By Ed Goodier
The Settlers Sprints Regatta took place on Saturday at Settlers Dam in the Thomas Baines Nature Reserve.
The St Andrew’s College rowers competed against crews from Selborne College and Nemato Rowing Club from Port Alfred.
It was a festive atmosphere with spectators packing the banks enjoying this first opportunity for a rowing event at the dam since 2017. During the lunch break, spectators witnessed what might well have been the first waterpolo match to take place on the dam as the St Andrew’s College 3rd team took on DSG.
In addition, there was also a much-anticipated College Stayers vs Leaver’s rower’s showdown where the stayers eight made their current training and form count against the experience of the leavers team, taking a well-deserved win.
As far as the day’s formal competition was concerned, all crews took part in sprints races over 500 metres during the morning and a longer time trial race in the afternoon.
The St Andrew’s College Under 15s enjoyed a very successful day. In the sprint racing, both College Quads did very well to firstly make the semi-finals and then defeat two strong Selborne College crews to make the final an all-St Andrews’ affair. In the end, the crew of Jeremy Allen, Ryder Brook, Dylan Erasmus, Gabriele Carrara and Oliver Morton took the win.
Moving to the longer time trial race in the afternoon, the College and Selborne Octuples went head-to-head with St Andrew’s College taking the win by a comfortable margin.
The College Under 16 squad continued their resurgence this season. In the sprints, Jock Estcourt and Rafael Carrara competed strongly in the Open category sculls, both making the semi-finals. The four of Jock Estcourt, Nathan Holesgrove, Matthew Schonborn and Tide Connacher also came home victorious over Selborne College.
In the afternoon time trial, the four of Carrara, Estcourt, Holesgrove, Schonborn and Lesese got the better of several open age group crews to take a strong 3rd place overall amongst Open and Under 16 crews.
The St Andrew’s College open rowers faced some strong competition in the morning session with Olona Kamba making the final of the sculls event and narrowly missing out to Nemato’s top sculler right on the line. In the coxed four’s final, Selborne got the better of the College crew, taking the win by a boat length.
Redemption would come in the afternoon time trial with the combination of Zac Fletcher, Matthew Theron, Chris Jarvis, Josh Herring and Callum McMurray making sure of a solid win both in their category and the overall fastest crew.
Thank you to all the officials who volunteered to assist on the day and ensuring a smooth- running event as well as the College and DSG parents for all their hard work in setting up the venue for our visiting crews and supporters!
