History of AAGPS Head of the River Rowing Regatta

1981 NSW AAGPS Head of the River

Kings of the River (Warwick Hadfield, Sydney Morning Herald, 05 Apr 1981)

In heavy drizzle on the flooded Nepean River the Kings School yesterday won the GPS Regatta glamour event, the First Eights, for the second successive year.

Among the also-rans early in the GPS rowing calender, the Kings crew, heaviest in the race, benefited least from the extra water in the river following heavy rain during the week.

However, friends of the Kings’ coach, Ken St. Heaps, were not surprised at his team’s turnabout. St. Heaps greeted congratulations after the race with a broad smile. But he denies there was anything cunning about his method of concentrating on the Head of the River meeting at the expense of other events.

“Nobody remembers much about the few short races on the rivers close to Sydney,” St Heaps said. “It’s the big one here they remember.”

So while Newington College dominated the preliminary meets, St Heaps was content to watch his charges filling the minor places. Off the race scene, however, he pushed the Kings boys through more than 1600 grueling kilometers, building up for yesterday’s 2400 metre race for the Major Rennie trophy.

Senior 1st Eight

Major Rennie Trophy

7:20.45

1 length

4 lengths

1^st The King’s School – Bow: A. Figtree, 2: T. Higgs, 3: R. Groom, 4: N. McKanna, 5: R. Pilcher, 6: H. Nivison, 7: G. Reid, Str: J. Selgl, Cox: L. MacLean

2^nd Newington

3^rd St. Ignatius’ College

4^th St. Joseph’s College

5^th Sydney High

6^th Scots College

7^th Shore

8^th Grammar

Senior 2nd Eight

7:36.10

3 lengths

1 ½ lengths

1^st Shore – Bow: I. Capel, 2: P. Woodhill, 3: B. Miskell, 4: C. Wood, 5: A. Stuart, 6: S. Bannister, 7: T. Dowsett, Str: D. Hawke, Cox: G. Francis

2^nd Newington

3^rd The King’s School

4^th Grammar

5^th St. Joseph’s College

6^th Scots College

7^th St. Ignatius’ College

8^th Sydney High

Senior 1st Four

Yaralla Cup

5:23.61

1 ½ lengths

3 lengths

1^st The King’s School – Bow: C. White, 2: J. Lewis, 3: D. Adams, Str: A. Braddock, Cox: A. Cox

2^nd Grammar

3^rd Sydney High

4^th St. Joseph’s College

5^th Scots College

6^th Shore

7^th Newington

8^th St. Ignatius’ College

Senior 2nd Four

5:46.37

1 ½ lengths

1^st Shore – Bow: J. Sampson, 2: P. Bernerius, 3: S. Gibson, Str: A. Thompson, Cox: J. Garnock

2^nd St. Ignatius’ College

3^rd Sydney High

4^th St. Joseph’s College

5^th Newington

6^th Grammar

7^th The King’s School

8^th Scots College

Senior 3rd Four

5:41.90

2 ½ lengths

½ length

1^st Grammar – Bow: A. Grant, 2: D. Burn, 3: I. Balley, Str: A. Kibble, Cox: R. Braun

2^nd Newington

3^rd The King’s School

4^th St. Joseph’s College

5^th Shore

6^th Scots College

7^th St. Ignatius’ College

8^th Sydney High

Senior 4th Four

5:50.34

2 ½ lengths

1 length

1^st Newington – Bow: R. McConnell, 2: T. Donnollan, 3: G. Curtain, Str: R. McIntyre, Cox: S. White

2^nd St. Ignatius’ College

3^rd Shore

4^th Scots College

5^th Grammar

6^th The King’s School

7^th St. Joseph’s College

8^th Sydney High

< previous 1980

> next 1982

top of page

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, errors may exist. Please send advice of any errors or inaccuracies by email to:

Also your comments, suggestions and photos are sought to enhance this site.

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
These contents of this history are copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. However given that the purpose of the history is to assist rowers and rowing clubs, written permission is not required for non-commercial usage by rowers and rowing clubs provided acknowledgement is made.

Disclaimer: Whilst extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied, the editors take no responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from inaccuracies contained in this work.

1981 NSW AAGPS Head of the River

Senior 1st Eight

Senior 2nd Eight

Senior 1st Four

Senior 2nd Four

Senior 3rd Four

Senior 4th Four

NSW AAGPS Head of River

Summaries