Hanlan Boat Club - Toronto's Competitive Rowing Club

Our journey to Australia started with me finding in December 2008, in a Toronto used bookstore, by chance, a great paperback, 2004, out of print now, called "Four Men In A Boat" which is the story of Sir Steven Redgrave, five-time Olympic gold medallist, and his four that won gold at the very same rowing course in Penrith, in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, Sydney, Australia. Incidently, Redgrave is launching a book called "Inspired" on November 1st, 2009. Redgrave was an ambassador to the World Masters Games 2009, and so he should be. He was one of the greatest oarsmen in the modern age.

Before I left, I managed to have an article prepared for The Toronto Sun which appeared on October 6th, 2009, "Masters Games in 1985 showed why we need Pan Ams".

What a memorable trip that we had overseas at the World Masters Games in Australia. It wasn't just about rowing. Marilee and I enjoyed our time in Sydney, touring the streets and shopping downtown, and sampling the restaurants. We landed on Friday October 2nd, and stayed for the first 5 days at Swissotel at Market and George Street. They had a fitness room with a Concept 2 ergometer. Needless to say, I used it for 30 minute sessions!

There were some great restaurants as well. We found a two-for-one deal at the Hawkesbury Hotel in Windsor, $33.00 for two, and a generous steak dinner each. We found a $10.00 per steak dinner deal at the Bourbon Hotel restaurant in downtown Sydney. And the Italian food was excellent at Fratelli Paradiso on Challis Avenue in Sydney. Our bed and breakfast, Simpson's Hotel, Potts Point, was a wonderfully restored heritage building. A nice way to end our trip on the final three days before we returned to Canada. I'd also recommend Qantas Airways highly, to and from Los Angeles and Sydney. Their food and service was excellent, all complimentary.

The first two days had some rain and mist and so we went on the Hunter Valley wine tour, and the Blue Mountains tour, organized by AAT Kings. We saw three interesting wineries, including Lindeman's, Hunter Valley Wine Estate, and Oakvale, tasted plenty of white and red, and purchased a red wine known as "Convicts and Catholics". Along the route, we stopped at a small village and had tea and scones and, of course, devon cream and raspberry jam with it. The next day, we saw the Three Sisters rock formation, peaking out of the mist that day at Echo Point, saw the blue haze atop the cliffs, caused by the eucalyptus tree's leafy reflection from the sun, and visited the local wildlife park zoo where all kinds of birds and animals were there, including the Koala bears, kangaroos, finches, pelicans, and the Tasmanian Devil. Along the mountain road, we saw the Eastern Crimson Rosella bird, like the bright red and blue macaw, and the Kookaburra bird, white with brown wing markings. We also learned that kangaroo mothers can literally decide whether to have a boy or girl between conception and birth.

Before we left for Clarendon, just 20 minutes north of Penrith, the rowing site, I made a two-hour train trip to our sister city, Toronto, New South Wales, Australia, on Lake Macquarie. I had an amazing time, researching Ned Hanlan and the origin of renaming this sailing resort town. The city was originally called Ebenezer by Rev. Lancelot Threlkeld. Then the Excelsior Land, Investment and Building Company and Bank Ltd. acquired the waterfront land and called it the Toronto Estate. They printed a sales brochure that referred to our Ned Hanlan as the world champion sculler and, in effect, used his fame and notoriety to sell property lots in 1887. So it wasn't solely renamed to honour Hanlan. It was called Toronto to sell real estate.

I visited the local Toronto Public Library and, amazingly, there was a sculling oar on the wall. I asked the librarians the history of it and they explained that a local resident had carved two oars from the timbers of the Toronto Methodist Church, in honour of Ned Hanlan. They took photos of me holding the oar and I felt like a celebrity, trading research on Hanlan.

I was escorted by a librarian to the heritage railway station and met the local historian, Max, who also was very excited to see me coming from Canada to do research. We also traded information and photographs about Toronto and Hanlan.

While the regatta was happening, we escaped to make side trips, for instance, to see Katoomba, and the heritage Carrington Hotel (first opened in 1882) overlooking the valley, named after Lord Carrington, first Governor of New South Wales. And what a grand palace this is, having recently been restored to its former glory, with stained glass, Ming dynasty vases, mahogany furniture, the finest silver and china. We stopped for high tea and enjoyed scones and jam, yet again. We went to the Enniskillin Orchard for tea and the proprietor pulled out a dusty wine bottle, Inniskillin, from Niagara-on-the-Lake, explaining that the name came from the Inniskillin regiment in Niagara that defended the Canadian border, way back when, during the 1800s.

After the regatta, Marilee and I took the Rivercat ferry from Darling Harbour to the Sydney Rowing Club. They have two boathouses, one for the Sydney High School Rowing Club and the other is Sydney Rowing Club. Their facility is modern and wonderful, with a restaurant, patio, bar, and casino. There are upwards of 60 silver trophies, and extensive framed photos and write-ups on famous Sydney oarsmen such as Edward Trickett, George Towns, and our first Hanlan club captain, Bob Pearce. Interesting that only one wooden plaque displayed is the Canadian Amateur Rowing Association award for Lightweight Women's Pair 1980. They have a beautiful old flag under glass that has the following inscription: "This standard was flown at Henley Royal Regatta 1912, when Sydney Rowing Club won the Grand Challenge Cup. Her Majesty Queen Mary followed the race in the Umpire's launch, and subsequently presented the trophy to the Sydney crew. Dieu Et Mon Droit." An interesting text on the wall reads: "On Dec. 14, 1993, the club finally consents to allow female members."

While in Sydney downtown, by chance, at the market, by the waterfront, I ran into an Australian oarsmen that was in Toronto in August 1985, at the very first World Masters Games! As a Don Rowing Club member, I was heavily involved as a host and volunteer in 1985, in charge of boat loans for over 800 athletes, among numerous other tasks on Centre Island through 5 days of competition, including the FISA Veterans International regatta. Peter Stroud was stroke of the Australian Men's D Eight when it won the championship eight race, taking the gold that summer, and I captured his crew with my camera that day in 1985. I brought the picture with me and presented it to him. He was so happy to have it. He does wood art from dead or fallen trees in the outback and so we bought one of his wooden bowls. What an amazing coincidence that I should meet a fellow competitor that I had not seen in 25 years!

The regatta itself was memorable, and the course was beautiful, even with the disappointment of races being cancelled after a few early morning events on each of the final two days due to high winds. Everything was run like clockwork, and the races were three minutes apart. The practice, warm-up area was large, and each boat was guided into the proper lane at the top of the buoyed course, so you rowed without power, gradually, to the start line, with boats lined up together, step-by-step. The pontoons, with boat holders grasping your stern, had stoplights that flashed red, then when yellow flashed and the horn sounded, you started your race. Safety boats were off to the side. No power boats followed the races which was a pleasure. If boats had a problem, you were asked to steer to either Lane 0, on the far side, or Lane 10, on the near side, closest to the grandstand and finish tower. The announcer was effective, keeping up interest and excitement, and he paid attention to our Hanlan crews, mentioning Ned Hanlan, more than once. The names of Australian clubs were sometimes quite humorous: Toughen Up Princess, Aramoho Wanganui, Gold Coast Surfers, Dragons, Vintage Vikings, Yarra Yarra, and Cats Old Tarts and Farts. There were about 45 athletes from Alaska with club names such as Kenai Crewsers Alaska. They can practice at midnight because of the eternal sun up north!

We met Canadians from Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Calgary, and Saskatchewan. We must have been the only Canadians from east of the Prairies.

Then there was Crocodile Dundee, known as "Mr. Fix It", who rescued everyone who had a problem with rigging and bolts. He's repaired boats at regattas for 38 years so he knew how to do it. "Those Russians took my prize wrench and never gave it back," John muttered to me. "I like you Canadians. You're friendly and you always return my tools." There was the usual chatter about who has rented what boat. We had a bad Sykes single named the "Newby" that steered to starboard, and in my race, also leaned to port. But fortunately, my "Zeke Morgan" Sykes single was better, and I had that one for two single races.

One disappointment was the length of time at registration, Sydney Olympic Park. We arrived at 2:45 p.m. on October 7th, before the 3 p.m. start for registration. We still lined up for about 40 minutes outside, and then 1 hour inside, to register for the Games. I heard that other people lined up for 3, 4 or 5 hours! They contracted an outside company to handle registrations and they did a poor job of it.

On October 11th, the Sydney Olympic Park opening ceremonies were fun but our Hanlan crew had to stand for at least 2 hours, apparently, outside in a line-up, marshalling for the parade of athletes, grouped in each sport. Fortunately, Marilee and I arrived just before everyone walked into ANZ Stadium. I recall one lady saying, "Don't you have netball in Canada? It's a favourite sport in Australia!" Just for fun, they made us walk into the stadium backwards, as in, rowing backwards. LOL. But there was none of the wearing of coloured t-shirts and doing the audience wave (remember, we had to wear orange for rowing) for each sport that we experienced in Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium in 2005.

On the final day, after we knew the races were cancelled, we set about trading shirts and hats. I traded my Hanlan hat with a former Hanlan oarsman, for a Prairies "Flatlands" white golf shirt, representing the combined rowing clubs out west. I traded a Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games hat (given to me by Diane Mara, thank you!) for a Tasmania Rowing Club hat, and a 2005 World Masters Games white golf shirt for a special New South Wales Rowing Club blue long sleeve shirt. We all came away with some great trades.

Two items: One official race result posted by New South Wales was incorrect and, therefore, our Hanlan web site posted an incorrect result. Firstly, I did indeed start and finish (the official results claimed I did not start which is false) the Men's E Single on Tuesday October 13th, rowing in an estimated time of 7 minutes 55 seconds, owing to the ferocious headwind that morning at 9:50 a.m. Secondly, our Mixed C Eight, scheduled, as revised, to start at 10:44 a.m., was cancelled on Wednesday October 14th due to the windy conditions, and the results on our Hanlan web site omitted this fact by only mentioning the Mixed B Quad, scheduled, as revised, to start at 1:26 p.m., as being cancelled. Sadly, we missed both mixed events and we trained for them and we could have had a good chance for a medal at least in the quad because they were final only events, and we had raced 1,000 metres at an easy pace in 4 minutes flat at Hanlan.

On October 14th, we had a wonderful dinner with the nine of us and our spouses in downtown Sydney to celebrate our rowing exploits.

How about going to Torino, Italy, the next World Masters Games, Year 2013?

Good on ya, mate!



Richard MacFarlane