Rowing champions retain titles
St Mary’s, St Benedict’s add to proud records in schools’ boat race on Kowie
SCollege t Mary’s’girls s boys and laid St down Benedict’s a marker that their dominance will not be easily wrested from their grasp when they won gold medals in their respective categories at the Standard Bank SA Schools Boat Race among 36 competing teams on the Kowie River at the weekend.
St Mary’s, who hail from Waverley and who are coached by junior national coach, Caitlin Dace, proved too powerful for Germiston’s St Andrew’s School for Girls outfit in their A final row out over 4.5km on Saturday to earn first place for the ninth consecutive year.
The crack St Benedict’s boys showed their class too, winning the title for the fifth consecutive year by edging out a plucky St Stithian’s outfit who are coached by former Nemato rower, Athenkosi Hlekani.
St Andrew’s College boys from Makhanda kept the region’s flag flying by beating fierce Cape Town rivals Rondebosch Boys High into third spot in the B eights final over 6km.
Diocesan School for Girls (DSG), also from Makhanda, in their debut season did Makhanda proud by ending 10th in the junior women’s standings.
St Benedict’s were the form team coming into the championships and their pedigree showed in the head-tohead heats on Friday before prevailing over a game and plucky St Stithian’s College in Saturday’s final in a time of 20:13.05. However, it wasn’t a run-ofthe-mill victory for the champions as they were trailing their rivals before a clash of boats on the first bend in the river forced a “restart”.
The stoppage seemed to affect the momentum of St Stithians and St Benedict’s streaked ahead to finish just over five seconds ahead of their opponents (20.:18.07).
St Benedict’s captain Giacomo Riccardi said their victory could not be put down to the restart, as his team had been closing in on St Stithian’s in the
lead up to the boat crash.
“Off the start we were a bit worried when they took the lead but we were determined and told ourselves we are not going to lose this. The crash around that last bend did give us an opportunity to have a mental refocus.”
An elated St Benedict’s coach Darryn Roff said despite their pedigree and dominance over five consecutive years, winning the championships on the Kowie is never guaranteed.
“In rowing, in any sport, nothing is a foregone conclusion; you’ve just got to train hard and work hard every day.
“The Kowie River has its difficulties but it’s a river like anywhere else… there is fast water, there is slow water
you’ve just got to make sure your cox chooses the best line. The boys have remained humble, worked hard and stayed committed,” he said.
The St Stithian’s eights who conceded just over 10 seconds in their time trial head-to-head against St Benedict’s the previous day, showed huge improvement on finals day, cutting the margin of defeat in half.
St Stithian’s coach, Hlekani, was however still full of optimism despite their defeat. “It was a valiant effort —a
good display of rowing from the boys, who showed fortitude and resilience,” Hlekani said.
“As we were taking the one corner, the boats clashed and we had to restart and from there St Benedict’s had the advantage of the last corner. It could have turned out otherwise if it was not for the crash. It was a critical moment in the race, but it is what it is.”
St Mary’s girls, given their dominance, could be heralded as the trailblazers and standard-bearers when it comes to school rowing in SA.
The well-drilled fours outfit powered into the lead in the A final against St Andrew’s girls from the getgo to keep up the momentum to finish first in a time of 12:42.4 more than 12 seconds ahead of their rivals.
Coach Dace who said the victory was St Mary’s ninth consecutive win and 16th overall, explained why they were so formidable.
“I am very proud of our girls. We are a team, we have a huge support base and there is a legacy to uphold. We train for this [difficult Kowie conditions]. My favourite approach is ‘chaos theory’, which means we throw as much as we can at the girls in
training waves, wind, anything to try to accommodate for the difficulties we might face in the race,” Dace said.
St Stithian’s College’s girls secured bronze when they breezed past Holy Rosary School to finish in a time of 13:37.2 a clear 14 seconds ahead of their opponents.
Eastern Cape outfits Clarendon High School of East London and DSG did the region proud by finishing in seventh and 10th place, respectively.
Makhanda’s St Andrew’s College’s10th placing last year is a distant memory after they out rowed the crack Rondebosch High Boys in the B final for third place to secure the bronze medal in a time of 23:21.1 more than three seconds ahead of their rivals. The result proved a major turnaround in the fortunes of the Makhanda outfit.
“It was quite a tough race Rondebosch was ahead of us but we managed to get ahead quite early and we managed to hold them off for the rest of the race,” St Andrew’s rower Joe Kroon said. “It’s a big relief. We have most of the same crew from last year, when we came 10th, so we are really ecstatic to win bronze today.”
The presence of development teams such as Umtata High School (girls), Grassy Park Rowing Club, (Cape) MbekamuziSS (KZN) and Madiba-aToloane SS proved an eye-opener at the championships. SA Rowing is spearheading development of the sport “to reflect a wider demographic and we are moving away from the notion that rowing is an elitist sport,” said race official and president of Western Cape rowing, Ken Gliddon.
Umtata High sports coordinator and rowing coach, Mzwandile Sithelo, whose girls team ended 14th, said rowing development was alive and well in the region.
“The water safety programme is where it starts in terms of development and Swimming SA is helping us. They make sure that teachers are teaching the children in the correct way and that the basics of swimming are conveyed in the correct manner. Rowing SA is also assisting us by supplying machines for our indoor rowing programme.”
He said they enjoyed Port Alfred’s hospitality, the Blue Flag beach and the smaller river width compared to that of Port St John’s, made for perfect rowing conditions.