Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 80, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1920 — VETERAN IS OPPOSED TO SHORTER CONTEST [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VETERAN IS OPPOSED TO SHORTER CONTEST

Coach Jim Rico Believes Four Miles Better Test Reduction In Length of Collegiate Race Would Eliminate All Opportunity for Strategy and Brain Work by the Coxswain. One of those who are opposed to shortening the annual collegiate race on the Hudson river at Poughkeepsie Is Jim Rice, rowing coach of Columbia university. He believes four miles Js a better test for the colleges and is not so exhausting to the men. Rice is opposed to the reduction In the length of the varsity race, despite the unanimous verdict of the stewards at their meeting for the shorter contest. The Columbia coach for many years led the opposition to this move, and still maintains that It wlll not result in less physical stralrt'on the oarsmen. He contends that this tendency of all crews will be to hit a higfi stroke from the first gun and maintain the clip throughout the race. There will be none of the old strategy and no oppor-

trinity for brain work by either the coxswain or stroke. To prove his point that a fast threemile race will be more wearing than the four-mile distance, Rice cites the case of Columbia and Cornell several years ago, when, after each crew had “cooked” the other by a continuous Bpurt, Syracuse came to the fore and carried off first honors. Under the three-mile conditions, says Rice, every crew will be “cooked” and at the end of the race will be more exhausted and worn than in the longer distance. A longer, instead of a shorter, training period will be necessary in his opinion. The only beneficial result he sees will be the likelihood of more crews entering the annual classic. ' Wisconsin, which three years ago notified the stewards that it would enter a crew in a three-mile distance only, is expected to take part in the 1920 regatta, and Rice looks also for entries from the Pacific coast, which formerly sent one and, sometimes, two representatives.

Coach Jim Rice.