The annual Mutual Federal Universities Boat Race will be held in Port Alfred from 13 to 15 September, contested once again by all nine universities that have rowing teams and novice rowers.
The annual Mutual Federal Universities Boat Race will be held in Port Alfred from 13 to 15 September, contested once again by all nine universities that have rowing teams and novice rowers.
This year marks the 32nd running of the Universities Boat Race. It is gruelling competitions such as these that have made South African rowing such an international powerhouse. South Africa’s gold-winning team in this year’s London Olympics Men’s lightweight-four rowing competition – Sizwe Ndlovu, Matthew Brittain, John Smith and James Thompson – are no strangers to Port Alfred.
Vuyo Lee, Executive: Brand, Customer and Transformation at Mutual Federal says, “Mutual Federal is proud to be associated with this sport – in which we performed outstandingly at the Olympics. We hope that South Africa’s gold will inspire other up and coming university rowers to believe that anything is possible.”
The Mutual Federal Universities Boat Race has grown in stature with each consecutive race, to become the premier event in the university rowing calendar. So high is the quality of rowing that no fewer than six of the universities participated in this year’s World University Rowing Championships in Kazaan, Russia.
The local event consists of a series of races on the Kowie River running through Port Alfred, culminating in a final. It is similar to the Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race, being completed over the same distance and featuring a series of head to head duels with the best crews in men’s and women’s university rowing. Sean Kerr, Trustee of University Rowing, explains that interest in the traditionally highly contested and exciting event is heightened this year by the fact it is an Olympic year, and the South African Olympic team members have all at one time or another participated in this race.
A key element of the race is the Novice race which has been upgraded this year to a full event for the first time in its five-year history. Mutual Federal sponsors the travel expenses of the nine teams from the universities of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes, Wits, Fort Hare and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan.
