MARK ETHERIDGE: Like a duck to water: Price-Hughes makes her mark

There’s no ducking around the fact that Danelia Price-Hughes’ single sculls success at the U19 Rowing World Championships in Canada was the pinnacle of the SA team’s achievements.

She was the only crew to medal at the championships and it’s the first time a SA woman has won silver at this competition since 2017 when Megan Hancock also won silver, in Lithuania.

The duck theme has been central to Danelia’s (or Danni as she’s commonly known) global silverware success.

So much so, that at the start of the whole World Championships process, she named her boat Pidipidi (Setswana for duck) and, according to proud mom Ronelle and national junior coach Caitlin Dace, the duck mentality was a core slice of the silverware.

Says Dace, who also heads up rowing at St Mary’s Waverley, she was junior national head of the SA team that just returned and also served as Danni’s coach at world’s this year: “The basic aim is to be like a duck, calm and unruffled on the surface, but to paddle like a demon underneath [the water].”

Adds mom Ronelle: “I gave her a duck to keep her company on her first SA Schools Boat Race and ever since, ducks have featured in all her other big racing experiences/events and have been an inspiration to her. In Canada, Caitlin left duck stickers everywhere... in her room, on her clothes, in her boat, on her blades.”

But let’s find out more about the lady of the moment.

“I turned 18 earlier this year during the first rowing camp of the whole junior national process and have always been active — I tried all sports at primary school, hockey, modern and tap dancing, tennis, swimming, netball, softball, athletics and so on,” says Danni. “But when I was in Grade 7 at Grayston Prep here in Johannesburg I went to an open day at St Mary’s and rowing seemed like a cool new adventure, especially because I’d always loved watersports from many family holidays down at Stilbaai.”

She went on to have a stellar rowing career at St Mary’s, her crew winning the annual schools’ boat race on the Kowie River in Port Alfred three times and at SA champs this year winning gold in the single scull, the double scull and the coxed quad with her teammates.

“For boat race the girls event is a 4km coxed quad race. I was the first U16 to row in the St Mary’s crew and our coxswain, Tenjiwe Sithole, was the first St Mary’s U16 boat race cox.

“Boat race is one of my favourite races as it’s very strategic and each corner brings its own challenge and opportunity. Fortunately I have always been privileged to race with stellar coxes, Tenjiwe and Heather Welchman. I was lucky to have Heather not only during the school season, but she also looked out for me during this process as she was part of the girls coxed four.

“What’s more is that the Kowie throws everything at you: waves, tides, currents, sandbanks, fish ... my one friend had a bird sit on her the whole way on the warm-up! We see jellyfish, seals, giraffes on the bank ... so I just love it and am going back to be a spectator this year!”

Price-Hughes took a back-to-front approach when it came to World Champs this year. “I was so determined to medal at champs that I wrote it in my diary at the beginning of the year and worked backwards with erg times, race goals and milestones, allowing me to tick off steps as I went.

“I put in as much work as I could. It was different being in the scull with no teammate to rely on but I had former teammates Jeanne Riemann and Holly Crews’ support throughout.

“There were hard, rough patches. During the second camp I was losing weight and wanted to quit but Caitlin was there, supporting me throughout.

“We had a very close and supportive squad. I remember going through the 1km mark and hearing my teammates. They had positioned themselves here and at the finish to cheer me on. At the end of the race I was drawing on the past five years of my junior rowing experience as it was my last race ever as an U19 athlete.”

There’s no doubting Dace had a special place in SA’s silver medal but shies away from taking too much credit. “For me she’s so successful because of her team... really supportive parents, there’s so much love in the family, and her growth through the school system was great, she had good coaches, freedom to express herself. She’s anxious and a perfectionist so thrives when coaches offer reassurance and clear guidance, she grasps an idea quickly and implements changes quickly.”

She says Price-Hughes’ areas for development are in her physical strength. “Living the life of an athlete is important for progress, eating well, stretching, doing core every night, without fail, she was exceptional at this. However, there came a time when her academic load increased drastically, where I demanded she stop doing extras for the week in order for her to get her 100 points of recovery, and that required getting more than four hours of sleep.” 

As things worked out she had two opportunities to race against champion Bianca-Camelia Ifteni of Romania.

“In the semifinal she was ahead of the Romanian for 500m then realised she needed to save that for the final and made a call to just pull back a little, focus on what she does well and race to make sure she was second.”

Come the final and Price-Hughes went solo in the morning, switching her phone off and making sure she got all her preparations precisely right.

Come race time and Dace found her under the willow trees stretching. “She was on her mat, sobbing, the tears were pouring down her face. She’d just read a message from her mom telling her that she loved her, she must just give it everything and they were proud of her, no matter what the outcome ... and that for me highlighted the family support, that she could do anything.

“She raced the race of her life and standing on the podium you could see the absolute joy. You’d almost believe she’d won gold, she had such a presence. She is someone to watch, if she decides to, she’ll make waves in the U23 scene and through to the Olympics if she wants to go that far.”

That she does!

“I finish school this year and am keen on becoming a biomedical engineer. I’m really interested in new technology such as the 3D printing of hearts and so on but my next big sporting goal is definitely the 2028 Olympics.”

But the last words go to mom Ronelle.

“One thing that stands out in Danni is that she’s hard-working and driven and just doesn’t give up. She has a younger brother, Hugo, 14, who is also a keen rower at St Stithians, and then she also absolutely loves her three cats.

“Coach Caitlin has especially been a huge influence and inspiration throughout Danni’s rowing journey, she’s fought for her, believed in her and trusted in her — and also the friendships she’s made through rowing has helped them all get through adversities.

“Her dad Hugh is also one of her biggest fans and supporters so we’ve both really got her back, we’re quite a big family [very active and busy] and throughout this whole Worlds process the world ‘believe’ has been a common thread.”

You’ve got to believe that Danelia, her family and indeed, the entire Rand Merchant Bank SA rowing family have their ducks in a row going forward.