Training and racing in Cameroon

The initiative brought together athletes from Cameroon, Togo, Senegal, Angola, Zimbabwe and Uganda for a week of training followed by the staging of the first rowing regatta ever to be held in Douala.

Douala is the second biggest city in Cameroon and is the main rowing centre in the country. Paul Longo, the president of Cameroon’s nautical sports federation, said the location was chosen for its high visibility and thus potential for many people to be exposed to the sport.

Rowing was launched in Cameroon eight years ago and there has been a steady increase in interest since. Apart from Douala there are several areas where rowing is practiced including the city of Edea, the southwest town of Limbe and the central region in the city of Yaounde. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics Cameroon’s Paul Etia Ndoumbe competed in the men’s single sculls. Etia took part in the camp and regatta finishing as the overall champion of the regatta.

Cameroon also dominated the women’s races at the regatta with Mathio Sandrine finishing first in all of her events.  Racing events included the men’s and women’s single and the mixed double sculls with distances ranging from 500m to 750m. The regatta took place on the Wouri River with Longo commenting that there were light winds and some waves.

“One of the highlights of the regatta was the official launch of the competition by the Minister of Sports for Cameroon,” says Longo. “This showed how the government supports the sport.”

At the completion of  regatta Longo noted that they now recognise that Cameroon now has the potential to organise other regattas of this size.

Spectator interest came from other athletes, fishermen, local residents and those from the public who had a curiosity.

The training camp, which took place prior to the regatta was led by FISA development consultant Michel Doutre. Doutre was helped by international umpire Annis Ben Kheder, Tunisian coach Akram Othmani and Confort Ngomanji and Martine Dimouawa.

The training camp, says Fisa development manager Sheila Stephens Desbans, was to provide some training and regatta activities to young athletes and their coaches.

Longo says that other training camps are planned for the region.