St David's Canoeists Triumph at National Sprint Regatta

Twelve canoeists from St David's Marist Inanda competed in the 2023 South African Schools and Senior Sprint Canoeing Champions that took place from 28 to 30 April at Victoria Lake Club in Germiston. Over 230 canoeists from across South Africa took part in the regatta, generating a very high standard of competition. Adding to this challenge, many of the events our canoeists raced in took place back-to-back. The St David's team rose to the challenge, exemplifying our ideal of sportsmanship, and performed extremely well, with many clocking impressive times and finishing in the top three in their races.

We extend our congratulations to all our paddlers who took part, as well as a heartfelt thank you to all staff and parents for their support throughout the year.

Team St David's 2023

College	Preparatory
Matthew Charter Tomé dos Santos Theo Dreyer Jordan Klopper Luke Salmon	Adam Burr-Dixon Robert Charter Ruoxi Hau Alessandro Hojem Angelo Hojem Ruwan Jayakody Mangaliso Vilakazi

345468238 2462406523920022 5772776219100540281 n

345164828 212027484878415 3382438021881773414 n

345608694 2515285281961668 7084090809515699638 n

Results

Luke Salmon (College)	5km (K1) – 1^st place 1km (K1) – 1^st place 500m (K1) – 1^st place 200m (K1) – 1^st place 1km (K2) – 1^st place 500m (K2) – 1^st place 200m (K2) – 1^st place Placed 1^st overall for U18 age group
Theo Dreyer (College)	5km (K1) – 2^nd place 1km (K1) – 3^rd place 500m (K1) – 3^rd place 200m (K1) – 3^rd place 1km (K2) – 2^nd place 500m (K2) – 2^nd place 200m (K2) – 2^nd place 500m (K2 mixed doubles) – 2^nd place Placed 2^nd overall for U18 age group
Jordan Klopper (College)	5km (K1) – 4^th place 1km (K1) – 2^nd place 500m (K1) – 2^nd place 200m (K1) – 2^nd place 500m (K2 mixed doubles) – 1^st place
Ruoxi Hau (Preparatory)	2km (K1) – 3^rd place 500m (K1) – 3^rd place 200m (K1) – 3^rd place

Olympic Hopes Regatta and World Sprint Championships

In addition to these impressive results, Tomé dos Santos, Theo Dreyer, Jordan Klopper and Luke Salmon have all received their Federation Colours.

Furthermore, the regatta also served as a qualifier for various South African teams set to compete internationally, including the International Canoeing Federation Canoe Sprint World Championships and Olympic Hopes team. The Sprint World Championships will be taking place in Italy in July of this year, and we are pleased to share that both Theo Dreyer and Jordan Klopper have been selected as part of Team South Africa in this event. Both students, as well as Tomé dos Santos, have also been selected as part of the National squad competing in the Olympic Hopes Regatta, which will be held in Poland in September.

We are extremely proud of these gentlemen for being selected to represent our school and nation on the world stage. Well done, gents!