Exchange of experience in South Africa

Brandenburg delegation visits the World Rowing Masters Regatta in South Africa. Interesting exchange of experiences with local organizers and representatives of the Rowing World Association. Baton passed over to 2024 WRMR in Brandenburg.

After a delegation of the organizing committee (OC) attended the Euro Masters Regatta in Munich at the end of July to inform competitors of the 2024 World Rowing Masters Regatta (WRMR), a four-person delegation of the Brandenburg OC traveled to South Africa from the 20th to 24th of September. This year’s WRMR was held on the Roodeplaat Dam regatta course. In addition to OC President Volker Garmatter and Vice President Steffen Christgau, the delegation included Uwe Philipp, head of the Beetzsee race course, and Holger Siegler, who will serve as one of two jury presidents at the 2024 WRMR. Meanwhile, Karin Stephan, who will be the other Jury president, was part of the official umpire team at the event in South Africa and gained valuable insight for next year’s event.

We wanted to use the opportunity to encourage the athletes and representatives of the national rowing federations to participate in next year’s WRMR at Beetzsee and to conduct important talks with the international rowing federation “World Rowing”.

is how the OK President describes the most important goal of the trip to South Africa.

We had our information booth next to the vibrant African booths offering colorful clothing and African handicrafts. The interest in the flyers, posters and giveaways was very high. Especially the sunglasses with the WRMR 2024 logo were very popular under the South African sun.

This year’s event took place in Tshwane, South Africa. Tshwane is the administrative capital of South Africa and consists of Pretoria and the surrounding areas. The Roodeplaat reservoir is often referred to as the home of South African rowing.

WRMR 2023 started on Thursday, 21.09.2023. The first races took off at 08:30 before the official opening ceremony was held in the evening. It was marked by South African folklore and official speeches by the mayor, the president of the South African Rowing Federation, the representative of the provincial government and the representative of the World Rowing Federation.

The WRMR 2023 was attended by about 800 rowers from 196 clubs in 42 countries. The oldest male rower was 94 years old, the oldest female rower 84 years old. The South African organizer had facilitated the first “World Rowing Event” in Africa with 150 volunteers.

Our delegation used the short time at the southern end of Africa intensively to study the organizational procedures and to inspect the existing infrastructure on land and on the water. In extensive consultations we have talked about specific technical issues and discussed various details. After all, we want to optimize the preparations for the big meeting of the master rowers next year in Brandenburg an der Havel, so that the participants from all over the world can experience an event at the highest international level.

says Uwe Philipp, head of the Beetzsee race course .

And Volker Garmatter, President of the organizing committee adds:

In a meeting with the World Rowing Masters Commission, we reported on the state of preparations and clarified open questions. During the closing ceremony, the World Rowing flag was handed over to us as a “baton” for the coming year. In conclusion, we can say: The first World Rowing Event in Africa was a great experience for the athletes, volunteers, organizers and spectators. Of course, we hope that we will be able to welcome all the athletes who took part in South Africa and many more next year at the shores of Lake Beetzsee. We will use all our power and experience to offer them a great event on water and on land.

The WRMR in Brandenburg an der Havel will take place from September 11th to 15th. September 2024 on the Beetzsee. Up to 4,000 rowers are expected next year. They will compete in approximately 800 races over five days. More than 200 volunteers are needed to master this huge organizational challenge. If you are interested in volunteering, you can contact the organizing committee at www.wrmr2024.com.