The Standard Bank South African Schools Boat Race, hosted by St Andrew’s College, will take place on December 6 and 7 in Port Alfred.
The 2024 event will be the 24th edition, with the past 23 races all having taken place on the Kowie River.
A total of 28 school and club crews from across the country are set to take part in what is one of the premier events for junior rowers in SA.
It is a unique challenge for all the competitors as they must navigate the twists and turns and changing tides of the Kowie River, compared to normal rowing events which take place on a straight course over 1km or 2km.
In the junior men’s event, racing over 5.5km, St Benedict’s College from Bedfordview in Johannesburg are the defending champions and have set the pace in Gauteng so far this season.
The top crews from the Eastern and Western Cape will be aiming to challenge them for the title they have now won for four consecutive years.
Taking part for the first time in the junior men’s event will be the Soweto Rowing Club from Johannesburg.
St Mary’s School from Waverley in Johannesburg have been crowned champions for nine consecutive years in the junior women’s race and will be out to defend their title once again.
The newcomers to this event are Wemmer Pan Rowing Club from Johannesburg, while St Dunstan’s College return to the competition for the first time since 2018.
The junior women’s race covers a 4.2km course, starting from the corner of Centenary Park.
Makhanda schools St Andrew’s College and the Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) will be competing in the event.
The St Andrew’s crew will be looking to improve on a notable third place finish in 2023.
The crew consists of cox Callum McMurray, stroke Zac Fletcher, 7 Rafael Carrara, 6 Chris Jarvis, 5 James Jarvis, 4 Jaryd Mattison, 3 Alex Herbaut, 2 Josh Herring, bow Matthew Theron. Reserves: Theresö Lesese, Olona Kamba, Jock Estcourt.
Most of the DSG crew members bring with them experience from 2023’s event, where they finished in 10th place overall.
They will be looking to climb further up the rankings with a season’s experience behind them.
The DSG crew consists of stroke Rachel Murray, 3 Mila Wienand, 2 Caitlyn Smith, 1 Emily Palmer, cox Eve Wilken. Reserves: Jenna Calow, Ella Bartlett.
The first round of racing takes place on December 6, with all teams racing in a time trial.
The junior women will race at 2pm and the junior men at 4.30pm.
Based on the time trial results, crews are ranked for the finals, which will take place from Saturday morning onwards, leading up to the A finals for both events as the last races on Saturday afternoon.
Spectators are welcome to watch the racing from the many viewpoints on the river.
There will also be a dedicated Spectator Zone at the Port Alfred Ski Club, both overlooking the finish line and showing the SuperSport Schools live-stream of the racing further upriver.
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