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April 2003
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October 2002 September 2002
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July 2002
June 2002

30 May

Don't miss the entry date for Scottish Rowing Championships! Full details via the yellow panel on the right. Entries close 5.00pm next Tuesday - no late entries will be accepted

Is there a doctor in the house? The National Rowing Championships of Great Britain are at Strathclyde Park this year 18-20th July. They need a volunteer doctor to provide medical cover for the first day, Friday 18th July (for insurance/indemnity reasons, this would probably need to be a GP or doctor practicing privately). If you would like to support the Championships in this way, please contact Ronnie Goldie.

Summer job opportunities at the Boathouse Fitness Club (Strathclyde Park): North Lanarkshire Council are looking to employ two temporary summer workers to work in the Boathouse Fitness Club at the National Rowing Academy. It will be 40 hours per week and more information can be obtained from park manager George Simpson at 01698 266155 or email.

World Cup races are on the course now: the first World Cup regatta of the season, in Milan, started this morning and runs until Sunday. You can follow progress live on FISA's Race Tracker - currently (Friday morning) mostly small boat heats, with the British crews seeming to progress straightforwardly so far.

28 May

Dundee Uni's home water on the Tay. And no, the stone tower isn't their boathouse!

"George's joy as new lifeboat is launched" (Evening Times, Glasgow, yesterday).

Castle Semple Regatta: the draw for Saturday has just come through to me. Here it is.

Fun-day rowing/partying on the Tay: on 7th June, Dundee Uni BC invite all members of the Scottish Rowing community to their end-of-term gathering - a BBQ with a Trans-Atlantic 'Virtual' Boat Race (I'll let the poster or club contacts explain that concept to you). Also DUBC will be making their boats available to visitors (well, have you rowed on the Tay?) - all for £3.50! Kicks off at mid-day, all interested are invited to contact Niall Darroch for details/directions.

A gairm luchd Gaidhlig: ('calling all Gaelic speakers') STV are making a package on rowing for a Gaelic language programme - you may have seen them filming at Strathclyde Park Regatta. For the next stage of filming, they are keen to contact any Gaelic speaking rowers who could take part. So if you 'have the Gaelic', contact Callum Macdonald as soon as possible!

27 May

Anybody heading for Janousek? Strathclyde Uni are desperate to get a damaged 4+ to Janousek for assessment/repair. If there is anyone with a trailer going that way (or to an event from which Janousek might collect) in the near future and who might be able to provide transport for the boat, SUBC captain Graeme Dreghorn would be extremely grateful if you could e-mail him.

25 May

No gold from Nat Schools: SARA vice president Mike Haggerty was at National Schools Regatta at Nottingham and reports the Scottish clubs had their "thinnest medal haul of recent years". George Heriots won bronze in W J18 4+. Please note this correction: the GHS J16 crew which has been doing so well this year so far had to 'row up' to J18 (not in J16 as reported earlier) to get back early for exams; J16 crew 3rd in J18 at Nat Schools is a very good result, so apologies for the earlier inaccuracy. Nithsdale, through Laura West, won Scotland's only other medal, another bronze, in her single scull. Nithsdale's JW2- of Gemie and Anderson could finish no higher than 5th, while the Aberdeen Schools JM4+ which won so much last year could manage only 6th this time out. Full results here.

Better results at Metropolitan Regatta: the Met (at Dorney Lake) is a recognised testing ground for possible Henley Women's and Henley Royal regatta crews, so it's good to see Scottish entries doing well at this one. For "well", read 6 winners, 6 seconds and 8 thirds. The biggest wins were for Glasgow RC (Alastair Warnock) in Men's Elite Sculls, Aberdeen Uni/Glasgow Uni in Men's Elite Lwt Coxless Fours, Aberdeen University (Tom Hanna) in Men's Elite Lwt Sculls, and Castle Semple in Men's Elite Double Sculls. Full results here

23 May

Last chance for Semple entries: a timely reminder that entries for Castle Semple Regatta (poster, events offered, conditions and entry forms) close on Sunday, with e-mail entries being welcome. Semple is a handily timed warm-up for those contemplating entries for novice/intermediate/veteran events at Scot Champs (all 1000m, like Semple) and for those junior classes who row 1000m at Scottish/Scottish Schools Championships also.

Speaking of Juniors: good luck to all those racing at National Schools Regatta this weekend. As ever, the timing is far from ideal in its clash with Scottish state exams, but there you go.

Senior and Junior Trialists' priorities at Scottish Championships: Scottish Rowing Championships is a compulsory trial for all seniors seeking places in the Scotland team for this year's Home International. This from team manager, Tom Baker "All senior athletes seeking selection must enter and race in either MO2-, MO1X, M Lwt2-, M Lwt1X, W O2-(inc. Lwt's), W O1X, or W Lwt1X. All WLwt2-'s must race in WO2-, arrangements will be made for weighing in as normal. Junior trialists are encouraged to race in J2-, J1X, WJ2-,or WJ1X: the selectors would like to see them race to assess progress".

22 May

"RIVER DRAMA AS MAN FALLS FROM BRIDGE": Front page headline (link to full story) in tonight's Aberdeen Evening Express about a rower who swam to rescue the man in distress.

21 May

Rowing Tank News: the rowing tank at the National Rowing Academy has been refilled following maintenance and is now available again for bookings. We also have a report completed recently for the SARA Executive on the frost winter's utilisation of the tank, with a number of discussion points identified for the future.

Enhance your coaching skills: Callum Macdonald has details of an ARA Silver Coaching Award course to be run in Worcester in mid August this year. Any holders of a Bronze award interested in attending should contact Callum in the first instance.

20 May

Scottish and Scottish Schools Rowing Championships: I'm conscious that the info on this went up late last week, and quickly got pushed off the bottom of the screen by news about events over the weekend. Some pertinent reminders:

• the letter of invitation, events offered/ conditions of entry, entry forms for Saturday and Sunday and club summary sheets are all now here.
• it takes 2 weeks from application to get a rowing licence: if you're thinking of rowing at the Championships and haven't already got a licence, you need to get an application in through your club coordinator immediately. Entries with 'licence applied for' will not go into the draw.
• the draw team would be grateful if clubs could download and complete entry forms (MS Word) on screen before printing off: handwritten licence numbers are a nightmare to decipher.
• do read the Conditions of Entry about doubling up: aside from the '2 event rule', there are some long-standing Scottish Championships rules about event combinations which you cannot enter
• get your entries in early - and if you are anywhere near the closing date of Tuesday 3rd June, good idea to invest in Special Delivery or Recorded Delivery to minimise the risk of missing the closing date.
• make sure you have club kit to wear; failure to do so can result in racing penalties

19 May

"UNIVERSITY JUST FAIL TO PASS SCHOOLS IN NORTH-EAST REGATTA" (Aberdeen Press and Journal): and for those in the P+J territory there is a really good action photo of the AUBC men's 8 (one of their winners) in the print edition today. Also I understand there may be a short film report on Grampian TV's "North Tonight", starts at 6.00pm today.

Sun shines on racing at North East Regatta: contrary to the forecast, conditions helped make this year's North East Regatta probably the most enjoyable I can remember. Aberdeen Schools won the victor ludorum trophy on 109 points ahead of Aberdeen University in 2nd on 107: this is pretty amazing because, with exams beckoning, ASRA had elected to enter big-time on Saturday but only 2 crews on Sunday. The two clubs therefore took very different routes over the two days to their final scores: ASRA 106+3=109, AUBC 50+57=107. In addition to the local Aberdeen clubs, there was a good crop of visitors from Inverness, Strathclyde Uni, George Heriots, St Andrew, Dundee Uni, Glasgow Rowing Club and Clydesdale. Full results and reports on the Committee of the Dee web site.

Walter Scott Edinburgh/Glasgow University Boat Race: the only media reference I can find on line is in Scotland on Sunday "Edinburgh get more oars in" , and nothing yet on either university web site. If either the organisers or one of the clubs can e-mail me a report (or a link to a report on their site), I'd be delighted to publish more.

"How to do . . Rowing" Scotland on Sunday: the article I trailed on Saturday.

Northumbrian Water University Boat Race blown away: sadly, the annual match between north of England neighbours Newcastle and Durham universities was cancelled due to strong winds which whipped up big waves capped with breaking white water.

17 May

Scotland on Sunday on Rowing: I hear there is due to be a feature in rowing in Scotland on Sunday tomorrow

16 May

Scottish & Scottish Schools Rowing Championships details now up: the letter of invitation, events offered/conditions of entry, entry forms for Saturday and Sunday and club summary sheets are all now here. Please do try to fill in downloaded entry forms in Word rather than handwriting where possible - it saves confusion at the draw.

Busy weekend for racing: in addition to the North East Regatta in Aberdeen, this weekend also sees the Walter Scott Edinburgh vs Glasgow University Boat Races on the Clyde (Saturday). Meanwhile, across the border, the Northumbria Water Universities Boat Race between Newcastle and Durham universities takes place in Newcastle on Sunday (programme starts 3.00pm).

"Rowing club heads for home" (Manchester Evening News): a piece about Agecroft, who have been visitors to Strathclyde Park Regatta in recent years.

15 May

Scottish & Scottish Schools Rowing Championships
Full details of this year's Championships on 14-15 June at Scotland's World Championship standard rowing course will be here either later today or at latest early tomorrow (and in the post to club secretaries at the same time). This is your chance to earn your title as a Scottish Champion: get your entries in and - if you can do well at this one - you should probably also be looking at entering the National Championships of Great Britain which this year are also at Strathclyde Park in July.

14 May

Get your kit on! The recent SARA Regatta Organising Committee review of Strathclyde Park Regatta noted the very considerable confusion that some competitors caused umpires/officials through failure to wear recognisable club uniform.

SARA rule C7 states "Every competitor shall wear the colours of the Club that he[/she] represents".

If your opponent is obstructing your course, you DO want the umpire to see immediately who to warn, don't you? And when you win your race, you DON'T want the finish judge to be in any doubt about who won, do you? For these and other reasons, it's in your own interest to comply with the rules.

Hopefully this reminder will come in time to allow competitors to borrow kit from clubmates, where necessary, for the imminent North East and Castle Semple regattas this month - and to get their orders in with the clothing companies so that they turn out in their own proper club colours at the Scottish and Scottish Schools Rowing Championships in June.

13 May

100,000 hits! Just before 2.00pm today the SARA site hit counter (which has been running in the same format for 3 years now, so comparisons are valid) went through 100,000 hits since 1 January this year. It took until September last year to break the 100,000 mark. Thanks for your interest in the site; lots of visitors makes the effort worthwhile.

More new contacts: must be the season for university AGMs - today it's a new committee at Heriot-Watt UBC. Full details on the contacts page.

New Sales and Wants: fours a pair and a single new up today, some for sale, some wanted.

Whilst on the subject, if you have advertised items on the page, could you check that if you sold/bought whatever it was that you did let me know to delete it. There are some fairly old ads still lurking there. Please e-mail me with any deletions

12 May

It pays not to lose your licence! Race Control Convenor Sandy Walker is already getting numerous requests for replacement licences because the original has been lost or for other reasons. He reminds competitors that there is a £2 administration charge to cover the cost of issue of replacements. Applications for replacement licences, with the £2 fee, MUST be made through the competitor's club contact responsible for licences, who will confirm the applicant's position re qualifying points since the date of the original registration.

Glasgow scullers hit finals at Ghent: Glasgow RC scullers Lindsay Dick and Alastair Warnock each made the finals, against tough competition, in their respective women's and men's single sculling events at the Ghent Regatta/Belgium International at the weekend. Both finished 5th.

Shaw to race for GB: Gavin Shaw (Aberdeen University and National Rowing Academy) is now a confirmed selection for the GB squad for the Essen regatta: he goes in the Men's U23 Lightweight 4- with Dave Currie & Ross Hunter, (Leander), Ed Fox (Oxford Brookes). The crew's coaches are Adrian Cassidy and Scotland's national coach, John McArthur.

North East Regatta draw: the draw for this weekend's 2-day North East Regatta in Aberdeen is up. A note from the organisers - 'don't forget your plastic SARA racing licence; no licence = no prize!'

Clydesdale results: the full list of event winners from Saturday's Clydesdale Regatta is now up on the CARC web site

Update your contacts: St Andrews University BC have a new President and Secretary; full details on the contacts page

9 May

North East Regatta: don't forget that entries for this one close this weekend. Unusually, this regatta accepts e-mail entries (details here)up until 10.00 am on Sunday morning (though sooner the better obviously!)

Glug! The rowing tank at the National Rowing Academy is being drained for maintenance. It is expected to be back in service in about 10 days time, but an update note will appear here.

7 May

BUSA results: full results from the BUSA regatta are now up on the National Watersports Centre web site.

Clydesdale draw now up: looks like a big entry - 104 races, starting at 0900 and not finishing until just after 1700. Sounds like getting afloat in good time for your race will be crucial to keeping the regatta running to time.

Hospitality for your club sponsors at Scottish Rowing Championships: the Scottish Championships at Strathclyde Park hosts a "Guest Marquee" on the Sunday afternoon.

Any club which has a commercial sponsor (or potential sponsor with whom they are negotiating) and who they would like to have invited to the Championships is invited to contact Ronnie Goldie as soon as possible, but definitely by the 19th May at the very latest, with contact details for the invitation to be sent out

6 May

BUSA Regatta at Nottingham: still trying to find full results, and looking for club summaries of their own high-spots (e-mail Terry). I hear Aberdeen University came 4th overall, winning 8 medals from 9 crews entered. A Saturday report from Glasgow University has golds in W J4+ and W2x, with an anguished howl that their championship men's eight was late at the start and missed their semi.

Clydesdale Regatta: the club site has a withdrawn link to a draw for this Saturday, with reference to a re-draw expected to come up soon. I'll put a link here as soon as I know the club link is live.

North East Regatta takes place in Aberdeen next weekend, 17th and 18th May, entries close this coming weekend. I see the full information (here) contains their usual discounts for distant competitors (free if you're outside Scotland!), a regatta disco/barbecue and free accommodation for visitors by arrangement.

Loch Ard go live: Loch Ard Rowing Club have a newly launched web site. I haven't visited the club yet, but I gather from others who have that it's pretty much the most scenic venue in Scottish rowing.

5 May

Castle Semple Regatta: this year's festival of fun at Semple is scheduled for 31st May. Here's hoping plague and wind give them a clear run at it this year - it's an excellent regatta venue, but the club has had a couple of unfortunate cancellations in recent years forced by extraordinary circumstances like Foot and Mouth. The poster, events offered, conditions and entry forms are all here to download.

Strathclyde Park CLOSED to rowers on 11 May: the sailing community have booked exclusive use of the loch for a regatta on Sunday 11th May from 9.00-5.00pm (fair do - we had it the whole of both days last weekend!). No rowing will be allowed at the Park during these hours.

Desperately seeking BUSA results/reports/photos: none of the UK rowing webmasters seems to have been able to find BUSA results yet. While we wait, if anyone from the Scottish universities who was at the regatta can give me their own club's results, some background on the event (I hear tales of rough conditions) and even the odd photograph, we may be able to produce an interim report here.

2 May

Junior Training Camp now 1 day only: due to state exams on the Monday, the training camp at Strathclyde Park planned for 10-11 May will now take place on Saturday 10th only. The day will start with an assessment, followed by coaching. Clubs should bring 2-, 4+, 1x and 2x boats to facilitate the trial. If Academy boats are needed to be hired, applicants should e-mail Tom Baker urgently.

Results from Strathclyde Park Regatta: apologies for the delay in getting these results up. The person who usually deals with the Park computer was unable to print the results to disk before leaving the regatta, so we had to take a more laborious route involving scanning, OCR (thanks to Tom Gallagher and Colin Wilson for help), and some re-formatting. Here are Saturday and Sunday. A word of caution about times: much of Saturday was run over very approximate 500m courses from free starts, but you'll know whether your race was one of these.

"Over 600 crews enter Strathclyde Park Regatta" (Wishaw Press)

Strathclyde University win Scot Unis for first time in over 10 years: the final points tally is in the table. Congratulations to SUBC who combined a large entry with wins in high-scoring events. Well done also to Heriot Watt, a club in a 'redevelopment' process: they say you need a broad base to get a high peak, and with 2 eights competing in one race alone, Heriot Watt do seem to be addressing the participation issue well.

1 May

Glasgow RC recruits heavyweight member: "S Seal" has returned to the Clyde and has been seen on several days recently working hard on his usual demanding training regime - of resting his blubber-laden flanks on the sandy shore at the Glasgow RC bend (between sessions of pigging out on his high-energy diet of poached fish). Rumours that GRC club-member and SARA Race Control Convener Sandy Walker is still considering Sammy's application for a racing licence are unconfirmed.

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