St John’s College learner and rower, Matthew Keus, is looking forward to the upcoming U19 Rowing World Championships in Bulgaria next month, after recently competing in the National Selection Regatta.

“The college’s head of rowing, Caitlin Dace, who also serves as head coach of the U19 national team, organised the regatta.”

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Matthew said, “My crew had the top prognostic percentage of the world’s best for that event in all three races, so we qualified comfortably in the quad to represent South Africa at the U19 Rowing World Championships. Yet it was still a stressful regatta for me, as it was my first selection regatta.”

The Grade 11 learner began rowing in Grade 7.

“I started rowing wanting to try something new, as I hadn’t heard of it until my parents asked which sport I wanted to pick. Initially, I was not great, but I quickly started to enjoy rowing, and I kept doing my best and improving.”

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Currently, Matthew’s crew trains at least once a day, mostly in the mornings, with additional gym sessions or training at Roodeplaat on weekends. He added that he is excited about the competitions ahead.

“I am looking forward to racing other international crews. We will keep training to our absolute best to ensure we perform at the U19 Rowing World Championships in Bulgaria from August 5–8.

There is also the African Championships to look forward to, which will be held at Roodeplaat in November.”

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