The University of Cape Town men’s team completed a hat-trick in the 2025 edition of the RMB Universities Boat Race when they beat their old rival, Tuks, in the A section final of the showdown on the Kowie on Saturday.
Tuks were unbeaten over 13 seasons in this race but UCT started to reel in their rivals’ dominance in 2023 when they finally got one over the Pretoria students.
They have since then won three in a row and UCT captain, Noah du Randt, made it clear after the race that they would strive to heap up the pressure even further in the next edition.
However, Tuks is still a tour de force in rowing, with the women’s A winning their final against UCT by more than two minutes; their B Section winning over Matiesand the men’s B section defeat of UCT showing their rowing pedigree on the river. The men’s A second position to UCT means that Tuks probably remains something of a benchmark overall in university rowing.
To underline that fact, Tuks were adjudged winners of the Sean Kerr trophy for coming out tops in the overall points standings, having amassed 584 points in total across all the participating teams.
UCT’s road to breaking the Tuks’ stranglehold has not been without its challenges. The “Tigers” who finished in a time of 18:8.8, more than 24secs ahead of their rivals (18:43.7) had to work hard on finals day in overcast but windless conditions to get the job done.
A satisfied Du Randt said after the race their strength lay in the teamwork ethic.
“Such a lot of work has been put in to this third win and it was for many reasons the most challenging one to overcome and I am proud of my team. I’ve got to give it to Tuks, they went out at full speed at the beginning. But our boys managed to bring it back stroke by stroke after taking an inside lane on one of the corners, he said.”
Though disappointed by having to concede defeat yet again – for a third consecutive time – Tuks were still in high spirits.
“We definitely did have a good start,” said captain Jordan Craig.
“We had a boat length and a half lead on UCT; but they kept the heat on us and made their move at the killing fields. But we did not keep up the intensity.”
Craig says they are working hard to improve but it’s a work-in-progress situation.
“There are still some aspects that we need to work on and do better at. We are working on it and still figuring it out as a club and I think we have everything we need; we just have to put it all together,” added Craig.
Thursday’s heads races to confirm the final placings for Friday and Saturday races as very challenging for all the rowers as a stiff breeze and incoming tide threatened to wreak havoc all brought on by the pull of the blood moon experienced a few days prior. Furthermore, the sandbanks rowers said were once again a difficult hazard this year.
“But I don’t really concern myself with the conditions because we prepare for these challenges; all we do is focus and listen to our cox to give us directions,” said Craig.
Tuks’ A women captain Donne Erasmus said the team who came in 2:21 faster than UCT were on a high after their run of eight victories.
“We are feeling great; we gave it 110% in our race and we were very ruthless from start to finish and I guess we all are just super happy – all the Tuks teams were amazing in fact. The gees is just amazing … the Tuks teams are very close-knit … we all feel a loss together and we all feel the wins together, which is an awesome feeling.”
UCT captain Emma Watson, said they were happy with their runners-up performance. “We have gone one better than last year so that is a plus; our team worked well together, but Tuks is a strong unit of course. Conditions were great for rowing today.”
Maties made a strong impact in the B section heads races to ensure they would fight for contesting first and second spot in the women’s final (Tuks) and third and fourth in the men’s A final. In the latter final, Maties (18:35.2) managed to secure third spot by outclassing UJ (20:26.5) who finished fourth, to the finish line.
University f the Western Cape who have made considerable investment in the sport of rowing held their own in the women’s A and B, finishing fifth and sixth respectively as well as the Men’s B races (fifth) while fighting it out for eighth in the A final. The upshot of the performances was that they earned two trophies – for team with the most “gees” and development potential.
University of Fort Hare finished a credible 5th in the men’s A division, ninth in the women’s B, while relative newcomers Walter Sisulu University finished 10th in the men’s A and in 7th spot in the women’s A.
Hosts Rhodes University ended last in the women’s A section
Full results of all participating teams will be available on the rowsa.co.za website
