RMB Universities’ Boat Race 2022 grooming future Olympians

Some 285 university rowers from around the country converged on the Eastern Cape town of Port Alfred on 15 to 17 September 2022 to participate in this year’s RMB Universities’ Boat Race on the Kowie River. 

The race is an annual event that started back in the 1970s as a contest between UCT and Rhodes. Today the trophy – a rudder from a boat in Cambridge, UK, known as the Cambridge Rudder – is contested by seven universities from across the country: Tuks, Wits, UCT, Rhodes, UJ, UKZN and UWC, as well as a development team from the Western Cape.

This year, for the first time, the women rowers raced the full course, competing along the same distance as the men – anywhere from 4,5 km to 5,5 km depending on the line the cox took down the course.

“The reason we decided to change the length of the women’s race was to bring equality to the sport,” says Erin Herschel, Chairperson of USSA-Rowing. “Our race is based on the famous Cambridge vs Oxford boat race in the UK, where the women and men race over the same distance, so we wanted to get more in line with the way they do things over there.”

The event is one of five major rowing contests sponsored by Rand Merchant Bank that take place in South Africa throughout the year.

“Our involvement in South African rowing goes back to 2016, when we sponsored the national team in preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics,” says RMB chief marketing officer, Alison Badenhorst. “We have since extended our support to include development rowing, as well as the sponsorship of the RMB Universities’ Boat Race, RMB Buffalo Regatta, RMB VLC National Sprints Regatta, SA Schools Rowing Championships and SA National Rowing Championships.

“It’s encouraging to see young talent being unlocked at university level. These are the athletes who will be moving up the ranks to join the elite RMB National Squad in the near future and potentially representing South Africa at the 2024 Paris Olympics.”

Here are the results of the 2022 RMB Universities’ Boat Race and a link to download Bruce Viaene photographs sponsored by RMB.