Holiday program (December)

Some fun activities in the holiday program. Rowers are practicing boat skills.

Schools Boat Race (9-10 December)

Schools Boat Race is South Africa's most prestigious junior rowing event with only A-level boys eight (6.3km) and girls quad races (4.0km). This means that Nemato Rowing Club had to compete against the top of the country. We impressed the rowing community by beating 4 boats and by finishing only 2 minutes slower than the fastest boat. Next year we will not only compete in the boys race but also in the girls race.
The rowers were (from bow to cox): Sheldon Nelson, Xolani Tokota, Chuma Nyendwana, Ricardo Braaff, Lunga Mcetywa, Mandilakhe Matthews, Lubabalo Matthews, Athenkosi Hlekani and Mbulelo Nelson.

Mayors Plate (4 November)

Mayors Plate competition on the Buffalo River in East London was a mixed experience for Nemato Rowing Club. On one hand it was very disappointing that 4 rowers missed races because the club has not enough competative single sculls. On the other hand the club was extremely successful, winning 5 races. For the first time the club had girls competing, with a very nice 2nd place for Sibongiseni Buwa in the under 15 single scull B level.

The winning races were:

• Boys under 15 double A level: Simphiwe Zono and Unathi Msi
• Boys under 15 single scull D level: Unathi Msi
• Boys under 15 single scull C level: Simphiwe Zono
• Boys under 16 four C level: Sinawo Leteane, Ricard Braaff, Sheldon Nelson and Azisa Shode
• Boys under 19 single scull 5th & 6th level: Mandilakhe Matthews

ZRC (14 October)

ZRB is a rowing competition in Port Elizabeth on the Swartkops River for junior rowers from the Eastern Cape. Nemato Rowing Club won 3 races. The club was overall number 4 out of 7 clubs participating. An excellent achievement for a small club that has been rowing for less than a year!

Lunga Mcetywa winning 4th junior scull:

Simphiwe Zono and Unathi Msi winning junior under 15 A double:

Simphiwe Zono winning junior under 15 C scull:

Camp (28 September - 1 October)

A survival camp near Grahamstown with a long long long hike, not too much sleep and rowing at Settlers Dam. The camp was organised by the rowers themselves, with the help of Rhodes students and the District Sports Office.

Jack Cheetham Award (12 September)

Nelson Mandela Township Rowing Club is the proud winner of the 2006 Jack Cheetham Award. It is an award by Murray & Roberts (construction company), the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and Sowetan newspaper, for the best sport's development project in South Africa. The prestigious award comes with an impressive amount of prize money. Over the next 5 years the club will receive in total half a million Rand (more than 50 000 euro). The award ceremony took place in the luxurious Sandton Sun Hotel and was filmed by the SABC. The captain and head coach of Nemato Rowing Club were invited for the event.

Rowing in the swimming pool (6 July)

For safety reasons rowers train how to climb back after falling in the water. Because of the low temperature of the river water in winter, the session was in the heated indoor pool in Port Alfred.

Youth Day: opening of Nemato Rowing Club (16 June)

The big day for Nemato Rowing Club. The club organised the Youth Day celebrations in Port Alfred with over 600 participants in sport competitions and cultural performances. The National Minister of Sport and Recreation Mr Stofile visited the event for the official opening of the rowing club. (pictures: Talk of the Town)

River camp (21-22 April)

A river camp on our own Kowie River. Rowing 10k up the river. Camp in the bush with good food, lots of fun and little sleep. Next morning even better breakfast and a row back home.

Novices rowing course (April)

The rowing club offered a new novices rowing course with basic swimming and rowing lessons. After a selection day 24 new rowers were selected. Pictures of the first rowing lesson.

Visit by rowers from England (April)

Rowers from The Oratory School in England had training camp in Port Alfred. They had a couple of activities together with the Nemato rowers: a 'township hike', a dune hike and gym, a rowing session together, and they brought clothing for the Nemato rowers.

Science Festival Grahamstown (25 March)

The rowers made a trip to SciFest in Grahamstown as part of their life skills program. It was a long and very busy day with an spectacular laser show and 4 workshops: (1) building our solar system on scale (a nice way to get a feeling of the size and emptiness of the universe), (2) building your own telescope (simple, it works and you take it home), (3) building brains from sweats and 9 ways to fool your brain, and (4) building an electronic alarm system with resistors and a transistor.

First official competition for Nemato rowers (11 February)

The first official competition for Nemato Rowing Club: Eastern Cape Junior Champs in East London. An exiting trip for the rowers with very good rowing results including two first places in races against rowers with at least a year more rowing experience.

First informal race for Nemato rowers (13 January)

Grey High School (Port Elizabeth), on rowing camp for a week in Port Alfred, invited Nemato Rowing Club to join their little competition for Under 14. The Nemato rowers performed very well. They had a slight advantage: a few week more rowing experience and most guys were a bit older. But still, 3 out of 4 finalists were Nemato rowers, that is very promising. The 3 Nemato rowers did not give each other enough space on the water during the final race. They had to stop because the boats clashed, giving Grey the honour to win the race.