Leander was founded by ID Overbeck in 1881 to become the third rowing club operating in East London, alongside Buffalo Rowing and East London rowing club. All three clubs operated out of a shared facility at first creek on the Buffalo river, now the Princess Elizabeth dry dock. Leander took part in their first regatta in the same year, the now famous Buffalo Regatta which had by that time been goi
ng for 5 years. Leander very quickly recorded significant success in the major rowing events at that time, including winning the Grand Challenge event on numerous occasions.
Rowing in East London was very strong around the turn of the century and leading up to the Great War. A collective committee, the East London Boating Association, was founded in 1882 and looked after combined interests and shared facitilities of all three clubs. During the war years, rowing ceased, placing enormous pressure on the clubs to find a way to survive. Unfortunately East London Rowing club closed its doors while Leander and Buffalo carried on. At this time the energetic and industrious members of Leander, having just returned from war, approached Selborne College to recruit new junior rowers. This lead to the founding of a new club, Selborne College rowing club, in 1922. Selborne was the first school to begin rowing in South Africa. Selborne and Leander now share almost a 100 year history of rowing, training and racing side by side.
The second World War once again placed all clubs and sport in dire straits. Yet, again incredible never-say-die individuals returned from war and rebuilt what they had fought for. The rebuilding process at Leander was headed up the legendary Bob Henderson who was club President and coach at that time. In 1947 the Princess Elizabeth dry dock was opened and the clubs relocated to a new club house facility on the East Bank of the Buffalo where the Steve Biko bridge is today. The club committee embarked on a massive fundraising campaign that eventually resulted in an import of Stampfli racing boats (the best in the world at that time). The shipment was famous as included in the order was a racing eight. Leander became the proud owner of the first eight to be rowed in South Africa in 1952. During the late 40’s and early 50’s Leander experience an incredible run of success with the likes of Trevor Shelver and Jack Dixon winning the Grand Challenge 5 times, all under the watchful supervision of Uncle Bob.
Trevor Shelver went on to assist and coach Selborne College rowing for 40 years, while also serving as Leander captain and President at various times. Trever took over the role of Uncle Bob during the 70’s and 80’s, facing many challenges along the way. In 1971 the Steve Biko bridge was built and the club house once again had to move. A new building was constructed on the West Bank of the Buffalo in 1971, which is the current rowing facility. Around this time Buffalo Rowing Club ceased to be active and eventually closed their account during the late 80’s. However, Selborne and Leander continued to row and went from strength to strength. The Buffalo regatta had grown from a Saturday morning regatta consisting of only a dozen races to a full two spectacle of nearly 80 events. Sandwiched in between was the Selborne Sprint regatta for juniors, introduced by Trevor Shelver to promote rowing amongst schools. By the 80’s the whole regatta had grown to 3 days, and now runs from Thursday to Saturday, 12 hours each day. Its is the biggest rowing event in the country, 40% larger than anything else.
During the late nineties Leander once again took the initiative to promote rowing amongst juniors, ultimately leading to the founding of Clarendon Rowing Club in 1998. Once again, 3 rowing clubs were operating out of a shared facility under the cooperative leadership of the ELBA committee, as was the case back in 1881.
Currently, Leander is thriving and is the only club in South Africa to have an unbroken record of participation in the Buffalo Regatta regatta every year dating all the way back to its in inception.
