Livingstone Tourism Association

The Zambezi International Regatta returns to Livingstone for the fourth Oxford vs Cambridge vs South African universities boat races at the Zambezi Boat Club. The event will take place from the 19^th to the 26^th of September 2010.

The first regatta – 1905. Winners of the coxed fours.

The crews have already been put together for this year’s event and they are looking forward to the competition, which has gained international recognition. Kieran West (gold in Sydney) will be among the competitors who are coming along to row. This year is the Centenary of the World Professional Sculling Championships held on the Zambezi River.

A unique event in rowing world – heavy traffic on the river.

Left to right – Rhodes, Cambridge, Rand Afrikaans, Oxford university teams.

In the past we have had Olympic Gold Medallists (Luka Grubor, Andrew Lindsay in Sydney, Ed Coode in Athens for Great Britain and Jake Wetzel in Beijing for Canada) and reigning World Champions and Gold Medallists in Beijing (Peter Reed, Andrew Triggs-Hodge [GB]) and Olympic Silver Medallists (Colin Smith [born in Zimbabwe] Josh West, Matt Langridge and Acer Nethercott in Beijing) rowing in the crews.

The World Professional Sculling Championships, 1910. The four-man Mukoro race.

The 1910 World Championship Course – with the Victoria Falls just around the bend!

The event in 1910 was hosted by the British South Africa Company to ensure that the development of Central Africa included the sports world as well. They put up a purse of £1,000 for the winner. Richard Arnst (NZ) and Ernest Barry (Eng) the two top professional rowers of their day competed in the race, which was won by the New Zealander (oddly enough sponsored by the city of Sydney). In the 2004 regatta Ernest Barry’s nephew rowed an exhibition race on the Zambezi, and his great-nephew rowed for the Cambridge crew.

The rafting event will be held in the gorges between rapids 1 and 7 on Tuesday the 21^st of September. The crews will compete for various trophies on Saturday 25 September between 9am and 3pm The audience will be able to view the races from the Zambezi boat club and VIPs and sponsors will be entertained on board the luxurious African Queen, African Princess and Lady Livingstone launches.

National two-man Mukoro race, 2004.

National Mukoro winners, 2004.

A number of events have been organised in whichlocal competitors will take part:

• Mukoro race
• Single kayak race
• Men’s double kayak race
• Ladies’ double kayak race
• Mixed doubles double kayak race
• Raft race – sprint – crews of seven

Please email Peter Jones at peterjones@iconnect.zm at the River Club or the committee of the Livingstone Tourism Association if you need any further information.

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