News

Posted: October 24, 2013

Scottish Rowers shine at Inaugural Senior British Championships.

A large number of Scottish Rowers competed over the weekend (19^th/20^th Oct) at the Senior British Championships hosted at Holme Pierrepoint in Nottingham.

Rowers from Aberdeen Boat Club, Aberdeen University, Clydesdale ARC, Edinburgh University, Glasgow University, Robert Gordon University and Strathclyde Park Rowing Club headed down to Nottingham to compete against some of the best in the country as most of the GB Rowing Team took the opportunity to race for their home clubs.

The Championships had a new format designed to make the racing more exciting to rowers and spectators alike. The Championships offered racing in a variety of boat classes starting with 1900m time trials to rank boats into semi-finals (A/B, C/D etc) where they raced side by side over 2000m with the top 3 in each semi-final moving into the higher final (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd to Final A, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th to Final B etc). This allows different boat classes to row against each other and create races that are closer with similar speed boats fighting for the medals.

Saturday’s events were the Double Sculls and Coxless Fours and these were offered in a variety of boat classes. Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon University) and Gary Wilson (Aberdeen Boat Club) finished in that all important top 12 in the time trial to make the A/B semi-final just ahead of the Aberdeen University and Clydesdale composite of Jack Burns and Henry Gieseler who with a 13th place time trial finish progressed to the C/D semi final. Following the semi-finals and finals both crews maintained these same positions to finish in 12th and 13th place respectively behind Inverness’ Alan Sinclair representing Leander Club who finished 9th. Kieran Brown and Tom Claxton (Edinburgh University) competed in the D Final of the event as an U23 Lwt 2x and came 3^rd in that final which made them 2^nd in U23 Lwt and 21^st overall.

The Women’s 2x Time trial ended with Victoria Meyer-Laker, rowing for Leander and Imogen Walsh, rowing for an Imperial/London composite fighting it out in the A Final. Victoria and the Leander crew won out taking the Gold Medal and Imogen had to settle for the Bronze. Robert Gordon University’s Iona Riley and Christie Duff were racing in the C Final and came 3^rd placing them 2^nd in the Women’s U23 2x and 15^th overall just one place above Strathclyde Park Rowing Club’s Gillian Connal and Natalie Irvine.

The Open Coxless Fours was crammed with GB Rowing talent and Sam Scrimgeour rowing in an Imperial/London composite got 2^nd place in the O Lwt 4-, 9^th overall. In the U23 4- Callum McBrierty rowing for Leander was 2^nd and 14^th overall. The Women’s Coxless Fours saw Polly Swann start her Championships with Leander proceeding to the A Final and earning the Gold Medal, Karen Bennett and Samantha Fowler rowing in a Molesey four gave their all and got Bronze.

Sunday’s events were the Quads and Eights along with the Para Rowing finals. The Women’s Quad of Hannah Stone (CLD), Claire McKeown (CLD), Iona Riley (RGU) and Christie Duff (RGU) had a great time trial but then just missed out on the A final, they managed to make up for that disappointment by winning Final B (7^th overall) beating Strathclyde Park Rowing Club’s Ailie Ord, Hazel Gaddis, Gillian Connal and Natalie Irvine (12^th) along the way. Final C also saw a Scottish face off with the composite boat from Glasgow University (Rebecca Lightfoot, Emma McDonald), Edinburgh University (Elizabeth Simmonds) and Clydesdale (Claire Baillie) (3^rd Lwt, 14^th overall) winning out over Clydesdale ARC (16^th) with Tamara Robinson, Iona Hill, Hannah Duncan and Zoe Wilson.

A 4-way Scottish composite of Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon University), Henry Gieseler (Aberdeen University), Gary Wilson (Aberdeen Boat Club) and Jack Burns (Clydesdale ARC) was the top placing Scottish crew in the Men’s Open Quad finishing 4th in the B final and 10th overall in a stacked field.

The Para Rowing OTA 1x was Scott Meenagh’s (Strathclyde Park RC) first major regatta and he had a great race earning a Silver Medal. He was pushed hard by Tom Aggar all the way down the course and did well to overtake him just over halfway and stay strong through to the finish.

The Eights brought some real excitement to the championships although most of the Scottish interest was through GB Rowing Team members rowing for English clubs. The Women’s 8+ saw the competition between Victoria Meyer-Laker and Polly Swann rowing for Leander and Imogen Walsh rowing for a Gloucester/London/Imperial/Ox Brookes/Minerva Bath composite reignite. The Leander eight drove hard off the start and stayed ahead down the whole course finishing with a 10 second advantage over the GLOM boat.

In the Open 8+ Scottish rowers were again in other club boats. Alan Sinclair rowed in the Leander A boat, Callum McBrierty Leander C and Christopher Rae Molesey A. The three boats met in the A final and just over 5 seconds separated them at the finish line with the Molesey boat splitting the two Leander crews, Alan Sinclair and the Leander A boat taking the Gold Medal with a time just over 6 minutes for the 2km course.

It was a good Championship for the Scottish rowers. The new format made for exciting racing and we look forward to more of our athletes taking part next year.