Bennies and St Mary’s on course to defend Boat Race titles
The defending champions of the Standard Bank Schools Boat Race – St Benedict’s and St Mary’s – won the preliminary round heads race on Friday, setting both on track to further extend their winning runs in the most difficult rowing competition on the calendar.
The St Benedict’s 1st eight finished the 5.4km time trial on the Kowie River in Port Alfred in 16 minutes 44.3 seconds, 10.4 seconds ahead of second-placed St Stithians, to set up a repeat of last year’s A final.
St Mary’s Waverley posted the fastest time over 4km in the girls’ 1st quad – 13 minutes and 5.7 seconds. Their close neighbours and fierce rivals, St Andrew’s School for Girls, were second, just six seconds behind. They will contest the girls A final on Saturday.
St Benedict’s will be chasing a fifth consecutive win in the Boat Race, and their eighth in total, while St Mary’s are in pursuit of a ninth consecutive win, and a 16th in the 22-year history of the girls’ race.
St Andrew’s has a history of meeting St Mary’s in the final, but that place was usurped in the last two years by Holy Rosary. On Friday, the Edenvale Convent managed only fourth place, and they will face St Stithians in the B final.
There are two newcomers to the boys’ B final. Rondebosch will take on the hosts, St Andrew’s of Grahamstown. Rondebosch placed seventh in last year’s race, while St Andrew’s finished 10th.
The racing starts at 07:30 on Saturday, with the Inland and Coastal reserves crews facing off in the girls H and boys J finals – despite the composite teams doing quite well in the time trials.
The rest of the finals go off at 30-minute intervals throughout the day, with boys’ and girls’ races alternating. The day culminates with the A finals for the girls’ quad and boys’ eight, which go off at 15:30 and 16:00 respectively.
Results
Girls’ 1st quad – 1 St Mary’s, 2 St Andrew’s, 3 St Stithians, 4 Holy Rosary, 5 Somerset College, 6 Assumption Convent, 7 Clarendon, 8 Inland Reserves, 9 Germiston High, 10 Peninsula Girls, 11 DSG, 12 Coastal Reserves, 13 Mbekamuzi Secondary, 14 Grassy Park 15 Madiba Toloane, 16 Umtata High School.
Boys’ 1st eight – 1 St Benedict’s, 2 St Stithians, 3 Rondebosch, 4 St Andrew’s, 5 Jeppe, 6 St John’s, 7 St Alban’s, 8 SACS, 9 KES, 10 Parktown, 11 Grey High, 12 Germiston High, 13 Inland Reserves 1, 14 Bishops, 15 Coastal Reserves, 16 Inland Reserves 2 17 Selborne, 18 Somerset College, 19 Madiba-a-Toloane, 20 Guzani Secondary, 21 Leonard Ntshuntshe.