News

Posted: March 17, 2016

15 Scottish rowers will be looking to book their seats on the plane to Rio at next week’s Olympic trials organised by the GB Rowing Team at Caversham, near Reading.  Whilst reigning Olympic Champion Katherine Grainger is sidelined with a ‘minor niggle’ the record Scottish contingent features a mixture of established internationals and emerging talent.

London 2012 gold medallist Heather Stanning looks favourite to win the women’s pair event with partner Helen Glover however Edinburgh’s Polly Swann, the 2013 world champion, and her partner Jess Eddie will be looking to push them to the finish line.

Inverness pair Alan Sinclair and Imogen Walsh are both reigning European Champions and multiple world medallists and are both targeting their first Olympic vests in Rio.  The duo are in extremely competitive categories with Sinclair competing in the men’s pair and Walsh in the lightweight women’s single.

Sam Scrimgeour from Kirriemuir is another of Scotland’s world champions having won the men’s lightweight pair at the 2015 World Rowing Championships.  He will be looking to perform well at the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake to make a strong case for inclusion in the Olympic class lightweight men’s boat, the coxless four, for Rio.

Three ‘home based’ rowers from Scottish Rowing supported Under 23 programmes are making their debuts at these trials including Robert Gordon University’s Lewis McCue, a silver medallist in the men’s four at the 2015 World Rowing Under 23 Championships and Edinburgh University lightweights Robyn Hart-Winks and Maddie Arlett, both of whom only took up the sport after arriving at University.  Robyn recently became world indoor champion in the women’s open lightweight category in Boston, USA, whilst Maddie was part of the GB Rowing Team lightweight women’s quadruple scull which finished 4th at the 2015 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.  

Lewis was also one of 4 Scotland Rowing Team members who won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Rowing Championships at Strathclyde Park and who has arrived on the start line for these Olympic trials.  Glasgow’s Angus Groom will be looking to build on his victory at the GB Rowing Team December assessment and he is likely to face stiff competition from London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Alan Campbell.  Cameron Buchan from Dunipace near Falkirk and Karen Bennett from Balerno in Edinburgh will be looking to make an impression in the men’s and women’s pair event respectively.

Other Scottish interest in the Olympic trials takes the form of Edinburgh trio Harry Leask (men’s single), Callum McBrierty (men’s pair) and Melissa Wilson (women’s single) along with Premnay’s Vicki Meyer-Laker (women’s pair).

The trials will also help the GB Rowing Team form crews for the European Championships which will be announced on April 6.

Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon University), Maddie Arlett and Robyn Hart-Winks (both University of Edinburgh) are all proudly supported by Scottish Rowing, the sportscotland institute of sport and Winning Students, Scotland’s national sports scholarship programme supporting student athletes.

RACING TIMETABLE
Racing will take place as follows:
Time-trials (heats) - 09.45 - 11.00 on Tuesday 22 March
Semi-finals - 15.00 - 16.25 on Tuesday 22 March
Finals - 10.00 - 12.30 Wednesday 23 March

ENTRY LIST
(As at Thursday 17 March)
* denotes U23
Scottish athletes highlighted in yellow

OPEN

MEN

SINGLE

Tom Barras (Leander Club/Staines/07.01.94)*
Jack Beaumont (Leander Club/Maidenhead/21.11.93)
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School/Coleraine/09.05.83)
Frazier Christie (Leander Club/Bath/11.01.93)
John Collins (Leander Club/Whitton/24.01.89)
Angus Groom (Leander Club/Glasgow/16.06.92)
Peter Lambert (Leander Club/Maidenhead/03.12.86)
Rowan Law (Leander Club/Nottingham/01.12.96)*
Harry Leask (Leander Club/Edinburgh/16.10.95)*
Nick Middleton (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/12.08.88)
George Stewart (Molesey BC/Esher/14.04.95)*
Jon Stimpson (Nottingham RC/Gex, France/18.07.90)
Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC/Preston/08.11.88)
Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC/Reading/26.11.85)
Sam Twine (Reading Univ BC/Tavistock/06.01.94)*
Jonny Walton (Leander Club/Leicester/06.10.90)

PAIR

Bowside

Chris Boddy (Leander Club/Thornaby-on-Tees/16.11.87)
Cameron Buchan (Leander Club/Dunipace/03.12.92)
Timothy Clarke (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/07.04.91)
Oliver Cook (Univ of London BC/Windsor/05.06.90)
Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lane End/03.04.94)*
Michael Glover (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Burnham/03.06.95)*
Matt Gotrel (Leander Club/Chipping Campden/01.03.89)
Matt Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)
Luke Moon (Molesey BC/Deal/25.03.93)
George Nash (Molesey BC/Guildford/02.10.89)
Tom Ransley (Leander Club/Ashford/06.09.85)
Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth/27.07.81)
James Rudkin (Newcastle Univ BC/Northampton/07.07.94)*
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)
Alan Sinclair (Leander Club/Inverness/16.10.85)
Barnaby Stentiford (Leander Club/Ippleden/06.02.91)
Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Shepperton/11.07.90)
William Warr (Leander Club/Tunbridge Wells/12.03.92)

Strokeside

Matthew Aldridge (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Christchurch/11.03.96)*
Paul Bennett (Univ of London BC/Leeds/16.12.88)
Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Withiel/13.05.95)*
Phil Congdon (Leander Club/Bury St Edmunds/06.06.89)
Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)
Thomas Ford (Leander Club/Holmes Chapel/03.10.92)
Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.84)
Chris Heywood (Molesey BC/Ascot/29.05.94)*
Andrew T Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden/03.03.79)
Stewart Innes (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/20.05.91)
Constantine Louloudis (Oxford Univ BC/London/15.09.91)
Callum McBrierty (Leander Club/Edinburgh/13.08.92)
Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon Uni/Aberdeen/26.12.94)*
Adam Neill (Leander Club/Peterborough/29.05.90)
Nathaniel Reilly-O'Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)
George Rossiter (Leander Club/Newbury/09.03.92)
Matt Rossiter (Leander Club/Newbury/25.09.89)
Will Satch (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/09.06.89)
 
OPEN

WOMEN

SINGLE

Emily Carmichael (Leander Club/Cheltenham/29.05.92)
Sam Courty (Reading RC/Alnwick/07.01.93)
Debbie Flood (Leander Club/Guiseley/27.02.80)
Georgia Francis (Imperial College BC/Newbury/18.08.94)*
Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Glasgow/12.11.75) (injured)
Lucinda Gooderham (Leander Club/Garboldisham/09.06.84)
Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Reading Univ BC/Hereford/01.10.94)*
Jessica Leyden (Leander Club/Todmorden/22.02.95)
Holly Nixon (Leander Club/Enniskillen/07.12.93
Tina Stiller (Tees RC/Yarm/23.06.87)
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.87)
Melissa Wilson (Cambridge Univ BC/Edinburgh/10.06.93)

PAIR

Bowside

Karen Bennett (Leander Club/Edinburgh/05.02.89)
Rosamund Bradbury (Leander Club/Banstead/17.12.88)
Beth Bryan (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees/23.04.93)
Jess Eddie (London RC/Durham/07.10.84)
Fiona Gammond (Leander Club/Bicester/19.10.92)
Helen Glover (Minerva Bath RC/Penzance/17.06.86)
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)
Frances Houghton (Univ of London Tyrian Club/Oxford/19.09.80)
Caragh McMurtry (Southampton Coalporters/Southampton/22.08.91)
Vicki Meyer-Laker (Leander Club/Premnay/18.03.88)

Strokeside

Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Henley-on-Thames/28.03.91)
Rebecca Chin (Agecroft RC/Deganwy/11.12.91)
Donna Etiebet (Imperial College BC/London/29.04.86)
Zoe Lee (Imperial College BC/Richmond/15.12.85)
Holly Norton (Leander Club/Johannesburg, SA/01.01.93)
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)
Heather Stanning (Army RC/Lossiemouth/26.01.85)
Polly Swann (Leander Club/Edinburgh/05.06.88)
Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC/London/25.06.84)
Jo Wratten (Tees RC/Middlesbrough/23.03.92)

LIGHTWEIGHT

MEN

SINGLE
Richard Chambers (Leander Club/Coleraine/10.06.85) (injured)
Will Fletcher (Leander Club/Chester-le-Street/24.12.89)
John Hale (Imperial College BC/Cambridge/28.02.88)
Jonathan Jackson (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/02.06.95)*
Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club/Newcastle/30.08.89)
Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft RC/Cardiff/06.02.91)
Samuel Mottram (Leander Club/Stoke Mandeville/14.11.94)*
Sam Tuck (Molesey BC/Peterborough/26.07.93)

PAIR

Bowside
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Wrexham/02.02.84)
Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ/Coleraine/14.03.90)
Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC/Kirriemuir/28.01.88)
Charles Waite-Roberts (Leander Club/Basingstoke/06.11.92)

Strokeside

Mark Aldred (London RC/Birmingham/18/04.87)
Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/15.06.94)*
Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club/Maidenhead/14.07.89)
Jamie Copus (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Oxford/30.01.93)

WOMEN

SINGLE

Maddie Arlett (Edinburgh Univ BC/Selkirk/07.06.94)*
Kat Copeland (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees/01.12.90)
Emily Craig (Univ of London BC/Mark Cross/30.11.92)
Gemma Hall (Wallingford RC/Wargrave/10.04.92)
Robyn Hart-Winks (Edinburgh Univ BC/Kirriemuir/07.10.93)
Ellie Lewis (Agecroft RC/Marlow/14.04.94)
Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC/Bedford/16.05.91)
Fran Rawlins (Leander Club/Uckfield/08.07.86)
Brianna Stubbs (Wallingford RC/Poole/13.07.91)
Charlotte Taylor (Putney Town RC/Bedford/14.08.85)
Imogen Walsh (London RC/Inverness/17.01.84)

COXES

MEN

Henry Fieldman (Molesey BC/Barnes/25.11.88)
Phelan Hill (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)

WOMEN

Zoe De Toledo (Leander Club/London/17.07.87)
Matilda Horn (Univ of London BC/Windsor/16.