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30 April

Clydesdale Regatta: full details and entry forms of this year's Clydesdale Regatta (8th May, entries close Sunday 2nd May) are on the Clydesdale ARC web site

Scotland women's senior squad training weekend: the team manager will be e-mailing out confirmation details to invited athletes, but the date of the event is now firmed up as 15-16 May at Strathclyde Park

Scotland junior squad training event: the junior squad training event will now take place on one day only, Sunday 9th May, at Strathclyde Park

Castle Semple Regatta: this year's Semple regatta is on 22nd May. The regatta poster, events list, conditions of entry and entry form are all here.

Rowing Action: the next issue of Scotland's rowing magazine 'Rowing Action' is in production. Photos, articles, letters, adverts, cartoons etc are, as always, greatly appreciated and should be sent to Ailie Ord to arrive by next weekend (7th May)

26 April

Aberdeen University BC, winners in Strathclyde Park Regatta men's open fours. From bow, Alan Sinclair, Nick Bird, Colin Williamson and Ross Cruickshank. (Photo Roy Sinclair)

In the Scottish Universities Championships, Glasgow University had it pretty much sewn up by the end of the first day. However Strathclyde University produced the 'result of the weekend' with a photo-finish win in women's 2nd 8s, by 1/100th of a second, in the last race of the championship, giving them the points they needed to overtake Edinburgh University for 2nd place.

Thanks to everyone involved with organising the regatta, to the umpires, catering team, commentators, first aiders, stake boat people and professional watermen and technical staff from Strathclyde Park. Thanks in particular to you, the competitors, for coming in such numbers and for getting to the start on time such that a busy schedule was able to run to time. Hopefully the visiting crews from Northern Ireland and England had a good regatta and a safe journey home: we look forward to seeing them, and more friends from outside Scotland, at future events.

21 April

Grovel-gram from the National Rowing Academy: The fax number on their boat hire form for Strathclyde Park Regatta (published yesterday) was incorrect. The Hire Form has now been corrected and any clubs who believe they may have had forms 'go astray' yesterday are advised to send again to the number on the new form. Apologies for the inconvenience.

20 April

Strathclyde Park Regatta draw: the draws for Saturday and Sunday are now up. Please also familiarise yourselves with the circulation pattern in force at the regatta. There is also a Boat Hire Application form for clubs wanting to hire shells (with blades) from the SARA fleet. As always, priority will be given to those citing the best reasons for needing to hire - e.g. 'we have 4 crews in the same event but only 3 shells' is likely to take precedence over 'the SARA boats are all better than ours because we haven't bought any for years'.

The racing programme is extremely tight this weekend, so the success of your regatta will rely heavily on your turning up in good time at the start. Umpires will, I'm afraid, have to be strict about sending races off on time without waiting for those still struggling to get onto the start. So boat in good time and once you're at the start STAY WITHIN EASY HAILING DISTANCE OF THE STARTER. (Inexperienced crews: why not practice getting onto some 'simulated stake boats' on your home water before you have to do it for real at the weekend?)

Fingers crossed for good weather and a great regatta: good luck, everyone!

19 April

Strathclyde Park Regatta update: the entry for SPR is massive, up again on last year's record for a 'domestic' regatta. Details of the draw are still being finalised, but it is already confirmed that racing will run from 0830-1900 on Saturday and 0800-1810 on Sunday. Sponsorship deal brings accommodation bonus for rowers: clubs should have been receiving details of a sponsorship deal which sees the new Alona Hotel at Strathclyde Park (between Holiday Inn and the fun fair) sponsoring the regattas and offering bargain rates for competitors and officials. I've stayed before and can testify that it's an excellent hotel with full restaurant facilities. Despite it's 4-star rating, they're offering double or twin rooms at £47.50 including continental breakfast. Tel 01698 333888, or contact by e-mail or via their web site

Shaw selected: Aberdeen University and National Rowing Academy athlete Gavin Shaw has been selected, with David Currie, to represent GB in the lightweight double at Duisberg Regatta. Scotland's National Coach, John McArthur has been selected to coach the crew. Congratulations to Gavin and John o getting their season off to the right start.

Rain fails to wash away North East Regatta smiles: the main regatta of the Aberdeen season took place on Saturday and Sunday in pretty miserable conditions of rain and, intermittently, rather gusty wind. Despite this, the regatta ran reasonably to time and there were still happy faces buying burgers from the barbecue (I kid you not, they're a hardy lot in Aiberdeen) at the end of Sunday racing. Full results will come on the Committee of the Dee web site (not there yet as at 1630 Monday), with congratulations to Aberdeen Schools on winning the victor ludorum Championship of the Dee.

15 April

North East Regatta draw: the draw for this weekend's North East Regatta is here (PDF format - sorry I didn't have the link earlier, been on holiday)

Scots buckle down to business at GB trials: while the headlines seem to have been dominated by talk of illnesses and upsets in the senior men's squad, two Scottish contenders were getting on with the business. Reigning world champions Katherine Grainger (SABC) and Cath Bishop won the women's pairs trial by 10 seconds. After a photo-finish, Gavin Shaw (Aberdeen University and Scotland's National Rowing Academy) finished 2nd in Under 23 Lightweight Single Sculls, and 8th overall in lightweight 1x.

Scotland team news: a reminder to all senior athletes/coxes who wish to be considered for Scottish selection that the team manager needs completed registration forms by Sunday 25th April (SPR w/end). Gary will be at SPR and happy to receive registration forms by hand at the event (with the required witnessed 2K ergo: he says you can resubmit your January one, but he'll be more impressed if you have a recent faster time to show continuing improvement!)

Gent Junior Regatta. Well done to the crew of Kirsten Tolstyko, Hannah Mcpherson, Stephanie McDowell and super-sub Louise Macdonald who won gold in WJ4-. Kirsten and Hannah then teamed up with Seonaid Crosby and Rowena Burrows to win silver in the same event on Sunday. All athletes in the Scottish squad gained great experience from the weekend and this will hopefully prove a good springboard for another successful season for our juniors.

Postponed Women's Training w/end. There are only two potential dates to run this. 15/16 May - which unfortunately clashes with Edinburgh/Glasgow uni boat race - or 5/6 June, the w/end before Scot champs. Could invited athletes email preferences to Gary Bain asap so he can arrange as necessary.

Senior Men's Training Weekend: thanks to the athletes, coxes and coaches who attended the senior men's training w/end. Majority of athletes found this useful and some new crew formations may be racing at events as a result of the w/end. Reminder that athletes who only attended Sat. still need to contribute to launch/boat hire. Gary Bain be looking to collect this at SPR.

6 April

The George Heriots School junior women's coxed four, Scottish Rowing's Crew of the Year. Emma Guy, Gemma Lumsden, Stephanie McDowall and Karina Williams. Coxed by David Garden and coached by Nick Rankin, seen here accepting the trophy from SARA President Mary Massaro.

• Junior Oarswoman of the Year: Kirsty Myles, George Watson's College
• Junior Oarsman of the Year: Daniel Prescott, Glasgow RC
• Volunteer of the Year: John McKinney, Castle Semple RC
• Coach of the Year: Nick Rankin, George Heriots School
• Senior Oarswoman of the Year: Katherine Grainger, St Andrew BC
• Senior Oarsman of the Year: Gavin Shaw, Aberdeen University BC
• Crew of the Year: George Heriots School Junior Women's Coxed Four

Meanwhile, in the Scullers Head on the Thames: congratulations to Al Warnock on his outright win in the men's event on Saturday and to Lindsay Dick on finishing 3rd overall in the women's event, and winner of women's Senior 2. Both scullers are from Glasgow RC, coached by George Warnock.

Don't miss the closing dates! I'm on hols for a week, so a couple of reminders. Entries for the North East Regatta (17-18 April) close this Sunday at 10.00am. Entries for Strathclyde Park Regatta (24-25 April, full details in panel on right of screen) close at 12 noon on Wednesday 14th April.

2 April

"Simply the best": on the eve of the Scottish Rowing Awards, we bring you news of another chance to achieve fame and celebrity for your sporting prowess. If you have time on your hands in July and fancy spending it in Jersey shooting this celeb/amateur inter-city sports challenge series to be shown on Saturday nights on ITV, the details are here.

30 March

Strathclyde University Regatta draw: SUBC have a good entry, with racing starting at 0930 sharp on Saturday morning. Visiting clubs are asked to contact SUBC captain Fraser Munro (or tel 07970 602203) to discuss whether they will boat from the Glasgow Schools or Clydesdale/SUBC boathouse. Please note that Registration will be in the Clydesdale part of the west (downstream) boathouse.

Welcome to the web, AUBC: Aberdeen University BC has a new website, courtesy of their 'undergrad import' from Glasgow, Christine Kerr.

29 March

Shaw stays on track: Gavin Shaw improved his pb for 2k ergo by 3 secs (Time: 6.24) last week - perfectly timed as he's now off for an 11 day training camp in Breisach (Germany), then straight on to Hazewinkel (Belgium) for GB National Team Trials. These trials will largely determine whether Gavin gets to row fro GB this year - his early target is U23 Lwt in 1x or 2x at Duisberg. Note: this camp and trial also mean John McArthur will be away with Gavin until 19th April.

North East Regatta: full details of the North East Regatta in Aberdeen on 17 and 18 April - including discounted entry fees for visitors from faraway places.

Glasgow Small Boats Results: two good divisions of racing on Saturday, full results on the Glasgow Rowing Club web site.

SARA adds two new clubs: welcome to Alexandra Boat Club (Edinburgh Uni FPs, so to speak) and the Scottish Indoor Rowing Club, both being accepted for affiliation to the SARA at yesterday's half-yearly general meeting of the clubs. Greatest discussion centred around the structure of the Scottish Rowing Championships. I don't envy the minute-taker who has to distil the debate on paper: suffice to say that there was plenty of appetite for innovation/development, much discussion about how such change could be managed, and I came away (as an unofficial observer) with the impression that this will be a 'live debate' for months to come. Well, at least it proves the Championships matter to people!

Scots boy done good: congratulations to Andrew Shannon, 5 man in the winning Cambridge crew in yesterday's (eventful!) Aberdeen Asset University Boat Race. Andrew, from Helensburgh, is a former captain of the Robert Gordon University Boat Club, former Scottish Oarsman of the Year and nominee for Oarsman of the Year again this year.

Contenders put their oars in: a snippet from last Thursday's Scotsman about nominees for the Scottish Rowing Awards

24 March

Hurrah! The rains came, the loch re-filled and Strathclyde Park is now open again for rowing.

Glasgow Small Boats start order: the up to date start order for Saturday's event is on the Glasgow Rowing Club web site

And the Nominees are: thanks to all who submitted nominations for the Scottish Rowing Awards. The SARA Executive has short listed the following nominees (notification already sent to clubs). Congratulations to all who were nominated, and to those short-listed in particular. There are still some tickets left for the Scottish Rowing Awards Dinner at the Thistle Hotel, Glasgow on Saturday 3rd April - contact Mary Massaro. I remember this time last year there were even a few pleasantly-surprised nominees who found themselves looking for tickets at this fairly late stage! The short-listed nominees (in alphabetical order, by category, and by club they represented in the competition year 2003) are:

Senior Oarswoman of the Year: Lindsay Dick (Glasgow RC), Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC), Ailie Ord (Clydesdale ARC)

Senior Oarsman of the Year: Martin Holmes (Castle Semple RC), Andrew Shannon (Cambridge University BC), Gavin Shaw (Aberdeen University BC)

Junior Oarswoman of the Year: Kirsty Myles (George Watson's College), Alex Wessel (Aberdeen Schools RA)

Junior Oarsman of the Year: Chris Logan (George Watson's College), Daniel Prescott (Glasgow RC), Colin Wallace (Aberdeen Schools RA)

Coach of the Year: Gary Bain (Aberdeen University BC), Nick Rankin (George Heriots School), Charlie Simpson (Aberdeen University BC)

Volunteer of the Year: Tom Hewitt (Strathclyde Park RC), John McKinney (Castle Semple RC), Ron Wallace (Aberdeen BC)

Crew of the Year: Aberdeen Schools Junior Men 4+, Aberdeen University Men's 8, George Heriots School Women's Junior 16 4+

18 March (posted 1700 on 17/3)

Junior Trial Cancelled: this weekend's junior trial has had to be cancelled. Lack of rain means that Strathclyde Park has not yet filled sufficiently to host the event, while the forecast 42 mph winds at Castle Semple (that's just into gale force on the Beaufort Scale!) persuaded the organisers that the 'reserve' venue there didn't sound like a good idea either.

17 March

Scottish crews win 2 classes at Schools Head on Thames: the George Heriots junior women's 4+ continues strongly. In rough headwind conditions yesterday, they won their event by 9 secs ahead of St George's. In boys junior 14 coxed quads, George Watson's were winners by 7 secs from Kings College School. By my quick and dirty maths, 2,495 athletes competed - surely a healthy commentary on the condition of British junior rowing in participation terms at least. Full results here

Will 'Park' fill in time for this weekend's junior trial? For those waiting for confirmation, keep checking back. Current information is that the water level is rising, though not yet quite enough for the trial. The organisers' fingers remain crossed - further information her as soon as I get it.

Don't miss Scottish Rowing Awards deadline: the deadline for nominations of the Scottish Rowing Awards is this Friday, 19th. THis is your chance to make sure that 'credit where it's due' is accorded to those who achieved much or invested much of themselves in the sport in 2003. Also don't forget to get your tickets fro the Scottish Rowing Awards Dinner in Glasgow on Saturday 3rd April from Mary Massaro.

Glasgow Small Boats Head: Glasgow Small Boats Head is on Saturday 27th March, closing date for entries is 5.00pm on Monday 22nd March. Following Inverness's introduction of on-line entry at their Head, Glasgow have developed the idea further - certainly streamlines the process and reduces the number of times each piece of information has to be handled/retyped/corrected. Check their web site for the online entry system.

Charity Dragonboat Racing on Loch Lomond: Bobath Scotland (a children's cerebral palsy charity) are hosting a Dragonboat Challenge at Loch Lomond Shores (across from Balloch Country Park) on Saturday May 2nd from 10.00 until 6.00pm. The event is supported by the Sir Steve Redgrave Charitable Trust - indeed Sir Steve is to be present. You can support the event by participating (other dragon boat events I have seen have certainly been great fun) through raining sponsorship for your crew (12-16 people plus drummer, £320 per crew, proceeds to Bobath Scotland) or by running raffles or other charity events at your own club before the event. Contact Jilly Giffen of Bobath Scotland for further information.

11 March

'Drought' cancels Squad training weekend: as foreseen yesterday, lack of rain means Strathclyde Park is refilling too slowly to permit this weekend's Scotland senior squad training event. Team manager Gary Bain is backing up this web notice with an e-mail to as many affected individuals as he can manage, and will attempt to schedule a new date (after consultation with the Rain Gods)

10 March

URGENT - likely postponement of Senior Squad Training Weekend: Strathclyde Park is currently being 're-filled' after the course upgrade works.

Wouldn't you know it, though, just when we could do with heavy rain and a good river spate to speed the process, there is real doubt whether the loch will fill sufficiently in time for this weekend's event.

Gary Bain will maintain contact with the Strathclyde Park staff and post the final decision here on the web site - so do check back.

Speaking of the upgrade works, thanks to Tom Gallagher of North Lanarkshire Council for these photos of the work in progress. These show (top left) the construction of the start pontoons on the new lane 1 and (right) the full width of the 8 lane start. Divers installed some of the essential lane cable anchor points in the finish area - a pretty mammoth project all round!

9 March

Squad 8 pip CARC/SABC/GRC in greasy pole scramble at WHORR: congratulations to St Andrew/Clydesdale/Glasgow on finishing 18th in last Saturday's Women's Head on the Tideway. Scrambling their way u the greasy pole from a start number of 204 to finish 18th (186 places gained) they were only JUST pipped to the scrambling title by the race winners (a 7-club composite of GB squad members) who clambered 188 spots from 189 to 1st. Thanks to Duncan McMillan (CARC) for the photo of the eight training hard for their next event (!). Full results here.

Rowing Instructors Course imminent - book your place now! The SARA will be running an RIC at Strathclyde Park on one or other of the following dates depending on response from participants. Either:
1) a three day course on April 8th/10th/11th or 10th/11th/12th, or
2) Over two weekends in May, 1st/2nd and 8th/9th.

Could any interested persons please email their preferences to Iain Somerside by the 12th March or phone 07889 515620 for more information.

Edinburgh and Aberdeen schools composites split Scottish Schools Head honours: full results here of Saturday's Scottish Schools Head of the River in which a George Watson's/George Heriots composite won the senior boys event and Aberdeen Schools (Aberdeen Grammar/Albyn/Robert Gordon's composite) won the senior girls event.

Scottish Rowing Awards - nominations and tickets: keep the nominations coming - a shed load in some categories already, but others a bit thinner. The on-line nomination form (individuals can nominate, not just clubs) is here (closing date 19th March). The Awards will be presented at the Scottish Rowing Awards Dinner on Saturday 3rd April in the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow. Good company, posh nosh, the President's 'state of the union' speech, presentation of the Scottish Rowing Awards and dancing to follow. Tickets are £35 from Mary Massaro.

4 March

28 crews to contest Scottish Schools Head: full start order for Saturday's Scottish Schools Head of the River on the Clyde at 2.00pm.

Scotland senior squad training weekends: due to numbers, these have had to be split for women (13-14 March) and men (10-11 April), both events at Strathclyde Park. The list of invited athletes is here (selection was based on 2K ergo times submitted to the team manager. Registration for each event is at 11.00am on the Saturday, where the £10 per athlete participation fee (to cover coaching launch operating costs) will be collected. In addition to the invited coxes, team manager Gary Bain would still be interested to hear from others interested in participating. Coaches of invited athletes are invited to attend also, but are requested to inform Gary Bain of their intention to attend in advance. Any changes to arrangements (eg weather problems) will be posted on this web site at the earliest opportunity.

1 March (updated)

Strathclyde Park Regatta: first of this year's multi-lane regattas in Scotland, and all the information is here (and in the post en route to clubs). The Regatta Notice, letter of invitation to clubs, list of events offered, information/rules, entry form for Saturday and Sunday and club summary form for Saturday and Sunday. Please note that the information documents are in PDF form and the entry forms/summaries in MS Word - this is so that you can complete your entries on screen and then print out for posting - the added legibility saves all sorts of catastrophes at the draw!

Scottish Rowing Awards: a healthy number of early nominations already. Check the panel on the right for how to make your nominations - remember this is an event where it is individuals rather than clubs who who make most of the nominations.

Sorry about the break in news: my PC got a virus and I decided it would be best not to load anything new onto the server until I knew I was in the clear again. More news later today - hoping to have all the info for Strathclyde Park Regatta up.

Wanted Tutors and Assessors: As part of the expansion of the British Coaching Award Scheme, the SARA are looking for suitably qualified people to tutor and assess at future British Coaching Award Courses. To deliver and assess an RIC (IA) you require to be qualified to SARA Bronze level and to deliver a bronze you require to be a Silver level coach.

Both Tutor and Assessor courses last two days and Association will pay the costs involved in obtaining the qualification in return for delivery of future coaching courses. thereafter tutors and assessors will be paid for their work. Grants may also be available. The next Tutor course is on the 17th/18th April in Hammersmith and the next assessor is in September.

For more information e-mail Iain Somerside or tel 07889 515620.

Glasgow Uni hit the spot at Trent Head: Glasgow University BC scored a resounding win in Senior 3 8s at Saturday's Trent Head, finishing 8th overall (not bad in a field in which there were 15 crews entered in Elite/S1/S2). Full results here.

Women's Head of the River: the full start order is here.

24-25 April 2004

Saturday Results

Sunday Results

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