2nd round. Monkton had beaten Marlow RC in the first round, and Great Marlow had beaten Belmont Abbey. So, it looks as if the Monkton crew was not the first to lose to Steve Redgrave. However, for the incomplete record, the Monkon crew was probably five of the following: GHE Ridgeon, AST Mumford, JJ Hodgekinson-Price, DWN Aston, DR Reynolds, PRW Boswall, JC Thresher, NP Burrows, TP Evans, coached by Rodney Musters.

JMB