Silver for Rhodes rowing
Port Alfred may have experienced heavy rains and blustery winds for much of the weekend, but this did not stop fans of South Africa’s University rowing teams turning up in their numbers to watch the A finals of the University Boat Race.
After what was a tightly contested heads races which took place on Thursday, both the Rhodes University men’s and woman’s first crews had managed to make the A finals.
Sunday’s climatic action began with the woman’s A final, which saw Rhodes, who managed to post the fastest time overall in the heads race, up against 2015 champions UJ for the gold medal. Right from the start the race proved to be the tightly contested stroke for stroke battle all experts had promised it would be, with neither crew able to establish a convincing lead by the half way mark. At the fi- nal stoke side corner with just over a kilometre left of racing to go, Rhodes was able to put in a good push, claiming the inside line and half a length lead over UJ.
However, UJ would soon respond with a build in both stoke rate and wattage as the crews came past the Boat Race festival camping ground, allowing them to claim the lead back form Rhodes by three quarters of a boat length. As both crews’s approached the finish line bank side crowds were in a frenzy, for after 4.2 kilometres of racing both crews still had contact on one another. In the end it was UJ who were able to hang on to their hard-fought lead and win the gold in what was arguably the closet woman’s A final the event has ever seen.
In the final event of the 2016 Universities Boat Race, the men’s final saw a gutsy Rhodes crew face off against the event favourites Tuks, whose A boat was sporting their usual array of top Olympic and national athletes.
Off the start it appeared as though Rhodes were up for the challenge as they held Tuks within striking distance inside the first 2kms.
Just before the halfway point however it became clear that Rhodes had spent their energy tying to stick with the competition as the supremely conditioned Tuks boat began to pull further and further away with every stoke. With just over a kilometre to go, the Rhodes crew, inspired by the cheers of their fellow students on the bank, put in one final push in an attempt to close the gap between them and Tuks. However, this wasn’t enough as the physically stronger and technically more efficient Tuks crew were able to maintain their considerable lead all the way to the finish line, claiming gold in the men’s A final.