The Royal St. John's Regatta Committee Hall of Fame is adding two renowned crews — The 1977 Placentia Lions and 1989 Outer Cove/East Coast Marine male juveniles — to its roster.
The crews will be inducted in a ceremony hosted by the City of St. John's next Wednesday
The 1977 Placentia Lions took their inspiration from the Seven Placentia Giants of 1877, who had walked 145 kilometres from Placentia to St. John's to participate in the Fisherman's Race, handily winning, against expectations.
The Placentia Lions — benefitting from what was then-innovative dryland training — followed in those Giant footsteps as they replicated the amazing feat of their predecessors of 100 years previous by walking their boat to St. John's over four-and-a-half days and sleeping in tents on the side of the road.
Although they faced high temperatures that blistered their feet, they completed the journey and went on to win the championship race, completing the 1977 Triple Crown of fixed-seat rowing (by claiming championships at the Placentia, Harbour Grace and St. John's Regattas).
This crew was no stranger to rowing success, having been the first team to win the Triple Crown in 1976.
Team members included Gerard Barron, Leo Collins, Frank Lannon, Anthony Whittle, Brendan Whittle, Tom Whittle, Clem Whittle (spare) and Adrian O’Keefe (coxswain).
The 1989 Outer Cove/East Coast Marine crew set a male juvenile record of 9:43.07 that has stood for 29 years.
They first rowed in the Regatta as a midget crew in 1987, winning their race that year and setting a midget course record of 5:13.06, a standard that stood until 1995.
A year later, they moved up into the juvenile category and maintained their record of success, winning their race in a time of 9.57.05. The following year, they were nearly 14 seconds faster in setting their longstanding record/
In 1990, the team rowed in the men’s amateur race. This proved to be their last as a team, as they parted ways to pursue their education and careers.
Team members included Chris Andrews, Mike Cadigan, Carl Coady, Harold Kelly, Jason Noseworthy, Scott Winsor, John Cadigan (spare) and Gerard Doran (coxswain).
