Harry Mahon, OBE was a rowing

Rowing (sport)

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

 coach. He coached international crews from New Zealand, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 to success at World Championships and Olympic Games

Rowing at the Summer Olympics

Rowing at the Summer Olympics has been part of the competition since the 1900 Summer Olympics. Rowing was on the program at the 1896 Summer Olympics but was cancelled due to bad weather. Only men were allowed to compete until the women's events were introduced at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal...

. He also coached Cambridge University

Cambridge University Boat Club

The Cambridge University Boat Club is the rowing club of the University of Cambridge, England, located on the River Cam at Cambridge, although training primarily takes place on the River Great Ouse at Ely. The club was founded in 1828...

 to repeated successes in the Boat Race.

Background

Mahon followed his grandfather and uncle into rowing, joining Wanganui Rowing Club. He also played cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 and rugby

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 as a hooker, and toyed with becoming a rugby coach after studying geography

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

 at Victoria University

University of Victoria

The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...

. He rowed with some success in New Zealand, but was not an international oarsman. He married Rita Wood, although they separated in 1986.

After graduating, he began teaching at Melville High School, and joined Waikato Rowing Club. Success there led to him coaching the New Zealand national team eight to two world titles in 1982 and 1983. The failure of the eight to repeat that success in the 1984 Olympics led to Mahon being gradually excluded from the New Zealand coaching setup, and moving to Switzerland.

He was a teacher of geography at Ridley College

Ridley College

Ridley College is a co-educational boarding and day university-preparatory school located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 20 miles from Niagara Falls...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and Radley College

Radley College

Radley College , founded in 1847, is a British independent school for boys on the edge of the English village of Radley, near to the market town of Abingdon in Oxfordshire, and has become a well-established boarding school...

 near Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1997 and, despite being given only months to live, continued to coach with some success for four more years, also running the London marathon

London Marathon

The London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world, and one of the five top world marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors competition, which has a $1 million prize purse. It has been held each spring in London since 1981. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money,...

twice during that period. After his death in 2001 the Harry Mahon Cancer Research Trust was established to raise money for research equipment. He was survived by his partner, Sarah Warburton.

Coaching Style

Mahon taught a relaxed style, favouring technique over aggression in his crews. Though reserved off the water, he talked almost constantly to his crews in training, asking them to concentrate on their own feel for the rhythm of the boat.

Coaching Titles

• 1977 NZ 4- Silver Medal World Championships
• 1982-1983 NZ 8+ Gold Medal World Championships
• 1982 NZ W1x Bronze Medal World Championships
• 1986 NZ 4+ Silver medal World Championships
• 1988 Olympics - Swiss 2X Silver Medal, NZ W2- Bronze Medal,
• 1997 GB 1X Bronze Medal World Championships
• 2000 Olympics GB 8+ Gold Medal, NZ 1X Gold Medal
• 1993-1999 & 2001 Boat Races (Cambridge)

Honors

• OBE 1982
• New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame (1982 NZ8+, inducted 1995)
• New Zealander of the Year in Britain 2001.

External links

• Tribute to Mahon at TotalRowing.com