A historic Buffalo Regatta came to a thrilling conclusion on Saturday afternoon with a fairytale win for the Brittain brothers in the Grand Challenge final.
Lawrence, Matthew, Charles and James Brittain were rowing together in the same boat in a competitive race for the first time and the siblings produced a superb performance to just edge out fast-chasing challengers Jake Green, Leo Davis, John Smith and David Hunt into second place.
It also sealed a double delight for 2016 Olympic silver medallist Lawrence, who stormed to the win in the other main race on the day, the Silver Sculls.
“This was an amazing day for me. To bring home the double, with it being my first Silver Sculls victory – a big tick off my bucket list – and then to pull it off in the Grand with my brothers was just awesome,” Lawrence said.
“It was a massive dream for us when we all started rowing about 10 years or so ago. Just managing to get everything right and tick all the boxes so we could come here and put our best race on and pull off the victory, was absolutely phenomenal.”
The Grand Challenge got off to a quick start with the Brittains out of the blocks fast. However, the Green crew were with them and actually took the lead by the halfway mark.
The Brittains then fought back in the third quarter and pulled out into a decent lead, but again the Green crew came charging back – unfortunately just too late as the Brittains crossed the line for the win.
“That is a crew full of Olympic champions and Olympians, so we knew we really had to give our best,” Lawrence admitted.
It was the first time that a crew of brothers racing together had won the Grand Challenge final and it will be a record that should stand for a very long time.
In the Silver Sculls race, it was all Lawrence Brittain as he put on a superb show to take a strong win, five seconds ahead of fellow Tuks rower Kyle Schoonbee, while three seconds back a furious battle for third was on show with Rhodes rower Bradley Betts beating Tuks Nicholas Oberholzer in a photo finish.
“The conditions were pretty tough. It was a slow race with the incoming tide and headwinds, but I was feeling really strong in that race and managed to put down the big watts and really took control of the race.”
In the end, the weather had the final say on the day as just after the Grand Challenge race, lightning and rain came, with the rest of the races on schedule being cancelled.
This included some exciting races, such as the senior women’s Silver Sculls, as well as the senior men’s Eights which would have been an exciting race.
“We had three brilliant days of weather with very little wind which is quite unusual for East London. Unfortunately, the bad weather came at the end, but at least we managed to get the major events done,” East London Boating Association chairman Phillip King said.
Overall in the regatta, the top points on the university front went to Tuks who finished with 420 points, followed by UJ with 300 points.
For the schools, St Andrew’s College with 230 points for the boys and St Andrew’s Girls School with 300 points were the top-performing boys and girls schools.
“Everything went very well, there was some good and tight racing and I trust everybody really enjoyed the flat water we had,” King said.
“We are looking forward to hosting the SA champs here in a few weeks which will be another feather in our cap,” King enthused.
Brittain brothers row up a truly Grand storm
Lawrence, Matthew, Charles and James Brittain were rowing together in the same boat in a competitive race for the first time and the siblings produced a superb performance to just edge out fast-chasing challengers Jake Green, Leo Davis, John Smith and David Hunt into second place.
It also sealed a double delight for 2016 Olympic silver medallist Lawrence, who stormed to the win in the other main race on the day, the Silver Sculls.
“This was an amazing day for me. To bring home the double, with it being my first Silver Sculls victory – a big tick off my bucket list – and then to pull it off in the Grand with my brothers was just awesome,” Lawrence said.
“It was a massive dream for us when we all started rowing about 10 years or so ago. Just managing to get everything right and tick all the boxes so we could come here and put our best race on and pull off the victory, was absolutely phenomenal.”
The Grand Challenge got off to a quick start with the Brittains out of the blocks fast. However, the Green crew were with them and actually took the lead by the halfway mark.
The Brittains then fought back in the third quarter and pulled out into a decent lead, but again the Green crew came charging back – unfortunately just too late as the Brittains crossed the line for the win.
“That is a crew full of Olympic champions and Olympians, so we knew we really had to give our best,” Lawrence admitted.
It was the first time that a crew of brothers racing together had won the Grand Challenge final and it will be a record that should stand for a very long time.
In the Silver Sculls race, it was all Lawrence Brittain as he put on a superb show to take a strong win, five seconds ahead of fellow Tuks rower Kyle Schoonbee, while three seconds back a furious battle for third was on show with Rhodes rower Bradley Betts beating Tuks Nicholas Oberholzer in a photo finish.
“The conditions were pretty tough. It was a slow race with the incoming tide and headwinds, but I was feeling really strong in that race and managed to put down the big watts and really took control of the race.”
In the end, the weather had the final say on the day as just after the Grand Challenge race, lightning and rain came, with the rest of the races on schedule being cancelled.
This included some exciting races, such as the senior women’s Silver Sculls, as well as the senior men’s Eights which would have been an exciting race.
“We had three brilliant days of weather with very little wind which is quite unusual for East London. Unfortunately, the bad weather came at the end, but at least we managed to get the major events done,” East London Boating Association chairman Phillip King said.
Overall in the regatta, the top points on the university front went to Tuks who finished with 420 points, followed by UJ with 300 points.
For the schools, St Andrew’s College with 230 points for the boys and St Andrew’s Girls School with 300 points were the top-performing boys and girls schools.
“Everything went very well, there was some good and tight racing and I trust everybody really enjoyed the flat water we had,” King said.
“We are looking forward to hosting the SA champs here in a few weeks which will be another feather in our cap,” King enthused.
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