St Benedict’s College stamped their dominance on the Standard Bank SA School Boat Races by coasting to a fifth consecutive victory in the boys’ event on the Kowie in the marquee A final on Saturday. In the girls’ race, St Andrew’s of Johannesburg caused an upset when they won their A final showdown easily against a plucky St Stithians.
The crack St Mary’s girls’ team – who were gunning for a 10th win in a row – opened the door for St Andrew’s girls’ to slot into the top two positions for Saturday’s A final after the defending champs experienced a “crab” on the river in the heads races the previous day. That affected their time considerably and St Mary’s had to settle for the B final that decided third-fourth position, against Holy Rosary School. St Mary’s secured a consolation third place in that final.
St Benedict’s boys left KES, who finished in 10th place last year, for dead off a quick start for the teams in the final and kept up the pace right up into the Bay and onto the final straight to win by a clear-cut margin as the teams pulled out all the stops to the finish at The Chef’s Pantry and Ski Boat Club
“It’s a great experience and the race was a tough one,” said a tired St Benedict’s captain, Matthew Jasson. We had to fight for it, but all in all a great win,” he said.
Jasson reckons it’s not always easy when a team dominates in any sport.
“It’s always a challenge when you are dominating; I think the real reason why we are dominating is because we are training really hard … we put ourselves through late nights and early mornings. It’s not that others must catch up with us, it’s just that our mentality is different to the other teams in the way we train.
“Coming off the start we had a very good plan … we got out ahead though we had the less favourite start. Coming around from the start we had to move on from there … in to the Bay and in to the killing fields where there was a strong headwind and kept it up to the finish line from there.
“The headwind was difficult on the legs and arms but we are really happy with the result and we will have a good night and celebrate,” said Jasson.
KES boys who finished at least 19 secs slower in the heads races than their finals opponents, went “probably too fast” out of the starting blocks. Their coach, Trevor Dedlow, said however that was the plan but St Benedict’s had too much in the tank for them to successfully pull it off.
“We tried to take them in the first straight but that didn’t happen,” said Dedlow .
“Turning the corner into the killing fields there was a lot of wind … but despite that we are happy that we put up a fight.
“We are actually absolutely ecstatic … for a number of years we haven’t featured too well and the fact that they made it into today’s final, makes me absolutely ecstatic. They gave everything and I am pretty happy,” the coach added.
St Andrew’s Girls turned the tables on St Stithians who were 17secs faster than them in the heads races. In the final, St Stithians started out fast out of the blocks but ran out of steam quickly especially as the headwinds at the killing fields blew into their faces, for St Andrew’s girls rowers to take advantage.
Captain Amber Potgieter said she was very happy and proud of the crew. “We worked together, we had our plan and we executed it from the first stroke. We are there for each other and proud of each other.
“We raced an hour-and-half after low tide; the sandbanks weren’t covered … so our cox took an amazing line and she avoided them and we didn’t hit any of the sand.
“Through the Bay I think we had a bit of wind and just got our blades in and we just pushed through it anyhow,” said Potgieter.
St Mary’s who experienced an unfortunate “crab” incident in the heads races when they were well on their way to qualifying for the final to decide first and second, had to accept third place when a possible 10th consecutive win was on the cards.
But both coach Caitlyn Dace and Nicole Ledlie the captain, were still upbeat.
“The crab is basically when the oar slips out of your hand and hits the water and disrupts rhythm completely,” Ledlie said. “Unfortunately the blade broke too.
“The crab set us back but we used that and we really put our minds to it to race our best race in our B final … there was nothing else really we could have done. If anything, this experience has made us better rowers,” said Ledlie.
The event wound down with the prize-giving ceremony hosted on the patio overlooking the quayside at Halyards.
There was a poignant moment when St Andrew’s College headmaster, Tom Hamilton, whose institution were event organisers, asked the audience to observe a minute’s silence for the Soweto Rowing club rower, Lindokuhle Mbombo, 16, who drowned at Port Alfred’s East Beach on Thursday.
Organisers expressed their condolences to the family, friends and teammates of Lindokuhle, thanking the Port Alfred community for rallying to assist, and also to the NSRI, SAPS and emergency services for their help after the tragedy. Lindokuhle’s body was recovered from the ocean on Friday.
