The Rhodes University Rowing Club (RURC) continued their scintillating run of form at the South African National Championship Rowing Regatta (30 April to 1 May in Johannesburg).
The Rhodes University Rowing Club (RURC) continued their scintillating run of form at the South African National Championship Rowing Regatta (30 April to 1 May in Johannesburg).
Performing well in both the A and B divisions, the club moved within an inch of being nationally represented once again this year.
Their most notable success came from the men’s A quad scull, where Bradley Betts; Nicholas Greeff; Murray Bales-Smith; and Oscar Hobson won gold.
Betts also picked up gold in the Men’s A double scull with the University of Cape Town’s Kyle Schoonbee, with the pair repeating their Gauteng Championships triumph. Unsurprisingly, Betts described his performance over the course of the weekend as “perfect”.
However, he was far from the only Rhodes rower who triumphed.
Greeff and Hobson won silver with two University of Johannesburg rowers in the heavyweight coxless A four, while Bales-Smith was among the lightweight boat that won bronze in their version of the race.
The men’s coxless B pair, which consisted of Jared Day and Murray Roodt, claimed gold in their race, setting a new course record. Day and Roodt also teamed up with fellow Rhodes rowers Christopher Hale and Sean Knight to win bronze in the men’s coxless B four race.
The women’s coxless A four – Mieke Grobler; Ashton Lucey; Maike Diekmann; and Erryn Green – finished third in their event, ensuring that it was not only men who brought prizes back to Grahamstown.
However, arguably the most important medal came from the Nemato (Nelson Mandela Township) Rowing Club’s Odwa Ntamo – who rowed for Rhodes on the day and won silver in the U15 single scull.
Akhona Quma, the other Nemato rower representing Rhodes on the day, narrowly missed out on making his U18 single scull final.
Roodt – the RURC’s vice-president – was left delighted with not only his own performance, but also with Nemato’s presence and success.
Having put effort into helping members of the Port Alfred-based club with their homework and taken them to previous regattas, Rhodes broke new ground by taking Nemato rowers to SA champs – and the leap of faith payed off.
“In the past the relationship between Nemato rowing and the Rhodes rowing club has been extremely good, so we have revived this relationship with them this year,” revealed Roodt.
“This weekend was a great success – with a lot of podium finishes throughout the club and with the younger members of the club gaining much-needed experience.”
The RURC will now look forward to national trials on 14 and 15 May – where Betts aims to qualify to represent South Africa at the World U23 Championships (21 to 28 August in Rotterdam), and Hobson; Greeff; and Bales-Smith attempt to make Poznan’s World Student Games (2 to 4 September).
The rowers will travel to Pretoria knowing that they have already filled club President Charles O’Donoghue with pride and excitement.
“I think it’s very promising to see Rhodes Rowing start to enter the top [combined]boats and put pressure on the larger universities with our performance,” he said.
“I look forward to our future.”
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