Port Alfred Boat Race – So close and yet so far for local Crew MyZA

These past months in the Straton household have once again been assaulted with the annual preparations for the Universities Boat Race in Port Alfred – young Philip and his mates trained from early in the morning to late at night and made the supermarkets all over PE smile with delight as they ate one meal a day all day.

As rowing parents we have observed how the NMMU First Eight rowing team have, without a dedicated coach and with parent and their own sponsorship, climbed steadily up the ranks over the last three years to the B Final of this prestigious regatta.

Over the past five years the NMMU First Eight have steadily gained a place every year to finish fourth this past weekend in Port Alfred.

The universities boat race starts with a heads race to determine which universities will row against each other in the various finals. The winning crew from the previous year starts first, then the second and so on. The time for each boat determines the position in each final which sees two university crews pitted against each other.

The NMMU rowing club has grown in leaps and bounds and they managed to field 6 crews – the highest number of participants from a single unversity at this year’s event.

The NMMU First Eight consisting of; 1 – Jason Taylor, 2 – Michael Collier, 3 – Chris Osmond, 4 – Nicholas Collier, 5 – Jonathan Handley, 6 – Benjamin Ekron, 7 – Jason Taylor, 8 – Philip Straton (NMMU Rowing Club Captain) and Cox – Tarquin De Vega rowed against the University of Johannesburg in the Mens B Final and were contesting for 3rd or 4th place.

A clash between the two crews at the start led to a restart by the umpires and the University of Johannesburg capitalised on the shaky start by NMMU to lead for the entire race before winning. Soul destroying it was to see the NMMU crew exhausted and disappointed to have to settle for a fourth.

High head and cross winds combined with choppy conditions made for a long and difficult race for all crews. The adverse conditions added close to 10 minutes to the normal times (around 16 minutes) rowed over the 5.5 kilometre course.

In the Novice race, the NMMU Ladies crew took the first place honours.

In the Men’s A final a strong University of Pretoria took the winners’ laurels over the University of Cape Town, while in the Women’s A event the University of Pretoria managed a close win over the Rhodes University.

This year marks the 12th year that Mutual Federal had supported this event by sponsoring the travel expenses of the nine teams from the Universities of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes, Wits, Fort Hare and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan.

Vuyo Lee, Executive: Brand, Customer and Transformation at Mutual Federal said: “We are once again proud of our involvement with this iconic South African event and extend our congratulations to all involved who have done credit to the sport – as demonstrated by the recent Olympic win.”

“In addition, I would like to express our appreciation to the Port Alfred community who, every year, demonstrate such warm hospitality to supporters and participants over the three days of racing”, she concluded.

Editors Notes: The Port Alfred hospitality extended to the Straton Family matriarch, Annette, who slipped on the banks of the Kowie River before the B Final and was rushed to the Port Alfred Hospital which presented a pleasant surprise for myself and the Longhair as Annette was attended to swiftly by efficient staff in a well laid out and friendly facility.

Smiles from the NMMU 1st Eight after the race.

Imagine 8 large men PLUS 1 small one in this small boat!

Months of training and the heartache of a fourth does not temper the joy of improving on 2011’s position.

Benji Ekron