Old Saint’s lasting journey with rowing

St Stithian’s alumnus and former staff member Alex Cruickshanks shares his journey with rowing in his debut novel Pangolin Crew.

The Old Stithian and former master in charge of rowing at the boys’ college took inspiration from his journey with the sport, which started at the Bryanston-based school.

“The beginning of the story was back in Grade 10, the year 2000. The beginning of writing was notes on my phone for the past decade,” said Cruickshanks.

He added that rowing prepared him to write, the long training hours the focus and the discipline.

“If you want any hope of making it in the sport you have to learn those three things among others, and master them – not exactly easy lessons in a sport synonymous with incredible pain.”

Pangolin Crew tells the unique and close-knit story of a varsity rowing team who need to plot a new course in an every-changing tidal river.

Cruickshanks added that through the turmoil and brutality of the pandemic, an opportunity presented itself.

“Amongst the chaos and doubt and fear I saw an opportunity, a now or never scenario – similar to the ones that Tommy and the Pangolin Crew discover,” he said.

Interested in getting your hands on a copy? Pangolin Crew is available from Takealot and Amazon.

Twenty percent of the profits of the sales of Pangolin Crew will be donated to Nemato Change a Life, a development rowing programme based in the Eastern Cape where the novel is set.

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