Australians at 1957 Henley Royal Regatta

Sydney Rowing Club (NSW) - Stuart Mackenzie

Mackenzie won the President's Cup in 1957 easily and also won the NZL Championship from Don Rowlands.

His racing at Henley Royal was tight. The final was against the Russian Olympic Champion, Viatcheslav Ivanov, who had defeated Mackenzie in 1956. Mackenzie turned the table in the final but only by 4 feet.

Harry Gordon in his book Young Men in a Hurry reported as follows: He practised gamesmanship unashamedly, and generally appeared to enjoy himself immensely every time he went on the river. This, to Englishmen dedicated to the proposition of competing and, let's face it, losing earnestly and sportingly, was a very bad show indeed. 

In 1957, not long after his arrival in Britain, Mackenzie demon­strated that he was fast gaining the experience which had missed so much at the 1956 Games. A couple of days before the Diamond Sculls he agreed to a training row against Ivanov, who was also competing at Henley for the first time. While the Russian coaches, armed with stopwatches, studied their form, the two crack scullers pulled stroke for stroke for a few hundred yards; then Mackenzie dropped back several lengths behind, and he was slumped forward over his oars, well beaten, as he reached the finish. Ivanov roared elatedly and slapped the sides of his boat, and afterwards Mackenzie explained straight facedly to the press: ''I'm ashamed. He was too good for me-too fit, too fast." 

Certainly the work-out lulled the Russians into a considerable sense of security-but several discerning English critics wondered whether the Australian had really been flat out. In fact, he hadn't; and two days later Mackenzie became the virtual world champion by downing the Olympic gold-medallist by four feet. After the race several critics accused Mackenzie of questionable tactics in forcing the Russian into the boom lining the course, thus giving him no opportunity of overtaking. The Russians considered lodging a protest, but decided against this action, since there had been no direct interference. 

Mackenzie defended his tactics heatedly. "Sure I gave him my wash", he said. "That was how I planned it. I know these Russians. If you let them get in front of you, they give you their wash. All I did was play it their way. I got away fast and crossed into the middle of the river. I got a few warnings from officials, but I didn't actually hit Ivanov, so there can't be any question of disqualification. You have to remember ... sculling's a matter of tactics, like, say, bike riding." And that was that. 

Later in 1957 Mackenzie showed the critics that his win against the Russian Master of Sport had been neither a fluke nor simply the result of giving him his wash. He won the European title at Duisburg, Germany, skimming over the 2000-metres course nine seconds faster than Bobby Pearce had done in the 1928 Olympics at Amsterdam.