Jeppe rowers were able to compete at the SA National Regatta at Roodeplaat on 01/02 May 2021 after a very long hiatus.

This event is usually held annually towards the end of April, for senior rowing clubs and provincial/national junior athletes. However, in 2021 school clubs we invited included after the SA Schools Championship could not be staged in March because of the Covid-19 restrictions on sport.

As the regatta was planned during the public school holidays, Jeppe were not able to send a full team as. Thus it was a great opportunity to embrace the Jeppe Team Spirit, and establish crews that were a mix of fitness and technical prowess.

The Under-18 Eight crew, for example, was a mixture of senior and junior rowers. They rowed in an older boat, “Kitty” which is roughly 11 years old. Damascus, the clubs most recent purchase thanks to the efforts of Jeppe Boats and Blades, will only be used by official 1st teams in official school regattas, so it’s debut has been delayed. The young and mixed Jeppe eight came third, never-the-less, which was a very good result for them.

Rowing Head Coach , Mr Chris Paynter, points out that the main thing was to give the boys an opportunity to compete in a real competition in a year when that didn’t seem likely.

“We did very well, however,” he said. “Jeppe crews won a number of medals, including numerous golds, and our rowers who were in the SA Development Squad boats also came home with medals.”

The medal winners were:

Under-15 Single Scull, Gold – Logan Roodt
Under-15 Double Scull, Gold – Logan Roodt, Mario Alho
Under-16 Pair Oar, Bronze – Troy Jarvis, Liam Anderson
Under-18 Pair Oar, Bronze – Darian Ferreira , Sven Clausen
Under-18 Quad, Gold – Robert Preston, Liam McCourt, Joshua Gillespie, Darian Ferreira, Sven Clausen
U18 Coxed Four, Gold – Robert Preston, Michael Concalves, Joshua Gillespie, Darian Ferreira, Sven Clausen
U18 Eight, Bronze – Robert Preston, Troy Jarvis, Blayde Franken, Terence Laughton, Mandla Green, Christiano De Freitas, Joshua Gillespie, Darian Ferreira, Sven Clausen

The following Jeppe rowers won medals while rowing for the SA National Development Squads (under-15 and under-16).
Under-15 – Logan Roodt Gold (Oct), Gold (Quad); Mario Alho Gold (Oct), Gold (Quad)
Under-16 – Blayde Franken Gold (Coxed Four and Eight); Mandla Green Gold (Eight), Silver (Coxed Four), Bronze (Single Scull); Cristiano de Freitas Gold (Eight and Coxed Four).

All in all it was a fantastic regatta and so good for our boys to be back on the water again.