12 December 2009
Abingdon School wins Gold in The Old Mutual Schools Boat Race, Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
The Old Mutual Schools Boat Race took place from 11 - 12 December 2009 along the Kowie River in Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is one of the premier national boating events in the South African schools' calendar, organised by the South African Schools Rowing Union, and is modelled on the Oxford/Cambridge boat race. Abingdon entered the Boys event – a gruelling 6km row. The race has two parts: first, a head-race, to determine "pairings" (with the two fastest crews going to the A-Final; the next two to the B-Final etc). Once "pairings" have been determined, the Challenges are issued by the Captains and two-boat racing over the same course and distance determines the winner and final rankings.
Report by Daniel Boddington
On the 9 December 2009 Abingdon School Boat Club sent, for the first time, a select senior VIII to race in the South African Schools Boat Race, held this year in Port Alfred. We left from Heathrow airport in the evening and finally arrived in Port Elizabeth late in the afternoon of the 10th December.
Within hours of arriving, Hugo Mendus was shown the course and the crew had a short outing to remove any stiffness from the day and night of travelling. We ate well that evening and were in bed early preparing ourselves for the time trial the following day. The format of the boat race was a time trial with the fastest two going into the A final, the next two the B final and so on. The time trial was crucial and less than 24 hours after landing we were seeking to beat the best in South Africa. Hugo had done his home work and was confident that he knew the stream. The time trial began at 3:30pm and we were sent off 5th behind Selborne College. We had a good race and Hugo took the fastest line throughout the course and negotiated all three of the 90 degree corners well. We caught up with Selborne late in the race and rowed through them at the final bridge. Our eventual winning time was 17:37, 13 seconds quicker than the South African College Schools (SACS) crew in second place. Felix Wood and Jacob Fries rowed with the Nemato Rowing Club, the township rowing Club and they came 17th out of 18.
Having raced, we attended the cocktail party to learn the results of the time trial where our blazers were met with a mixed reception. One parent said ‘Now that’s a school uniform’. After a couple of juices, it was back to Settlers Sands, the apartments where we were staying, to discuss our race plan for the next day.
We woke early on the 12th and had an early morning paddle to remove any race nerves. We did not really need to warm up as the temperature was 24 degrees. Our race was scheduled for 12:20, however we didn’t line up on the start until 1:00pm, when the day was at its hottest. Both SACS and Abingdon lined up on the start, no stake boats and before we knew it the race had begun. SACS went off hard, as we were expecting, opening up a ¾ of a length advantage on us. However Abingdon held their nerve, composure and length of stroke to hold SACS in contact before the first of the corners. Hugo Mendus pushed wide then cut in tight to give Abingdon the advantage of the faster water almost instantly opening up clear water advantage to Abingdon and we were now drawing steadily away. SACS never managed to challenge Abingdon after that point and the Abingdon boys cruised home to a 25 second victory. The prize giving ceremony was great with many compliments from the organisers, parents and staff of the other schools. We were presented with a very impressive trophy.
For the rest of the week in Port Alfred we had more on water training sessions at the crack of dawn and in the evening to avoid the high temperatures. It was incredible to be able to put in five and six hours a day on the water in such great conditions. I can’t imagine being able to do the same amount of training in the depths of the English winter. The crew trained alongside a newly formed University of Cape Town team, and shared some tough training. School work dominated the hot hours so it was not a total holiday!
The remainder of the trip included spending a night at the impressive Shamwari Game reserve. We had the pleasure of seeing 4 of South Africa’s big 5, lion, buffalo, rhino and elephant. We also came within touching distance of elephants, giraffes and followed cheetahs trying to hunt down springbok.
On December 17th we returned to Port Alfred and spent the day with Nemato Rowing Club. First, they took us sand dune running just outside Port Alfred which was gruelling, and since they do this 3 times a week, and were smaller and lighter than us, it was hardly surprising when they beat the majority of us. However, George Rossiter pipped them all at the post to win. The Nemato guys took us around the Nelson Mandela Township and we enjoyed a fantastic lunch with them in their clubhouse.
Having said goodbye to Port Alfred we got back in the minibus and travelled to St Francis Bay where we were generously hosted by Chris and Valda Barratt for two nights. This part of the trip was not without its training and we spent the day on the beach, running and doing even more squats!
Before we had time to settle in we were once again on the road, this time to Cape Town for the remaining few nights. We stayed in a guest house in Cape Town and whilst we were there we saw the city’s fabulous sights. We spent a day visiting the Robben Island Museum and were shown round by an ex-prisoner. The other days included visiting the Victoria & Albert Waterfront, The Aquarium, The Cape of Good Hope and 100 squats on top of Table Mountain – just in case we hadn’t done enough! There was also a little bit of time to do some very last minute Christmas shopping around the African Markets. We also spent a night at the foot of Table Mountain listening and singing along to the Carols by Candlelight in the Kirstenbosch Gardens. We spent the last night watching the sunset on Clifton Beach, but still managed to squeeze in a cheeky training session before we left the country.
All in all we had an incredible trip with many thanks to Mr Hundermark and Rod MacDonald for organising the trip, St Andrews College for lending us the boat, the oars and a launch, Nemato Rowing Club for giving us an amazing day running up dunes followed by a fabulous lunch, Chris and Valda Barratt for letting us stay in their house in St Francis Bay and finally to the South African School’s Rowing Union for letting us compete in the 2009 School’s Boat Race.
