Weltevreden Park native one half of the world’s fastest pair of rowers

Every river begins with a tiny trickle before entering an ocean of accomplishments.

Beginning his schooling at Weltevreden Park Primary School before moving on to King Edwards VII School, now 22-year-old Damien Bonhage-Koen is preparing for a definitive 2023. Currently the holder of the U23 Men’s Heavyweight Pairs World Record with rowing partner Chris Baxter; the pair will be putting their hearts and souls into qualification for Paris 2024.

Damien and Chris set their world record at the World Rowing Championships held in Italy at the end of July last year. The journey to this momentous achievement started in his Grade 9 year in the U16 age group.

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“My first rowing session was on the Wemmer Pan lake south of Joburg. My first international event was a self-funded South African School Rowing Union tour to the UK for two weeks where we competed on the world famous Dorney Lake,” reveals Damien.

At school, Damien competed in the Pair, the Coxed Four which is a five man boat class with an extra rower who steers and shouts commands as well as and the Eight, a nine man boat class with eight rowers and a coxswain. Having come through the ranks to become one of the country’s finest rowers; coach and junior national representative Thato Mokoena was the man behind the scenes assisting the pair.

“Regatta preparation is different for everyone. For myself and Chris, it was about making sure we were relaxed and confident in how Thato had set up our boat for us, just making sure we are comfortable and the boat feels like it did at home while training,” said Damien.

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“Preparing for racing includes recovering well which we do by lots of sleep, healthy meals and protein shakes,” he added.

The steady and incremental progress to qualification for the Paris Olympics will mirror any single race preparation.

“Pre-racing consists of shorter rows on the race course which we often refer to as ‘paddles’. These are to familiarise ourselves with important distance markers on the course. These paddles act as a way to keep out heart rates in desired zones to assist with peak performance come race day,” said Damien.

Excelling in sports outside the more regularly publicised team sports takes a unique determination, sacrifice and support structure.

“I could probably talk for hours about the ways the sport can be grown,” laughed Damien, highlighting the reliance on private funding due to lack of government support and the need for a school to high performance level pathway.

Life may never be as still as the water, but this elite rower will triumph upstream no matter how strong the current.