Wits Rowing Reaches the Podium at South African Championships
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Wits Rowing team produced stellar results at the 2026 South African National Championships, and the excitement is palpable.
The team, led by a fierce and committed President, Shannon Reid, has achieved great things in a very limited amount of time. From a fourth-place finish in the Boat Race with Coach Lwazi a year ago, to a third-place finish at the South African Champs this year, the team has shown growth and commitment, and with a President like Reid at the helm, this boat will always stay afloat.
Reid has been President of the Wits University Rowing Club for three years, as well as an active member of the club. This has given her a unique perspective that is an incredibly important factor in her team’s performance in recent years “I get to experience Wits Rowing from both ends, the leadership and the water. It’s a role I take enormous pride in, particularly because I’ve been part of this club long enough to witness firsthand just how far we’ve come,” she shared.
These results did not come without challenge and difficulty, both in terms of physical effort and resources. According to Reid, in past years, Wits Rowing has faced difficulties with getting adequate funding and enough resources to prepare for competitions and this has influenced their previous performances. This year was different, with resources and a dedicated coaching staff, the results kept coming in, and the stakes kept rising.
This difficulty also lit a fire in Reid and her team and allowed them to fire themselves to the top. “When you’re trying to compete at a national level but fighting basic resource challenges at the same time, it takes a toll on your confidence as a club. But we kept going, kept pushing, and kept believing in what this programme could become,” she said. This belief, and the support of Wits Sports and their coaches, has allowed the team to work hard and see the fruits of their labour.
The team had to adjust to new conditions in the lead-up to the South African Champs due to having USSA Sprints the week before the Champs. This change from a 1km sprint straight into a 2km race was a huge physical demand that the team had to fight through. “In the past, challenges like that might have broken our momentum entirely. But having two dedicated coaches now, with Thabelo Masutha leading the women’s programme, meant that even in a compressed and tiring week, we had direction, structure, and belief.”
This remarkable finish and the performance of her team, and herself across various races that she personally competed in, including the Eight, the double, the four and more, Reid was proud of the fight they put up. Their next goal is to dominate at the Boat Race in September in Port Alfred, and based on these results, that ambition is well within reach.
