News

Posted: 20 January 2025

Scotland Rowing Team Manager, Graeme Cunningham, has informed the Board of Scottish Rowing of his intention to step down after more than 17 years in the role.

Image Provided by Graeme Cunningham

Graeme has overseen the most successful era in the Scotland Rowing Team’s history, leading Scotland to nine team trophies across 15 editions of the Home International Rowing (HIR) Regatta as well as seeing in the introduction of the new HIR Beach Sprints (HIRBS) format and helping to deliver the Guin Batten Beach Sprint trophy at the inaugural event in St Andrews in 2022.

Graeme was the Team Manager on two occasions at the Commonwealth Rowing Championships, helping Scotland to top the medal table in 2014 on home soil at Strathclyde Park.  During his time in post, he has also represented the Scotland Rowing Team on the Scottish Rowing High Performance Group and for several years was Scotland’s delegate on the HIR General Management Committee.

Image Credit: Ron Wallace

Reflecting on his time in the role, Graeme shared: “It has always been privilege and pleasure to be part of the Scotland Rowing Team and to work with so many talented athletes, coaches and support staff. With its focus on overall team performance, the HIR Regatta is a unique and special event of which I will take many fond memories. I’m confident that future team members will have similar positive experiences and I look forward to cheering on Team Scotland crews from bank in the time to come.”

Image Provided by Graeme Cunningham

Lee Boucher, Scottish Rowing Chief Executive Officer, said: “Through his role as Scotland Rowing Team Manager Graeme has enhanced the development of hundreds of rowers across Scotland, always going above and beyond to ensure that representing Scotland is a positive experience for everyone.

“I’m sure that everyone within the Scottish rowing community will join me in thanking Grame for his outstanding commitment to the sport.  He leaves the Scotland Rowing Team in an excellent place for his successor to pick up the baton and we look forward to seeing the team continue to flourish in the future.”

Image Provided by Graeme Cunningham

Tom Young, Scottish Rowing Interim Head of Performance, added: “It will be a strange feeling to not have Graeme on the sidelines with us during the Home International Regatta and preceding selection events. His passion, knowledge and experience has always been invaluable to the whole process and those who were a part of it”.

Scottish Rowing will soon begin the process of recruiting a successor to continue building on Graeme’s successes.  Further details will be shared in due course but any informal enquiries can be directed to Tom Young.

Information relating to the Scotland Rowing Team can be found on the Rowing for Scotland section of the Scottish Rowing website. The 2025 selection policies for HIR and HIRBS will be published early February.