Published: 06-May-2021

South Africa is back on the water

1st and 2nd May was the South African National Regatta. At last our rowers from U14 through to Masters, could get back on the water and race.


Author: Anne Kilian

The South Africa National Senior Regatta took place on 1st and 2nd May. 740 athletes attended the regatta, including 127 Masters. Athletes came from all over the country. We were also proud to welcome athletes from Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The Masters were made up of 40 females (oldest was 72) and 87 males (oldest was 91). 345 masters’ seats competed in 22 races.

Master’s trophy winners

Points were allocated to the boats that came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each race. Composite crews did not qualify for points. The winning clubs were:

  • FIRST - Victoria Lake Rowing Club – 49 points
  • SECOND - Viking Rowing Club – 21 points
  • THIRD - Roodeplaat Rowing Club – 11 points

Nominations for race of the weekend

The SA Masters facebook team ran a competition in the week after the regatta to nominate the race of the weekend. There was no prize other than the glory of being recognised as the race of the weekend! The winner of that glory was the Mixed 4x. Here are the original posts from Facebook with the results.

Nomination 1: Masters 1st Division men's 4-

First nomination for race of the weekend is in! Nomination is for the Masters 1st Division men's 4- who raced on Saturday at 10h48. There were SIX olympians in this race - Jose Segurola, Ivan Pentz, Ramon Di Clemente, James Thompson, David Hunt and Sean Keeling. Keeling's boat won on the water, and there was a 0.1 sec difference between Pentz's and Di Clemente's boats. With masters handicap applied, the winner was Keeling with a 96.5% prognostic, followed by Penz (94.1%) and Di Clemente (94.06%). Absolutely awesome racing. The fight is now on for 2023 Masters Regatta!!!!

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Nomination 2: Mixed Masters 4x

And we have a 2nd nomination. This nomination is for the mixed masters 4x who raced on Sunday at 12h50. There has - for a few years - been some friendly rivalry between the Dream Team (Rene Brovelli, Kevin Spence, Sam and Ian Johnson) and the Party Crashers (Nigel Bakker, Tim Keegan, Anne Kilian and Gaynor du Toit). The Party Crashers are so named, because they crashed the Dream Team's party and started winning the mixed masters 4x about 2 years ago. This weekend however, the Party Crashers had a crash (yes, unfortunate name) before the start. The bow seat was unrowable, so Gaynor du Toit encouraged the rest of the crew to continue and race a triple. That is what they did, and they won SILVER! The Dream Team won the gold. Don't tell me master's racing isn't super fun, super competitive and super strong! Go Masters!!!!!

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Nomination 3: Heat 2 of the 1st Division Men's Sculls

And here is our last nomination for the race of the weekend at the South African National Regatta. This nomination goes to heat 2 of the 1st Division men's sculls. In this race we had the oldest rower in South Africa competing. At 91 years old John Price is still regularly seen on the water at Roodeplaat, and on Sunday 2nd May at 10h18 he took on our top sculler in the country, Nigel Bakker. John is an inspiration to all of us, and the most well known, loved and respected rower in South Africa. Come on, like this post and share it. Spread the message that you are never to old to row.

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World Rowing Masters Regatta 2023 in South Africa