NEMATO ROWING CLUB

year by year 2015

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Eastern Cape Championships (31 October) We competed at the Eastern Cape Championships on the Buffalo River in East London. Odwa Ntamo became the Eastern Cape Champion in single scull in the age groups under 14 and under 15. He has been unbeaten in single scull this year. Well done!

Knysna Regatta (17-18 October) It was for the first time in years that we competed in the Knysna Regatta. It is not the best rowing venue in the world, but at least there wasn't much wind. We won some B races, but they are a bit stingy in Knysna: no medals for B races, not even for first place. Only Odwa came home with medals, winning his A races in single scull. It was hot. After the competitions we enjoyed the beach and a swim in the ocean.

ZRC Grey Regatta (3 October) We competed with a small group of rowers in the ZRC Grey Regatta on the Swartkops River in Port Elizabeth. There was a strong win in the A race by our under 16 quad. Odwa Ntamo stood out, winning in the quad and winning the A level under 14 and 15 single scull races.

new boat from Lottery (September) Rowing boats are very expensive. It's only thanks to Lottery that we were able to buy a new quad. Our beginners are now using the old quad from Rhodes University, that is still in good working condition, but ageing. Our under 16 quad is using the beautiful new John Waugh quad. Many thanks to Lottery for the boat!!!

South African Champs (6-8 March) Of our four sports, rowing, as a school summer sport, has the most inconvenient competition season. It's fragmented over some weeks before and some weeks after the long summer holiday. To make it worse, schools don't allow clubs in their competitions anymore. That problem could also be considered an opportunity for the clubs to move away from the summer sport programme, to offer rowing as a year round sport like our other sports, but unfortunately the clubs seem to be unable to make that shift. Nevertheless, Schools SA Champs has introduced open championships races, beside the schools races, giving our rowers a chance to take some great medals home. In the picture above you see our first ever National Rowing Champions Odwa Ntamo and Mihlali Quma. As under 15 double they won the Open Under 15 and the Open Under 19 Championships. Well done boys! Onele Veto, Akhona Quma, Thembani James, Mzwebhongo Mbendeni and cox Mihlali Quma won bronze in the Open Under 19 Quad. We had a great trip to the Championships in Gauteng, with visits to the Carlton Centre, overlooking Joburg from the 400m high 50th floor, the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton and the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto, and thanks to very cheap tickets, first time flying for the rowers.