Editorial- The Invisible Heroes
by nzeditor@rowing-world.com on 24 May 2006
The starter stands his lonely vigil at an early morning start at Ruataniwha - with snow on the hills all around. Richard Gladwell
www.photosport.co.nz
Over the past weekend, Rowing New Zealand held its Annual General Meeting in Napier and took the opportunity to make a number of presentations to people who have given long service to the sport. Our thanks to Rob Bristow for his great coverage and photos.
Your typical media image of an administrator is someone who is perpetually dressed in blue blazer, complete with a dollop of what could pass for scrambled egg on their pocket; and who is thoroughly familiar with the contents of a rule book and the menus and wine lists of any number of restaurants in any location on the planet. The media love them - they can generally be relied on to provide a good, screw-up of the week, story to pad out the sports pages on quiet day.
The reality is that most administrators are very hard working, make tremendous personal and financial sacrifice for the sport. Their efforts are too often taken for granted; or, the hours they spend are passed off in a few words in an after-match function.
The other reality is that without good administration, you can’t have good sport. The sign of a good well run event is when the organisation runs like clock-work and there isn’t an official in sight. That’s when you know the administrators have done their organising, and have the event well under control.
Rowing in New Zealand has been blessed with a large number of people who have stayed in the sport, beyond their competitive days, and put back a lot more than they have taken out. It is great to see them being recognised in this way.
Also in this issue we feature another story from the Stotesbury Regatta – the largest regatta in the world with 5,000 rowers competing in just two days. There is also another great story out of the USA about the Masters crew who are still rowing at the average age of 77years. By all accounts, they are a pretty tough breed – including amongst their number, one who had a heart attack during a race – and kept rowing!
Until next week.
Good Rowing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
PS don't forget to send your club or event news to nzeditor@rowing-world.com
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