St Andrew's College's first eight and DSG's first quadruple won the main events of the day at the East Cape Sprints Regatta on Saturday.
St Andrew's College's first eight and DSG's first quadruple won the main events of the day at the East Cape Sprints Regatta on Saturday.
Crews from throughout the Eastern Cape made their way to the annual event, held at Settlers' Dam in the Thomas Baines Nature Reserve.
This is the second successive of the event running in recent years. Historically regattas were frequently held at Settlers' Dam and The Eastern Cape Rowing Association has brought this regatta back to life.
Schools and Clubs from Port Elizabeth, East London and Port Alfred made the trip to Grahamstown to participate in the event hosted by St Andrew's College and DSG.
For most of the U14s, this was their first regatta on the water and a crucial component to developing their racing skills.
They all managed to race well down the 800m course and some great talent was to be seen in these young athletes.
This regatta saw the introduction of a 1 600m course, which allowed some serious competition in the open and U16 events.
In the two main events of the day, Clarendon School finished ahead of DSG in the girls' 1st quadruple sculls.
However, Clarendon were disqualified due to the crew not going around one of the buoys on the course. DSG were thus declared the winners.
St Andrew's had no problems in the boys' 1st eight, beating Grey High School by a few boat lengths, as well as Selborne College.
Donovan Cech, organising committee member, said the community support at Saturday's event was greatly appreciated by the regatta organisers and competitors.
Supporters enjoyed a good day out watching the races in fine weather conditions and beautiful surroundings, while cheers were heard on the bank of the dam, as fellow pupils cheered on their first 8s in the final event of the day.
