History of AAGPS Head of the River Rowing Regatta

1987 NSW AAGPS Head of the River

Newington Too Good (Sydney Morning Herald, 05 Apr 1987)

Newington led all the way to win their first GPS Head of the River in 10 years at Penrith yesterday.

Brilliantly stroked by Rhett Webster and urged all the way by coxswain Marty Nicholas, Newington won by 2.56 seconds from a fast-finishing St. Joseph’s, with last year’s winner Shore in third sport, 5.52s further back.

Newington bounced out from the start to lead the heavyweight Scots crew by a quarter of a length after only 20 metres and were never headed from that point, covering the 2,400m in a fact 7m47.12s.

The win, Newington’s first in the rowing classic since 1977, was masterminded by Olympian Michael Morgan and broke the stranglehold that the Kings and Shore schools have had over the race since 1980. Newington’s victory sparked incredible scenes among the school’s supporters, scores of whom dived into the river fully clothed and swan out to the jubilant crew to offer the congratulations.

Earlier, Newington took out the second eights in a time of 8m7.33s in one of the most exciting finishes seen at a Head of the River regatta for many years.

Roared on by coxswain Keith Soames, the Newington crew came from behind to snatch victory on the line by 0.69s from Scots, with Kings in third spot 7.2 seconds further back.

Senior 1st Eight

Major Rennie Trophy

7:47.12

2.56s

5.52s

1^st Newington – Bow: D. Richards, 2: C. Johnson, 3: M. Vockler, 4: J. Reilly, 5: A. Van Der Vegt, 6: T. Richter, 7: J. Hill, Str: R. Webster, Cox: M. Nicholas

2^nd St. Joseph’s College

3^rd Shore

Senior 2nd Eight

8:07.33

0.69s

7.2s

1^st Newington – Bow: A. Bourke, 2: G. Caswell, 3: M. Friere, 4: R. Batton, 5: J. Park, 6: P. Thomas, 7: M. Tregoning, Str: K. Soames, Cox: N. Burt

2^nd Scots College

3^rd The King’s School

Senior 1st Four

Yaralla Cup

5:53.86

8.31s

4.31s

1^st Shore – Bow: P. Murphy, 2: M. Bransgrove, 3: A. Urquart, Str: E. Fenwicke, Cox: G. Hudson

2^nd The King’s School

3^rd Scots College

Senior 2nd Four

5:54.88

5.14s

6.23s

1^st Shore – Bow: P. Shepherd, 2: B. McManus, 3: C. Dowsett, Str: A. Scott, Cox: A. Bennett

2^nd St. Joseph’s College

3^rd Scots College

Senior 3rd Four

6:03.45

3.19s

2.60s

1^st Shore – Bow: W. Sidwell, 2: P. Waddington, 3: J. Halliday, Str: M. McDonald, Cox: M. Lister

2^nd The King’s School

3^rd Newington

Senior 4th Four

6:05.43

2.70s

1.23s

1^st Shore – Bow: J. Jenkins, 2: G. Beed, 3: D. Thornton, Str: S. Osborne, Cox: I. Pockley

2^nd Newington

3^rd St. Joseph’s College

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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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