August 24th 1902 — Strasbourg 11th FISA congress Present: 11 delegates from 5 federations. Georges Meyer, the president of the Alsace-Lorraine rowing championships commission, was in the chair. The proposal to establish a minimum age of 14 for cox swains for safety reasons was turned down, as was the creation of a championship for coastal gigs, to take place on the sea. August 24th 1902 — Strasbourg 10th men’s European championships Beautiful weather prevailed. The course was laid out in the port of Kehl, on a canal adjoining the Rhine, provid ing 2,000 metres of still water. The races 4 +: 4 Started 1. FRA 2. ITA 3. BEL 4. ALS-LOR The crew from Bari which, had won the previous year, rowing in a borrowed boat, lost their title after a very hard race. With 300 metres to go, there was nothing be tween the first three crews. 2x: 3 started 1. BEL 2. FRA 3. ALS-LOR Having concentrated all their efforts on training for the eights race, the French double, Robert d’Heilly (lm72, 69 kg) and the future vice-president of FISA, Octave Bouttemy (lm69 69kg) lost their title, finishing three lengths behind the Belgians. lx: 4 started 1. ITA 2. BEL 3. ALS-LOR - FRA (Not rowed out) The winner, the Italian, L. Gerli, who was still a junior, had competed in the 1900 championships and those of 1901, in order to gain experience. From then on, he was to become a force to be reckoned with. Feeling ill, the Frenchman, G. Hiser, stopped rowing 500 metres from the finish, while in the lead. During training the previous day, he had succumbed to a similar bout of illness, and had capsized. Had help not been immediately at hand, he would have drowned. 2 +: 5 entered - 4 started 1. BEL 2. ALS-LOR 3. FRA 4. ITA - SUI (scrat ched) An easy victory for Marcel van Combrugghe (born in 1880, 86kg, lm80) and Oscar de Somville, (born in 1877, 80kg, lm74) who had finished fourth the previ ous year. 8 + : 2 started 1. BEL 2. FRA The French went into an early lead, which had stretched to a length 700 metres from the finish. The Ghent eight then mounted an attack, and drew level with the crew from Soissons. They raced neck and neck to within less 20 than 100 metres from the line, before the Belgian crew drew ahead, to win by a few metres. Prosper Bruggeman won his sixth tide (1898: 8 +, 1899: 2x and 8 + , 1900: 4+ and 8 + , 1902: 8+). Marcel van Combrugge was the holder of five tides. In Spring 1903, FISA’s office was transferred to 22 via S.-Francesco da Paola, in Turin. August 16th 1903 — Venice 12th FISA congress Present: nine delegates from six federations. Louis Capuccio, the former secretary general, agreed to take the chair. The starting procedure for races was changed. The start er was to say, “Etes-vous prets?” If no strokeman raised his hand, the starter would lower his flag and fire a start ing pistol. A false start would be signalled by a second shot, to recall the crews. From then onwards, the Rules of Racing stipulated that prizes could be either medals or “objets dart,” and that travelling allowances could be paid to competitors. In 1903, the travelling expenses for the European cham pionships amounted to 6,000 francs, which was a very high figure at that time, mainly due to the increase in the number of competitors. The burden of this responsibility was becoming very heavy for the host federation. It would become an even greater imposition as more and more federations became affiliated to FISA. The delegates decided that the question of expenses should be examined. The subscription for national federations was raised to 200 francs. Stressing that the payment of travelling expenses was now FISA’s accepted policy, congress expressed the fer vent hope that the “Deutscher Ruderverband” - the German rowing federation, would very soon become a member. Congress hoped that the objections raised by the DRV concerning its admission to the international federation could be settled easily. The request for affiliation by the Hungarian federation was discussed. August 16 th 1903 — Venice 11th men’s European championships An enormous, enthusiastic crowd was present at this regatta. Gondolas and all kinds of boats laden with spec tators thronged around the buoys which marked out the course. It was reported in “Rivista nautica” that the sight of this vast crowd of people and boats against the magical back drop of Venice was magnificent. In the launch of the starter, M. Claich, the veteran oars man from Trieste, were gathered the foreign delegates, who thus followed the varying fortunes of the competing crews while admiring the magnificent panorama offered by the city of the Doges.
