Wits put on strong display at provincial regatta to qualify for SA Rowing Champs
- Tshepiso Mametela
The Wits Rowing Club (WRC) sent out a strong message ahead of the 2022 SA National Rowing Championships after braving challenging qualifying races at the Gauteng Senior Championships at Tshwane’s Roodeplaat Dam on 14 May.
Twenty rowers from Wits, including novice and experienced athletes, proved their mettle against a strong field comprising arch-rivals UJ and Tuks and the junior, senior national and World Student Games teams.
In the men’s Scull B division, Jason Westman, Alessandro Patrizi, Marco Sass, Malose Makwea and Liam McCourt finished second, third, sixth, seventh and eighth in their respective heats but did not make the final. However, in the A division Coxed Four final, Sass, Westman, and Patrizi dug deep to bag a silver medal alongside Troy Van der Westhuysen.
In the hard-fought Pair races, Westman and Patrizi finished their heat in first place before an issue in the final dashed their hopes of clinching a medal in the B division. McCourt and Daniel Stoltz placed second in their heat, while Sass and Makwea finished fourth.
A stern showing in the Coxless Quad final saw Patrizi, McCourt, Westman, and Van der Westhuysen finishing fourth in the B division final. Meanwhile, Makwea, Stoltz, Sass and Phindo Nobadula claimed fifth place in their corresponding race.
For WRC’s women, Alicia Potgieter finished second in the B division Scull heats before placing fourth in the final. Attempting to replicate her teammate’s form, Matipa Marufu could only secure sixth position and missed out on the final.
Wits’ boats were scratched in the B division Pair races, resulting in a loss of R260 for the club. The crew suffered another blow in the C division Double races when their participation was scratched due to an illness. But the quartet of Keri-Lee Carstens, Kate Pringle, Amy Cooper and Potgieter spared the blushes of the team by sailing off with gold in the Coxless Four B division final.
Duma Mandimo, Jo Theo, Sarah Morrison and Lolly Luhadi crossed the finish line in third position in the women’s C division Coxless Four final before WRC ended the women’s B division Eight race in third place.
Sass looked back on the club’s blistering performances at the regatta, which, despite not having overall standings, served as a much-needed trial run for Wits ahead of several tough competitions. According to the WRC president and current USSA-R vice-chair, none will be sterner than the USSA Boat Race in September.
“Our focus was more towards the B division, where we think we could have been more competitive. And I do believe we were quite competitive because the A division had a lot of national team athletes, and we weren’t quite ready to compete there just yet,” said Sass.
“Ahead of the Boat Race, we will have an internal regatta where the different crews [from the university] will race each other. The Boat Race is the highlight of the calendar. It is everything we work towards because it is the big race. It emulates and copies the Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge in the UK.”
Sass added that Wits will be eyeing nothing less than a strong showing at the SA Champs but conceded that the club is going through an important revamping phase after suffering a knock during the later stages of the 网易体育 pandemic.
“We are currently rebuilding; recovering from the impact of Covid that affected us to the point that we had only about 10 members. So, it’s more about growth for us, but now that we’re starting to compete again, we want to be as competitive as possible.
“I put my money on the men’s team to shock the standings. We have a few prime athletes, most notably Patrizi and Westman, that, I think, could surprise in their races. Ultimately, the goal is to be competitive while we rebuild for Boat Race, where we’re aiming for the A or B finals.”