Lack of access to suitable water training facilities and the high financial costs of the sport have been cited as the major reasons behind the discontinuation of rowing at Clarendon High School for Girls.
Last week, the school issued a letter alerting the parents that the Clarendon Rowing Club will cease to operate on March 9 2026. This has left the East London rowing fraternity dismayed as CGHS rowing, which was founded in 1997, has seen rowers excel nationally and internationally, landing scholarships to SA and US universities.
Clarendon school governing body chair Robin Knott, in a statement on Monday, clarified the letter and cited sustained challenges in meeting the operational needs required to run the sport effectively as the reasons for discontinuing the sport.
The East London Boating Association and the Transnet Ports Authority, the owners of the Buffalo River boating facilities, only recently engaged in a 10-year lease after a protracted rental dispute in 2024.
“Though the lease dispute was concluded, the long-term security and suitability of the Buffalo River facilities remain uncertain,” Knott said.
“This, combined with infrastructure, maintenance, logistical and financial challenges, led to the decision to discontinue the programme.”
GO!&Express, reported that in 2024 a parent-led task team had investigated the sustainable future of rowing at the school after two weeks of outraged campaigning from the rowing community which opposed the intended suspension of the school’s rowing when it was first raised in 2024.
It was decided that the rowing programme be retained if parents and athletes were committed to fundraising to sustain it. However, when asked about this, Knott said: “Fundraising was only one of several factors considered.
“While there was strong willingness to raise funds, the operational challenges, particularly the uncertainty and limitations around long-term facility access, remained unresolved.
“Fundraising alone could not address these structural constraints.”
As to a revival of the programme sometime in the future, he said the school remained open to reviewing the decision should circumstances change to ensure the operational viability of the sport. Knott said the school remained committed to supporting its current rowers through the completion of the 2025/2026 season, including participation in the SA Schools Boat Race and the SA Championships.
Training and events will take place at the Nahoon Dam, alongside Selborne College and the long-standing Leander Rowing Club, both of which relocated from the Buffalo River venue in October 2023. CGHS rowing alumna Charlotte Green said the decision to end the rowing programme reflected a trend of dismantling important school culture which had developed pupils holistically.
“Rowing is a male-dominated sport and Clarendon was a school that pushed empowering women through giving them access to opportunities they would not otherwise have had. “This is a step back from that. If the rowing club is going now, what is next?” she said.
The East London Boating Association’s Kate Godfrey said: “To lose a school like Clarendon is not going to affect East London only but at national level.” The Eastern Cape Rowing Association’s Ryan Baisley said: “We are the host of the biggest competition of rowing in the country, the Buffalo Regatta. We remain hopeful there will be ways to get the school back into rowing.”
University rowing mentor on the USSA executive committee and an alumna of the school, Sipe Solombela, said on Facebook: “This sport has made me the person I am today. I’m so heartbroken that we’ve resorted to this. Rowing teaches you time management, teaches you discipline. “If you are a cox it teaches you leadership and how to guide others … I’m remembering and knowing it all started with rowing at Clarendon on the Buffalo River.”
