1982 NSW AAGPS Head of the River

Kings notch up three in a row (Sydney Morning Herald, 28 Mar 1982)

The Kings School overcame a sabotage attempt to win their third successive Head of the River at the GPS rowing regatta on the Nepean yesterday.

Kings, spurred by their coxswain Lachlan McLean, slaughtered their rivals over the closing stages and finished three lengths clear of Grammar. Shore was third only a canvas ahead of Scots after the two crews had fought out a gripping stroke-for-stroke battle over the final 200 metres.

Kings’ time for the 2,400 metres was a fast 7m 36.21s and completed a fine double for the Parramatta school which took out the second eights in 7m 41.30s. Earlier in the day it was discovered that someone had tampered with the Kings crew’s oars and moved the buttons several centimeters. But the sabotage in time for coach Ken St. Heaps and the crew to fix it before the race. Clearly, the intention was to upset the rhythmic stroking style of the heavy-weight crew.

“It was a little bit disconcerting to find someone could stoop so low to try and beat us this way but it had the opposite effect of really firing up my boys for a mighty effort,” said St Heaps.

St Heaps was so nervous he could not look at the race for the first several hundred metres. When he overheard that Shore had taken an early lead he raced to a television set. He need not have worried. Urged on by McLean, Kings responded magnificently to surge past Shore and by the halfway mark they led by more than two lengths.

From that point it was merely a matter of how far for the defending champions as they increased their lead with a brilliant exhibition of rowing.