Paul Rowe (rower)
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 February 1948 |
| Died | 25 July 2015 (aged 67) |
| Occupation | Rowing coach |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Rowing |
| Club | Haberfield Rowing Club Daramalan RC (coach) |
| Achievements and titles | |
| National finals | President's Cup 1974 & 75 |
Paul Francis Rowe (22 February 1948 - 25 July 2015) was an Australian representative rower and elite level rowing coach. He was an eight-time Australian national champion in both sweep oared and sculling boats across both lightweight and open divisions. He was Australia's lightweight sculling representative at the 1975 World Rowing Championships. He coached scullers and crews to three Australia national title wins and to world championships and to Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
Rowe was born in Bulli, New South Wales and grew up in Young, New South Wales. He was the second son and the third of eight children of Dr Charles Rowe, a GP and his wife June.[1] He was educated at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill but did not row at the school. He attended St John's College, University of Sydney and took up rowing for the Sydney University Boat Club in 1968.[2] His first race was at the 1968 Australian University Championships in a four coxed by future sporting administration great John Boultbee.[2] They won the Intervarsity lightweight four championship.[3]
Club and state rowing
Rowe joined the UTS Haberfield Rowing Club and made sculling his daily commute up the Parramatta River to Ryde where he worked for Howard Croker who manufactured oars.[2] At the 1971 Australian University Championships he raced the single scull event for the University of New South Wales[4] That same year he won the New South Wales state junior sculling title.[5]
Rowe first came into state representative contention in 1970 when having only been rowing for two years he was selected as a reserve for the New South Wales lightweight four to contest the Penrith Cup at the 1970 Interstate Regatta.[6] In 1974 and in 1975 he was the New South Wales selected single sculler to contest the President's Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships.[7] He placed second both times.[8]
In Haberfield colours Rowe had great success at all five Australian Rowing Championships he contested between 1972 and 1977. In 1972 he raced the lightweight pair, lightweight coxless four and the lightweight eight national title in Haberfield crews and won the lightweight four title. From 1974 he focussed on sculling and he won all seven national sculling championship titles he contested between 1974 and 1977 including three national championship victories in the single year of 1975. He won the men's lightweight single scull and lightweight double sculls titles in 1975.[9] He won the national men's heavyweight double-scull title on three occasions - with Haberfield's Dick Reddell in 1974;[10] with Ted Hale from Sydney Rowing Club in 1976;[11] and with his own younger brother Charlie in 1977.[12] He twice won the national title in a quad scull (1975 and 1977)[9] - both crews included Reddell and the 1977 quad was crewed by his brother Charlie Rowe.[12]
International representative rowing
In his stellar Australian domestic year of 1975 Rowe was selected as Australia's lightweight sculler to race at the World Rowing Championships in Nottingham. He won his heat, came second in his semi and then finished sixth in the A final.[13]