Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-06-22

AAGAE I'll, two representa-
S tive crews of t h s
land are to measure
blades and strokes
with the pick of
England over the
world-famous Hen
ley course. Indeed the year 1895 will be
memorable one in aquatics, for, besides
this test Of Drawn and muscle the yacht
race next September between Defender
and Valkyrie Ill will, If everything fulfills
as now predicted, be the greatest sailing
race ever recorded in history. But the
debut Of the fast eight-oared crew Of Cor
nell University on the Henley course is
row the absorbing theme among oarsmen
and until the day of the races nothing else
will be thought of among patriotic Ameri
cans who desire to see the plucky sons of
Cornell add luster and fame to their coun-
try, their university and to themselves.
Every lover of amateur sports In America
cannot but feel proud of them, for in spite
of obstacles at home they have pushed
forward and are claimed to be the fastest
crew that ever represented an American
college. In vain have they appealed to the
winners of the Yale-Harvard race to give
them chance to show them their speed; 50
they have been forced to go abread to meet
worthy foemen, and at Henley they will
have that opportunity, for they race the
strong eight of the Leander Cuba crew
made up of six members Of the winning
Oxford eight and two from Cambridge.
Britons regard the Leander crew as some
thing beyond the possibility of defeat, for
1t Is recorded that not once has this crew
been forced to lower its colors at the Hen
ley.
Light Crew and Fast Stroke.
The Cornell crew have been in constant
training for serveral months, under the
skillful eye of Charles Courtney, their
coach, and 1t goes without saying that the
crew must be exceedingly fast one or
else cunning Courtney would never have
allowed them to go to England. The crew
is exceedingly light. far TOO light say the
critics of England, but, they pull the
rapid and never ceasing forty-siX Courtney
stroke, the inventor Of that purely Ameri-
can use of slide, recover and frish knows
the advantage Of light, wiry, nevergive-up
crew. The fame of Courtney will rise or
fall by this Henley regatta, for in late
years the idea has been to take up the
long-reaching, slower English stroke. Yale,
Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and
thu Naval Academy crews are using the
English stroke, by some called the Cook"
while Courtney adheres to his fast stroke,
and every crew he has coached clings to
the style, a form easily discerned on the
Potomac river, as both the Potomac and
Columbia clubs. who have had Courtney
as coach, still instruct their new recruits
in his style. 1t Is a squirt stroke all the
time, and Hamilton, the youngster of the
Cornell crew, who has been setting the
stroke can strike a pace Of forty-eight
and keep 1t clean and as true as the slower
English stroke for the entire racing dis
lance. At a recent trial on Cayuga lake,
on a squirt finish, Hamilton jumped the
stroke to fifty-two, and the crew followed
pushing the methodical forty-six stroke
that Courtney says they must row for the
mile and $50 yards, reserving the last 200
yards Of the race for more rapid finish.
A Test of Strokes.
This race, therefore, will be the best test
of the American style of rowing as against
that of the English, for unquestionably the
crews will be the strongest the two coun-
tries possess, both typical representatives
of their lands, opponents to a degree of
the style and form of each hence the out
come will demonstrate more than ever the
relative qualities of the two styles of row.
Every oarsman of this country who has
had the various styles inStilled into him by
different coaches will await the result
most anxiously, and as the majority ad-
here to the rapid stroke of their country
they have pinned their faith to Cornell,
and, If it wins, then farewell to the Henley,
Oxford and the so-called Bob Cook stroke
that some have been trying TO introduce in
this country.
Quarters of the Crew.
Cornell crew is now at Henley, and though
the English critics generally are against
It, the crew is making a favorable i'm
preston among the oarsmen. 1t is train
ing some distance from Henley, and
the fact as pointed out by Atkinson, the
aquatic authority of England, is apparent
that it is the most formidable foreign
crew that has ever entered for the grand
challenge.
Here in Washington there Is a large con-
tingent Of Cornell graduates, and naturally
there Is the keenest anxiety over the re-
suit; and, besides, there is that strong
American feeling that wants to see Amer
lean pluck conquer the beefy Britishers
every time. Besides this, there is Wash
ington boy in the crew, Mr.. Geo. p. Dyer,
son of Lieut.. Dyer of the navy, now sta
toned at Annapolis and this makes the in
terest here all the stronger. The crew, as
selected Saturday last by Coach Courtney,
is as follows: Bow, F. B: Mathews, '96,
Buffalo, N. Y; No. 2, E. o. Spillman, '97,
Tonawanda. N. Y; No. 8. E. C. Hagger.
'95. Buffalo. N. Y; No. 4, F. w. Freeburn,
'97, Ithaca, N. Y; No. g. Thomas Fennell,
'97, Elmira, N. Y; No. 8, George P. Dyer,
'95, Washington, d. c.; No. 7, C. A. Lewis,
'97, Brooklyn, N. Y; stroke, Tom Hamilton,
Washington, Ontario; coxswain, F. B. Col
ston, Buffalo, N. Y.
The Argonauts.
The other American crew that will visit
Henley this year Is the Argonaut crew of
Toronto, Canada, at present the American
champion four-Qared crew, a title it has
won the past two years against the cream
of crews of this country. 1t Is wonder
fully fast crew, and Is as follows: R. G.
Munty, l; F. H. Thompson, 2; E. A. Thomp-
son, 3, and G. A. Munty, stroke.
The people of Canada feel that they will
win the Stewards cup. holding that when
their crew rowed for it in 1885 they lost
by fuke. They, like the Cornells, adhere
to the fast stroke and have been coached
by the famous sculler, Edward Hanlan.
These are the two American crews that
early in July will meet the pick of England,
and whose ambition has the applause Of all
Americans.
The Henley Regatta.
The Henley regatta was inaugurated In
1889, has come to be by all odds the great
est aquatic event Of the year in England,
equaling in popular enthusiasm the annual
| race between the universities of Oxford and
Cambridge earlier in the season. From ev-