The latest additions to the Royal St. John’s Regatta Hall of Fame will be honoured this afternoon in a ceremony at St, John’s City Hall, where the 1985 Outer Cove/Regatta Ford intermediate crew, former Regatta Committee member Francis (Frank) Dinn and long-time Regatta participant Graham Roche will be officially inducted.
In 1985, the Outer Cove intermediates — stroke oar Pat Hyde, Dave Kelly, Frank Power, Darin Hyde, Greg Morris and Paddy Dyer, coached by Bill Power and coxed by Mile Power —
competed in their first Regatta Day in two races, amateur and intermediate. In the latter, they set a new course record of 9:30:65, a standard that remained in place for 16 years.
Making that time more impressive was the fact four of the crew members were young enough to row in the juvenile category, but chose to compete as intermediates with their graduated teammates.
Frank Dinn’s initial involvement with the Regatta was as an observer, a young boy watching his father and uncle row. He himself competed briefly in the 1960s, but he would make his mark on the Regatta after he joined the Regatta Committee in 1978, the start of a 40-year tenure.
Dinn held many positions on the committee through the years, and was heavily involved in matters such as in the selection, purchase and installation of 150 new seats for the rowing shells. One of his most significant contributions came in persistent pursuit of the "Royal" designation for the Regatta. In 1993, under the leadership of committee president Don Johnson, and the co-operation of Geoff Carnell, John Perlin, and John O'Mara working with Lieut. Governor Frederick Russell, the request was granted.
Graham Roche has been involved with the Regatta for over two decades, first as a rower beginning in 1992, and since 1998 as a coxswain, which was his true passion.
Roche has won over 25 medals as a cox, including 2008 champions and Triple Crown winners O’Dea Earle. He also steered crews to four consecutive gold medals in the intermediate male division (2002-2005) and began working with squirt teams in 2013, guiding a male team in that division to an age-group record in 2015.
The Regatta Hall of Fame was established in 1987. Present members of the Hall of Fame Committee include chairman Don Kelly, Gail Malone, Brian Madore, Brendan McCarthy, Mike Power, Wayne Purchase and Bob Whelan.
“We take pride in ensuring deserving candidates are inducted into the Hall of Fame each year,” said Kelly. “We take passion in recognizing these exceptional individuals and highly encourage people to submit a nomination for future inductees.”
Today’s induction ceremony comes exactly a week before the scheduled running of the 201st anniversary Royal St. John’s Regatta at Quidi Vidi Lake, weather permitting.
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