The sun., 1908-08-09
CHAMPION OARSMEN ON EDGE
CRACKS TO MEET IN NATIONAL
~ REGATTA THIS WEEK.
Fine Course for the N. 4. A. o. Annual
Event az sprinsfieid Great Race BE.
tween Miller and Bennett In the sttills
Conflicting Reports About Greer.


Event At Springfield Race BE.
tween Miller and Bennett In the seuIls
Conflicting Reports About Greer
The thirty sixth annual championship
regatta Nof the National Association OF ANA
teur Oarsmen takes place on the Connecticut
River at Springfield next Friday and satur-
day, and TO judge by the list Of crack scullers
and oarsmen who have entered for the
different events the affair this year should
be great one. On the programme there
are twelve standard competitions. varied
. enough to give an opportunity to all styles
OF oarsmen and OF every grade. Along
with these there are two contests which
were put on az sort of supplement. ana
should prove more or less OF a novelty. One
Is an intermediate centipede and the other
Ia war canoe race, and this latter item
will surely turn out to be OF great local In
terest. for canoeists are plentiful In the neigh
borhood Of Springfield.
As TO the course itself there Is nothing
finer In the world. President James Pill
kington OF the N. A. A. o. has seen the best
courses In America and he has stated that he
has never yet seen anything to equal the
Connecticut RIVER. Eighteen crews. he said
could start abreast and have plenty Of room
and there are no sharp turns eddies or
swirls, 90 detrimental to good racing. The
great width OF the course means that there
will be but one heat In each race, 80 that the
really good crews will! have all the chance
possible to show themselves. Besides the
fine course and the prospects Of first class
racing. the Springfield people have gone
to a lot OF bother preparing amusement
for the visiting oarsmen There will be
auto rides. fireworks, ba nds. theatre parties
and so on.
Because OF the probably close competition
the championship sculls Is now the most
attractive race on the programme and from
the information available on the prospective
contestants the issue should be between
Durando Miller OF the New York A. G. and
Harry s. Bennett of Springfield The latter
won last year. beating Greer. Sheppard and
Miller. but for the New York A. C. man it
must be said that the race for the association
singles took much out Of him when he had
TO meet first raters so soon afterward.
As to whether Bennett is better man this
year no one knows. for SO far this season he
has not been seen In any first class company
In the singles. Early in the spring he was
reported to be unwell. but In q double with
his clubmate wsrnock he showed fair form
about q month ago. There Is no doubt about
Miller having improved. but how much better
man he ts It is impossible to say. He won
every event he started in this year. and
In every case with q lot to spare. and showed
high class form In handling his sculls.
In fact no amateur on this side OF the water
has better method than Miller. for. like tho
professionals. he makes every stroke tell and
he rows 1t out at the beginning as well as at
the end Of the race. There Is no nervous
digging. darting or squirting on the part OF
Miller; he simply drives steadily along and
never pays the least attention to the others
In the race. only that he keeps his weather
eye on the leader. how far he Is ahead or how
far he himself Is In the van.
When Miller won the association singles at
Phlad elphia last year he covered the mile
and half in minutes ?-5 seconds, and this
is Al s-5 seconds faster than the record made
Ss aiio~ed allow q for o the uE turn which %' was eond
mark. mar ~ For For this same @ event we Frank B. Greer
has record OF Q minutes II seconds, but
sea1 on a. R1s4 on
For 'i the " champIonship S SOULS 'B Bennett has
ne Sad the S eo which surely
amounts to a few seconds above that with
turn.
times. and he holds the record for the course
formance took place on Lake ouinsisamond.
near Worcester, IN 1908. when he covered the
utes ssN seconds, and this Is more than twenty
seconds faster than the best time made by
Titus in 1902 When Titus won again In 1903
v
the identical course on which Greer made the
record.
Just T. T. hard tS know VIII what se5t ,si Of
that Jim Ten Eyek. the veteran professional.
Sis old form Against this story there Is .
rumOr that Greer ,Is not training at all and
and 9n tS.s he even o1a WORSE seas shape ss
year. when he finished length or so behind
sr as to say that Greer win no. BE- sss sssn IN
the race when the time comes:
For the last two years Or g Greer appeared
tie snap and dash which carried him ahead
% ss sre.e q
n d like his old fern the viii
shepheard ef tie seawsnhsfs B. G. ~ili try
n
race in. him yet il he would only train strictly:
A couple OF years ago he used to make the local
HSf * Md sCs he
gave Greer the race Of his life.
Sss S sss hs % Ss % .ssdss ss. as
Known would make a capital rscs were no
q the Nassau S . Ja%es s Miller s 81 Of tRe
HELD, JOhn ONeln OF the 81. Mary 9 A. A. OF
Halifax, n. s.. and David McEntee Of
the Metropolitan. r.. c, Warnock won the
intermediate singles last year In the cracking
good time Of Q minutes I6 as seconds and on
this account Is much fancied this year. He
has had q fine spell Of coaching with Bennett
which should stand to him In the race, especi-
ally as he IL a cool headed chap and knows
how to take advantage Of everything that
would aid him In the contest.
ONeill Ia a gritty little man and rows a
race remarkable for steadiness and good
steering He rowed second to Durando
Miller last year. and as reports from the
Maritime Province Is to the effect that he
has not gone back he will make matters
warm for the boys this trip, Jim Miller
has sho wn impro vement, but is yet a trifie
ON the light side. However, Coach Gianinni
thinks he has weight enough Mehrhoff is In
splendid shape; that Is. to Judge by the last
time he appeared In competition. For style,
and finish he 10 fine performer with sculls
and. bar accident, he should be there at the
fall Of the hag. Nc Entee has plenty Of
strength and should some day be heard from
TO advantage but just now he is O bit short
Of experience In his shell boat
Very little enthusiasm has been aroused
over the prospects Of stiff tussle In the senior
eights. for the reason that II has been generally
concluded that the New York A. c. eight
will walk away with the Woodlawn challenge
cup and banner this trip Probably the idea
has been created by the manner In which all the |
boat club crews have been polished of along
With several OF the college eiehts, by Gianinnis
men this spring. At the present moment II
looks to be easy for the New Yorka excant