Over this coming weekend Jeppe crews will be testing their metal against other schools at the Gauteng School and Junior Rowing Championships.  The event will be held at VLC due to continued contaminated water issues at Roodeplaat dam.

Regardless of venue, the weekend is set to hold some exciting racing. As usual, we invite you to follow the results of the Jeppe crews on the Jeppe Rowing Old Boys WhatsApp group.  If you are not signed up to this yet and would like to join, please send us your mobile number (trust@jeppeboatsandblades.co.za ) and we will get you set up. You can also watch the action of day 2 live on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9exAskTSDaM .

After the great results achieved by Jeppe crews last weekend we can be sure that the weekend will deliver some exciting racing.  It will also be the first time since the expansion of Jeppe’s boat fleet that there will be an overall school ranking and given the fantastic progress made, we are hoping that the club achieves a podium position.  

The journey to getting back onto the podium as a school has been a steady one and records from the South African Schools Rowing union (SASRU) show the progress made.  Given the current results it’s difficult to believe that in 2013 Jeppe was placed 13^th out of 15 boys’ schools competing at SA Champs. Since then, the club has shown a steady improvement and by 2017 Jeppe was placed 6^th. 

By 2020, Jeppe was placed 4^th overall with only 7 points separating them from a 3^rd position and 14 points for 2^nd, making the school the highest-ranking government boys’ school in the country.  Further evidence of a remarkable comeback that the school and its oarsmen can be proud of.  

As part of this, Jeppe is well represented in the 2021 Gauteng Champs with 38 crews competing in the 58 races (primarily heats at this stage) in the boy’s school category. We look forward to cheering all the teams on.

Greg