All is set for the first-ever East Africa Beach Rowing Festival that happening this weekend, 6th – 8th June, at Bunjako Beach in Mpigi District.
The event that is a fusion of sport, water and entertainment, will be headlined by the Beach Rowing Championship as the main event but will also have other sports like Beach Volleyball and Beach Rugby.
Talking about the festival in an interview with the Radio One Locker Room, Coach Batenga, Uganda’s rowing coach, also the general secretary of the Uganda Rowing Federation, explained that this rowing festival is not the rowing at the Olympics.
Going on to emphasise that it’s different because it’s done on the beach and done in sprints.
“It’s called coastal rowing because beach sprints are a subset of coastal rowing. Coastal rowing is rowing on rough waters, it’s the sea, the ocean or even the lake water, especially like our water,” she said.
“The boats for this activity are built differently, they’re wider, they’re heavier because the water comes in and out and if you’re going to do like the coastal, the long distance, you have to have life jackets on there for safety reasons and whatnot.”
Because it’s still rowing, of course, the rowers will be sculling because sculling is the 2 oars but in this case, the sculls are graded into coastal singles, the singles are coastal singles and the doubles are coastal doubles.
“The idea for this unique event started when World Rowing identified Uganda as a central location, it was geographically located to have year-round rowing because of the water bodies that the country has; this was way back in March 2017.”
World rowing began these conversations working together with the Ugandan Olympic Committee, and initially started the development through the national sports system, usually done by the Olympic Solidarity. She says, “It is through this that the boats (going to be used in this event) were donated and then the last bit of the project was to have a regional event. Which is coming full circle now.”
It’s the first time this beach Rowing event is being hosted in Africa and Uganda and though not a ranking championship, it is giving the Ugandan and regional rowers an opportunity to compete.
“Later this year, there will be the Commonwealth Beach Rowing Association beach sprints in Barbados.
“It has been a while since our rowers competed or did have like national competitions, the last time they had something close to it was in 2022 when our Olympian Kathleen Noble came back and had like a clinic and then we had like a small competition.
“But this time this is like the first time that the rowers are actually going to be tested in a way, but it’s more for them to get experience and as a rowing community they are looking to build on this, But then at the same time for the better rowers, this is an opportunity for them to level up, to see where they are with the Kenyas of this World, the Zimbabwes of this world, and other many athletes.”
Explaining the competition, the coach elaborates that the competition itself is beach sprints, meaning the rowers will be sprinting; drawing a picture saying, “Literally, you have two people who start at the start line about 30 to 50 metres away from the shoreline. They sprint, then get into the boat, then they sprint out on the water around three obstacles 250 metres out and they come back straight back (250 meters back); that’s a total of 500 meters on water; then they jump out of the boat and then run to the buzzer; the first person to either hit the buzz or pick up the flag is the winner.”
The overall winners get medals at the end of the event.
The inaugural event has attracted participants from the region, including athletes from Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Kenya and hosts Uganda, Uganda fielding 17 athletes with notable names like Elijah Nunu, who was at the Africa Rowing Championships in November last year, and Sharif Lukwago. Derrick Muhindo and Grace Kyomuhendo, a 13-year-old, who is a potential candidate for the upcoming Youth Olympic Games.
All athletes will cover the same distance (500 meters) and go through the sprints the same way; the only difference will be some doing singles, others doubles, and others mixed doubles.
The three-day event is happening this weekend, 6th – 8th June 2025, at the shores of Lake Victoria, at the beautiful Bunjako Beach in Buwama, Mpigi district, about 80 kilometres from Kampala off Masaka Road.
Spectators are welcome to participate in the Beach Rugby and Volleyball at 20,000 shs per day, 50,000 shs for the whole weekend and 50,000 shs for camping.
The highlight of this event will be the presence of Uganda Rower and two-time Olympian Kathleen Noble, who will be gracing the event.