Gauteng Champs (3-4 November)

Gauteng Champs in Pretoria was the annual reward trip for dedicated rowers. A large group of 16 deserving rowers was selected. It was great to participate in rowing competition outside our Eastern Cape for the first time in three years. In the last two years competitions planned in Cape Town and Durban didn't work out, leaving the rowers with great sightseeing trips, but without competing. This year the focus was on competition, with sightseeing taking only a small part of the trip. With the large number of teams participating, we didn't win many medals, but we showed that we can compete at any level in the country. There was an amazing achievement by Xolisanani Hina, who won a silver medal. He is probably our shortest rower, but very fit! (unfortunately no pictures)

Eastern Cape Champs (27 October)

The rowers went to East London for the Eastern Cape Championships with good results. Unfortunately no pictures. There was gold for:

• Under 14 scull: Mondli Njibane
• Under 15 Quad: Aphelele Makeleni, Onela Veto, Thembani James, Nkosikhona Sandi and Mzimasi Khuhlani
• Under 15 Scull: Nkosikhona Sandi and Lifa Nxopho
• Under 16 Scull: Qhamani Isaac
• Under 19 scull: Odwa Quma

Rowing with Olympians (29-30 September)

The Olympic Gold medallists Sizwe Ndlovu and James Thompson visited Port Alfred. They were invited by Stenden South Africa as motivational speakers for a youth camp organised by Stenden. Our rowers were invited for two activities in the camp. We did a rowing demonstration, showing all sorts of tricks in the boats that very few rowers in the country are able to do. The show was followed by a nice supper in a restaurant. The other day we competed with the Olympic rowers on our Kowie River. The first 500m race was the Olympians in a double against our Under 16 quad. It was an easy win for our quad. The second race was the two Olympians mixed with our U/16 cox (Aphelele Makaleni) stroke (Lindokuhle Nikelo) and number three (Buhle Ngcelwana) against the double Xolisani Hina and Makholwa Bari in the double. The quad had a clear win. We went to the Civic Centre for a supper with the youth camp participants. The Olympic rowers motivated the youth to have dreams and aim for success in life.

Head Regatta (8 September)

We went to East London for the second competition of the year: the Buffalo Heads Regatta. It has long distance heads races like our Nemato Sculls Head, not only in single sculls, but also in team boats. It was a nice competition with many rowers from the Eastern Cape.

Nemato Scull Head (18 August)

The competition season has started for the rowers and there is a lot of action. It is the time of the season for the long distance races. The first competition was Nemato Sculls Head, proudly our own competition. Although we keep it informal, it's a tough race over the same course and distance as Boat Race. Only the younger age groups row a reduced distance. Three clubs participated: Grey High School and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) from Port Elizabeth and of course Nemato. To reward the hard work of the participants, we had gold, silver and bronze medals available for the first three places in each age group. NMMU won one race, and Grey and Nemato each three races. The Nemato winners are:

• Under 14 Boys: Xolisani Hina
• Under 19 Girls: Wendi Hoyi
• Under 23 Women: Destiny Nelson

SA Senior Champs (28 April)

Our senior rowers participated in the South African Senior Rowing Championships in East London on the 28th of April. It was a bit early in our rowing season, but all the years of rowing experience and good basic fitness paid off with Chuma Nyendwana, Lunga Vulindlu, Simlindile Veto, Bulelani Zono and cox Thulani Magongo winning gold in the C-level coxed four.

Nemato PE (18 May)

Today is the official start of our Port Elizabeth branch of Nemato Rowing Club. We took 2 ergos, 2 sculls and 1 double to PE. The four members are: Lunga Vulindlu, Ashley Backward, Bongisani Magopheni and Odwa Quma. They live together in a house close to PE College in Struendale. For transport to the Swartkops River (8km) we bought them bicycles. The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Rowing Club offered us space in their boatshed (thanks!).

Lottery equipment

Nemato Rowing Club is very fortunate to have received support from Lottery for equipment, capacity building, kit and provincial competition.