John R Towns

Mosman Rowing Club (NSW)

1908 - Interstate Men's Sculling Championship - Second

1909 - Interstate Men's Sculling Championship - First

John Robert Towns (1882-1968), was a younger brother of George and Charlie Towns who emulated his siblings with an impressive winning record as a young man in regattas in Newcastle around the turn of the century. Moving to Sydney, he was a member of Sydney Mercantile RC when he represented NSW in the race for amateur sculling championship of Australia in 1908 before winning the title in Brisbane in 1909. Although winning it was reported that he did not row well, having a bad fault of 'hanging' at the catch and finish.

John Towns from 1908 Interstate Championships program

Colin Charters
Extracted from his book Just Add Water - the Times an Tides of Newcastle Rowing Club, published by Seaview Press 2009

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The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

© Andrew Guerin – 2004
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