St Benedict’s and St Mary’s extend their Boat Race win streaks
The Standard Bank South African Schools Boat Race trophies are returning to familiar homes in Gauteng again this year, with St Benedict’s and St Mary’s both successfully defending their titles on the Kowie River in Port Alfred on Saturday.
St Mary’s beat their Gauteng rivals, St Andrew’s, in the girls’ 1st quad race for their ninth consecutive win and their 16th in the 22-year history of the Boat Race.
The girls from Waverley tackled the start of the 5km race as if they were in a 1 000m sprint on Victoria Lake and by the time the crews hit the first bend in the river they had opened a lead that they never relinquished. St Andrew’s came back bravely in the closing stages, but the superior fitness of the St Mary’s girls saw them close out the race.
St Benedict’s College’s win in the boys’ 1st Eight race was their sixth in a row – with a break in 2021 due to Covid – and their ninth in total.
Their race against St Stithians in the final was very different to that of St Mary’s. It was St Stithians who got away the stronger, and when they had opened up a one boat-length lead a quarter of the way through it looked like an upset might be on the cards. The oars of the boats got into a tangle a little while later, however, and the race was stopped.
When it restarted Bennies were away quicker and they claimed the better line through the next bend to move ahead – a lead they kept until the end.
Two successive silver medals for St Stithians in a row at the Boat Race shows that rowing is on the up in that part of the world. In March, they beat St Benedict’s in the 1st Eight race at the SA Schools Championships, and with a bit more luck they could well have won in Port Alfred on Saturday. Could it be that the power in boys rowing might be shifting away from Bennies after 25 years as the top boys’ school in the country?
St Mary’s were also beaten at SA Champs – by Holy Rosary – but they came back to beat them at the Gauteng Championships in November, and the ease with which they won their race on Saturday indicates that they are likely to rule the roost in girls’ rowing for the foreseeable future.
The hosts of the regatta, St Andrew’s College of Makhanda, won the bronze medal in the boys’ competition. They beat Rondebosch Boys’ High in a race that was also stopped for a clash of boats. Their win in the B final marked a big turnaround in their fortunes this year – they were fifth in the 1st Eight at the SA Schools Champs back in March.
St Stithians beat Holy Rosary in the girls’ B final to finish third overall. So, there was, at least, the consolation of two medals on the day for the Randburg family of schools.
For the schools’ rowing community, there remains yet another year’s wait ahead before they get to challenge the undisputed queens and kings of the Kowie River.
