1977 NSW AAGPS Head of the River

Newington Still Head of River (Sydney Morning Herald, 03 Apr 1977)

Newington won their second successive GPS Head of the River championship on the Nepean River at Penrith yesterday.

The superbly drilled Newington eight surged to the line to-and-a-half lengths clear of their rivels Shore, with Scots a half-a-length further back third. Newington cleared away from the rest of the field in the final 1,000 metres to cover the 2,400-metre course in 7 minutes 49.8 seconds.

It was the first time in the school’s history that Newington has captured the coveted GPS classic in successive years.

Shore, installed as firm favourites, admitted that they had committed a tactical blunder in the first 500 metres.

Coach Ken St Heaps said that the crew were over-confident in the early stages of the race.

“At the time they were comfortably leading the Riverview crew on the inside lane and they consequently thought they were better placed to Newington than they were,” he said.

By the time Shore realized their error, Newington had stolen a march on the rest of the field.

Newington’s win silenced critics, who had written them off after Shore won the NSW youth eight championships last weekend.

Newington coach, Olympic silver medalist Mike Morgan, said that the crew had the extra incentive to make history.

“They made the most of their opportunities,” he added.

Morgan said that he was confident his crew would win the race after they snatched the lead from Scots nearly 1,000 metres after the start.

“All season we have been forced to chase the leaders before winning, but today it was the other crews who did the chasing,” Morgan said.