We chatted to our friends up north after a successful weekend in Strathclyde Park for the Scottish Rowing Championships so here's a quick rundown of some of their highlights.
Friday
On the Friday evening, time trials took place for Scotland Home International Regatta team selection events; these events naturally attract high entry numbers. Four time trials took place, one for each event, including: men’s sculls, women’s sculls, men’s pairs and women’s pairs.
Saturday
Following the time trials from the previous day, we saw the semis and finals of the men’s sculls and the women’s pairs.
The men’s scull was won in astonishing fashion by Jack Burns who crossed the line an impressive 17 seconds ahead of second place. The J18 gold for the scull was won by Lukas Nielson.
W2- was dominated by Edinburgh University who took all three podium positions. The winning Edinburgh pair beat their second place counterparts by a convincing 9 seconds. Aberdeen Schools secured the J18 gold by winning the B final, whilst the J18 quad was won by Clydesdale.
The ASRA J15s, bronze medallists at National Schools, put in a big performance to defend their title in the novice eights, although they were surprised by the supreme speed shown by their B crew who took third place.
Later on in the day, we saw the O4- won by Edinburgh University. Aberdeen Schools A won the OJ4+ by a large margin over their J16 club mates who took second place. Unfortunately, due to lightening over the course, some highly anticipated races were called off such as the O4+ and the master’s coxed fours.
Sunday
The Sunday morning saw the conclusion of the men’s pairs. The Aberdeen Schools A crew, Robert Powell and Miles Beeson, won the Friday evening time trial by 2 seconds and looked like favourites to win both the senior and junior gold medals off the back of their win at National Schools Regatta. However, due to medical reasons, this pair dropped out, leaving these medals up for grabs.
This left the O2- medal to be picked up by the Strathclyde University/Glasgow RC composite and the OJ2- medal for their club mates Sam Kelso and Theo Stott in the Aberdeen Schools B pair. It is also worth mentioning that an Aberdeen Schools crew won the J16 gold. Their results this weekend show the strength of their ASRA junior sweep squad at the moment.
Women’s scull finals also took place on the Sunday morning, with an Edinburgh University 1st and 2nd, with Jane Hardie winning by 0.6 seconds over club mate Laura McDonald. A significant mention should go to Glasgow Academy’s young sculler Anna Buchanan who took the bronze medal in the W1x, whilst also achieving gold in both J18 and J16.
ASRA also took the top two spots in the J154x+; an impressive performance considering they entered a mixed B crew with despite her size, one of their J14 girls showing the boys how it's done. But they were not quite a match for the rumoured 'chunky rhythm' set by stroke man Oscar Forbes in the winning crew.
The story was much the same in the women’s fours with Edinburgh University dominating the W4+ and W4- events and Glasgow Academy doing the same in both of the junior fours. Glasgow Academy also took the WJ18 4x gold to complete quite the collection of silverware this weekend in the junior women's events.
O8+ as the last race of the day was always going to be a great finish to a fantastic regatta, where we saw Glasgow University win with clear water over Aberdeen Schools in second place.
Junior and Newborn Rowers of Aberdeen
Check out their Instagram accounts- a big thanks to them for keeping our story up to date throughout the regatta. Follow us @allmarkone to check out our instagram story takeovers at various regattas throughout the UK and abroad!
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