Remembering NZ's Oldest Olympian Reg Douglas
He was part of rowing folklore for winning gold medals at consecutive British Empire and Commonwealth Games with his great mate Bob Parker.
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Reg and his wife Allison
Together they built a little rowing empire out of the mighty Mercer club on the banks of the Waikato River during the 1950s.
The news of Reginald Douglas’ death spread along the banks of Lake Ruataniwha on the second day of finals at the New Zealand Rowing Championships in Twizel, just as two Mercer boys were winning the B Final of the Men’s Intermediate Double Sculls.
Reg would have been proud. One of the boys, Vaughn Cameron, is the grandson of longtime Mercer rower and coach John Cameron.
John remembers Reg well. He’d retired from competition when John joined the club in 1964 but owned a flax mill just downstream from the club and would often come out on to his wharf and give the crews encouragement.
He won his first Red Coat in the single sculls at the New Zealand Championships at Akaroa in 1951. He and Bob combined to win Red Coats in the coxless pair and double sculls at Picton in 1954.
It was a feat that hadn’t been achieved for nearly 50 years and hasn’t been done since. That earned selection to the Empire Games in Vancouver where they won gold in the pair and silver in the double.
Vancouver 1954: Men's Coxless Pair Rowing
In 1956, Reg and Bob were selected for the New Zealand Olympic team to compete in Melbourne, where they finished fifth in the pair.
The following season they returned to Red Coat-winning form in the pair, winning three successive titles.
During that reign they won gold in the pair at the Empire Games in Cardiff.
Fred Strachan never rowed against Reg or Bob, but he remembers their reputation was enough to make rivals shudder.
As Fred recalls, they would come down the course at more than 40 strokes a minute. They were relentless. If they dropped the rating the boat would pull around to one side. Whose side we don’t know. But whatever they did, it worked.
In 2023, Reg was presented with his Legacy Medal from Rowing New Zealand.
Reginald Alexander Douglas died in Cromwell aged 94. Until his death he was New Zealand’s oldest living Olympian. Reg is survived by his wife Allison.
Credit: rowinghub.co.nz