1st eight pushing through the Bay of Biscay in Port Alfred

1st eight pushing through the Bay of Biscay in Port Alfred
KES win Old Mutual Schools Boatrace

Friday, February 4, 2011

VLC SPRINTS 2011

Last weekend saw the rowing club competing at the Victoria Lake University of Johannesburg regatta. All age groups were extremely competitive and the club placed in almost every event. Specific notable results were:

First Four – First
First Quad - Second
Under 16 8 – First
Under 16 Four - Second
Under 15 Octuple – Third
Under 15 Quad - Third
Under 14 Octuple – First
Under 14 Quad – Third

The club won the overall boys school trophy.

Friday, January 28, 2011

u23 Pairs final 2010



South Africa wins it's first Gold at a World Rowing Championship regatta

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Blades

www.theblades.co.za

THE BLADES is an exclusive boutique hotel situated on a 10 hectre expanse of untamed Bushveld. Built on the banks of the Roodeplaat dam, The Blades offers a unique combination of indigenous vegetation, landscaping and water-front luxury.

Roodeplaat Dam and the surrounding Dinokeng Tourism region provides a myriad of activities, from game viewing and bird watching to a wide range of water sports including rowing, canoeing and fishing. Bird watchers are treated to some 230 different species of indigenous birds.

Tours and day-trips can be arranged to visit near-by attractions. The world-famous Cullinan diamond mine is a mere 25min drive away.

The owners of THE BLADES are all members of the Old Edwardian Boat Club. After years of passionate planning it has been their vision to create a waterfront haven. This passion and personal commitment is palpable at THE BLADES. When we welcome you at THE BLADES we do so with unrivalled dedication and genuine hospitality.

The hotel itself comprises 4 Exclusive Double Suites, each with their own private balcony overlooking the water, as well as 2 Family Suites and 4 Double Suites situated on the banks of our own private dam. A further 24 double rooms and 8 family units are planned for the future. All suites are free standing to ensure tranquil privacy. Suites are decorated in elegant, earth tones with splashes of colour in keeping with the regatta feel. A central fireplace and free-standing bath in the Exclusive Suites create an atmosphere of warmth and romance.

The interiors subtly reflect the sophisticated rowing theme. Cool linen couches in the clubhouse offer the perfect summer retreat to sample our cocktail menu. Sundowners can be enjoyed on the timber deck with magnificent views of the dam and surrounds.

At THE BLADES we are able to accommodate all your Conferencing needs, with both a smaller, intimate venue as well as a much larger, thatched retreat, offering breathtaking views. Special day-time and evening events, team building, conferences and weddings may be held in the Conference Centre or on the rolling lawns, a stone’s throw away from the water.

THE BLADES Restaurant prides itself in serving unpretentious, yet sophisticated cuisine. Our menu offers a choice of carefully selected signature dishes. See our Dining link for more information.

THE BLADES is conveniently situated just 20 minutes from Pretoria and OR Thambo International and 45 minutes from Johannesburg, making it an accessible destination to both local and international guests.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Appeal for photo's

This is an appeal to parents and supporters for photographs. If you have any photo's of rowing we would like to post them on the net (with you permission of course) so that people can have easy access to good photo's of their sons. The KES rowing albums are available on the blog as slideshow's at present.
Please put all photo's onto a CD and hand to Andrew Grant or Trevor Dedlow so that we can add to this mass of KES rowing photo's...
Thank you

St. Andrews Regatta (u14 and u15) on the 15th January 2011

Our promising u14 age group continued with their winning streak from last year. The octopul managed 1st place, 20 seconds ahead of the field. Mitchell and Westphal were 1st and 2nd in their C sculls heats respectively. Viadana was 7th in A singles and our “A” double was 4th. The “C” quads also showed good improvement, coming in 1st and 3rd respectively.

In the u15 age group we saw huge improvement since last year in this first regatta. It is great to see the work that has gone in during camp in this group. The oct was 2nd to St. Johns, which is a big improvement from Gauteng Champs. Hopefully we can see further progress this term which will place the crew within striking distance of gold at champs.
We were also the only school to have two octopuls in this race, which is an indication of the depth in this age group.

Other notable achievements were a win in the C doubles, a 4th place for McCann and 12th for Burke the B single’s event. Dos Santos was 11th and Kelly 15th in the A single, also some commendable results from them. In the premier A quads event, we ended up 4th out of 12.

The Mondeor Senior regatta for u16 and open groups takes place at Roodeplaat next weekend and we wish the u15 boys good luck on their selection camp. The following weekend (29th Jan) we will be racing at VLC and the week thereafter, RVR which unfortunately will be at Roodeplaat due to the recent flooding of the Vaal.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

January Rowing Training Camp 4th - 10th January 2011

KES rowing was back in the swing of things on the 4th of January. With many boys arriving back from holiday only the day before, it was a bit of a shock to the system for some.

Roodeplaat was in pristine condition and the only thing that got in the way of water time was the thunderstorms that came through with remarkable regularity!! All in all, a very wet camp compared to the normal heat of January in Pretoria.

It seems that the standard of training during the "time off" has been fair, meaning that we can keep moving forward, rather than having to start over again. This is always a good indicator of the boy’s genuine motivation for results at champs. So, well done to the boys - and also to the dedicated team of coaches who really did some enthusiastic, quality work. We look forward to the racing... Only 6 weeks to go until the end of the season!

Unfortunately there were a few boys that did not attend camp due to various reasons. This is not ideal, but thanks to those who let us know ahead of time. It makes things a lot easier on the planning side.

Crews will now be selected from boys that were at camp - and then further selection will follow soon after the initial regattas.

Results will only come after training; the boys need to be at camps if they are to do justice to the time they spend on rowing during the year.

Thanks again to the parents for their transport, towing and maintenance efforts (and of course support of their boys). Well done to the coaches and boys for a very productive camp.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

1st VIII win boat race!!!


The King Edward VII School 1st VII won the Old Mutual Schools Boat Race on Sunday 5 December 2010 making history as the first KES crew to win the prestigious event. Now in its tenth year, the event attracts the 1st teams from all rowing schools in South Africa.

The Oxford - Cambridge style of race format is somewhat different from the 2km sprints that we are used to. The heats which take place on Saturday are time trials - each crew posting a time against the stopwatch. After this, based on the ranking from these heat times, boats are paired off into finals. In this case, we raced against Bishop Bavin School in the A Final.

This year a very strong incoming tide and near gale force wind in places made the race extremely tactical. Our crew managed to ward of repeated pushes from their opponents to make it a nail biting affair: A mere 5 seconds separating the two crews over 24 minutes of racing - it was incredible!

This is an outstanding result for a crew that has had humble beginnings this season. The crew is relatively small, but make up for that with excellent rhythm and cohesion. The unit has 5 senior opens (Grade 11) who were sitting in the stern, as well as one junior open (Grade 10) and 2 under sixteen athletes. A great deal of credit must go to the Nicholas Tickle who showed tactical insight of a very experienced cox in only in his first season of rowing.

Congratulations!

A picture album will follow shortly... Click on the albums to the right of this blog