Gauteng Schools Rowing Champs Success
This past weekend saw the annual Gauteng Schools Rowing Championships Regatta take place at Roodeplaat Dam. Saints boys made 15 appearances across 12 A Final events.
An early highlight was Armand Van der Colf's impressive Bronze medal in the U14 Single scull, made more impressive by the fact that he is currently in Grade 6 and raced against a field of Grade 7 boys! The U14's also finished an impressive 5th in the double sculls. Shortly after this, we had two Saints Double Sculls make the A Final of the U 15 Double's and the crew of Massimo Milanessi and Sheldon Nash taking another Bronze.
The U16 Eight stroked by Dax Trail came in 4th after improving greatly from recent regattas. The U16 Pair finished 7th while the U16 Four finished 6th.
The Open boys had a great regatta, the best Gauteng Champs performance since 1997. The boys made six of seven available 1st Team finals.
Our 2nd Team boys opted to race in 1st Team events rather than the traditional 2nd Team events and were rewarded with two A Finals. They finished 4th in the 1st Quad then 5th in the 1st Double. Both these races being against schools who focus primarily on sculling (two oar rowing) whilst we focus on sweep (one oar rowing). Their placing in the quad was great given that the two schools who beat them did this with their top athletes (St Alban’s 1st and 2nd, St Dunstan’s 3rd).
Our 1st Team boys started well qualifying three pairs into the A Final, a strong showing of their depth. They were unlucky not to finish in the medals, coming in 4th, 5th and 6th, however learnt valuable lessons that they took into the bigger boats. Later on the first day of racing we saw the U19 Coxless Four take an impressive win over St Benedict’s who finished 2nd and 3rd, Saints thus becoming the first winners of a new event introduced this season. The following race saw the U19 Coxed Four come in a close second to St Benedict’s trailing by just 2.3 seconds, considerably closer than the week prior when we were 6.5 seconds behind, a great improvement.
The Open boys concluded the day’s racing with the main event, the 1st Eights race. Saints has not won this title since 1997 and were keen to change this record. Having scored a narrow win over St Benedict’s the week before where they sprinted past them in the last 100m of the 2000m course, Saints turned it on from the start and took an early lead over St Benedict’s, Jeppe and KES. As the race progressed the Saints Eight slowly worked away from the field with only St Benedict’s remaining in contention. A big push in the final quarter saw St Benedict’s move within striking range, however a gallant effort from the Saints Eight saw them hold of this charge then move away, increasing their margin all the way to the line; finishing 1.5 seconds clear of St Benedict’s and 6.5 seconds clear of St John’s in 3rd place. In winning this race they also posted the fastest time of the season thus far.
The next challenge for the Saints Eight is SA School's Boat Race in Port Alfred in December, an event at which we have never finished above 4th. While for the rest of the club, SA Schools Champs in March is the next major goal.
On behalf of all the rowers, I would like to thank the parents, staff and supporters for their efforts and support in the season thus far, it does not go unnoticed nor unappreciated!'
Mr David Neuhaus
MIC: Rowing and Head Coach
