George Towns (rower)
| George Towns | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 Feb 1869 Bowthorne, New South Wales |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Title | World Champion sculler, Professional |
| Term | 1901 - 1905 and 1906 - 1907 |
| Predecessor | Jake Gaudaur Snr. and Jim Stanbury |
| Successor | Jim Stanbury and William Webb |
George Towns was the Australian Single Sculls World Champion from 1901 to 1905 and 1906 to 1907. He was the last of the seven Australian World Sculling Champion who between them held the title almost uninterrupted from 1876 to 1909.
Towns was born at Bowthorne, near Hinton on the Hunter River, New South Wales, on 19 February 1869. He was the second of eight sons. His father was a boat builder. Towns learned to row on the Hunter River and from an early age was competing in youth events near his home. By 1895 he was dominating the local events. In August 1896 he was matched against Chris Neilsen, who had been experimenting with various boat designs. The race was over three miles on the Hunter River with a stake of £200 a side which was a very large sum for such a race. Normally, non-title matches between professional scullers were for a much smaller sum. Towns won but this limited his prospects of racing other local professionals. So, on the strength of the win, his Newcastle backers were encouraged to think of sending him to England to try to improve and then take the World Title. This was a fairly daring proposition for a comparatively untried sculler but nonetheless money was raised to allow it to happen. The Sydney sporting papers described Towns as the "coming man", by which they expected he was good enough to take the title.
Towns went to England in April 1897 with financial assistance from his supporters. However he saved some money by ‘working his passage’ on the ship. He dominated the English scullers and in May 1899 won the English Sculling Championship. The following year in September he defended his English title against a challenger from Australia, James Wray. This opened the way for Towns to challenge Jake Gaudaur Snr. for the World Title.
In the spring of 1901, Spencer Gollan, along with two professional oarsmen, Towns and Tom Sullivan (oarsman), broke the record for rowing between Oxford and Putney along the River Thames. The distance was 104 miles and they managed to cover the distance in 13h.55m which beat the previous record by some eight and a half hours. However the group did have a strong stream and all the locks were in their favour, and neither did they carry a coxswain.
Towns had offered to row anyone in the world, but Gaudaur preferred, for up to £1000 on the Thames. In November 1900 Gaudaur had expressed a wish to retire and apparently declined to row Towns, and then proposed that he hand the Title to another Canadian. He must have thought better of it and then accepted a proper challenge for the Title from Towns. The match was agreed to be sculled on 7 September 1901 and it was to take place at Lake of the Woods, Ontario. This was the first time a Championship race took place on a lake. The next was in 1933. Usually such races were on a river. Thousands of spectators witnessed the race. The water was calm and he weather favourable. The course was three miles but with a turn at the half way point. ‘Out and return’ matches were popular in North America as it allowed spectators to see both the start and finish of a race. The stake was £250 a side. Gaudaur at six feet tall and who weighed twelve and a half stone had a height and weight advantage over the Australian who was five feet nine inches tall and eleven stone four pounds weight. However at forty-three years of age Gaudaur was nearing the end of his career while his opponent was about at his peak at thirty-two years. Gaudaur had the inside and better position but it was not to help him. Towns shot ahead at the start but the Champion was soon on even terms. However Towns was the stronger of the two and then went ahead to cross the line by four lengths in the time of 20m.30s and become World Champion. On his return to Australia in December 1902 Towns was received by dignitaries in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Newcastle.
...
Wikipedia