Thrilling finish to 2012 Mutual & Federal Universities Boat Race

Winners - Women's A - Mutual & Federal Universities Boat Race 2012

The annual Mutual & Federal Universities Boat Race, held this weekend (September 13 to 15) in the Eastern Cape town of Port Alfred, once again proved to be a thrilling contest. The highlight on the universities’ sporting calendar, the Men’s race lived up

The University of Pretoria took the winners’ laurels over the University of Cape Town, while in the Women’s event the University of Pretoria managed a close win over the Rhodes University.

The competition this year was particularly tough as this year’s Mutual & Federal Universities Boat Race had to be shifted a week to accommodate the fact that no fewer than six of the university teams participated in the World University Rowing Championships held in Kazaan, Russia. They had to commute back with little time to adapt to local conditions.

Trustee of University Rowing Sean Kerr, thanked the competitors and organisers, as well as sponsors Mutual & Federal. He added: “It is due in no small measure to the level of competition at this event and other comparable ones that South Africa has such a high standing in universities rowing – and indeed world rowing. Our athletes trained extremely hard for this race, as this is the one above all others they want to win. I wish to congratulate the winners.”

This year marks the 12th year that Mutual & Federal had supported this event by sponsoring the travel expenses of the nine teams from the Universities of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes, Wits, Fort Hare and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan.

Vuyo Lee, Executive: Brand, Customer and Transformation at Mutual & Federal says: “We are once again proud of our involvement with this iconic South African event and extend our congratulations to all involved who have done credit to the sport - as demonstrated by the recent Olympic win.”

“In addition, I would like to express our appreciation to the Port Alfred community who, every year, demonstrate such warm hospitality to supporters and participants over the three days of racing”, she concludes.

The 2012 winners of the Men’s and Women’s categories are:

Men’s A

1st Place – University of Pretoria

2nd Place – University of Cape Town

3rd Place - University of Johannesburg

Women’s A

1st Place – University of Pretoria

2nd Place – Rhodes University

3rd Place – University of Cape Town

Men’s B

1st Place – University of Cape Town

Women’s B

1st Place – Rhodes University

Novice Race

1st Place – Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)

Mutual & Federal is a member of the Old Mutual Group and one of the leading short-term insurers in southern Africa.