The Annual Buffalo and Selborne Sprints Regattas were held on the Buffalo River in East London over the weekend of 14-17 February, and as always produced some exciting and challenging racing for all crews.
Conditions were mostly good throughout the weekend, leaving the St Andrew’s rowers with a first opportunity in 2019 to race over the full competitive distance for their respective age groups. Thursday’s (14 February) racing produced a number of promising performances in the heats with the majority of top crews progressing to their Saturday finals. Five boys from the U14 SAC squad also raced an age group higher and gained some excellent experience.
On the Friday, Selborne Sprints Regatta was held over 500m. The crews from St Andrew’s had a good day and gained valuable experience. The Second coxed four of Elliot Apps, Matthew Conroy, Max McLeod, Roscoe Dorrington and Courtney McKay were winners in their event with many other crews coming in close following positions in their finals, including Julian Walsh and Jason Thomas in hard-fought single sculls events.
On Saturday, the finals of Buffalo Regatta again provided lots of opportunities for the crews and also served as a benchmark for the SA Champs that take place on the first weekend in March. The Second coxed four again produced a win in their event, with second place for the First coxed four consisting of Liam Little, Daniel Zahn, Brendan Mouritzen, Jason Thomas and Alex Pezarro and a third place for the First coxless four of Ben Kroon, James MacRobert, Logan Smit and Richard Southern. Scott Moorcroft was also competitive in the final of the U15 single sculls.
Other crews across all the age groups raced in finals and although they raced hard and improved their performances throughout the regatta, will need to use every available opportunity over the next two weeks in order to compete at the front end of the field at the South African Schools Championships.
