Bishops rowing is once again in the headlines. The school is winning medals at major local championships such as the Buffalo Regatta, Schools Boat Race and SA Rowing Championships, as well as providing rowers to represent SA at the Word Junior Championships. It is however not just at school level where Bishops Rowing is making an impact. The exploits of the Mad4Waves four have been well reported, but in the more traditional form of the sport, three young ODs set some sort of Bishops record this past weekend by all competing at the same regatta in the United States. The three, who rowed together in the 2017 1st VIII, all represented their respective universities at the annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. The HoCR is arguably the biggest rowing regatta in the world with over 10,000 athletes and features the top rowers and clubs from around the world. As a school, Bishops rowed in the youth section of the regatta in 2015 and 2018 and aim to attend every second year.
Results from the weekend were excellent with
Stephane Pienaar (2017 O) stroking the Princeton University 2nd VIII to 20th place in the Men’s Championships Eights,
Zola Baird (2017 B), rowing in the 3 seat, helping the Williams College 1st VIII to 12th place in the Men’s Collegiate Eights, and
Kalu-Jay Varney (2018O) (fourth from the left) , also in the 3 seat, propelling the Harvard University 3rd VIII to victory in the Men’s Club Eights
All three have a number of years left at university and we will surely be seeing them taking their rowing to further heights in the years to come. Congratulations to these three young ODs for flying the Bishops rowing flag so high and so proudly.
