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October 2002 September 2002
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29 October

Clydesdale Scullers Head latest: just spoken to John Eadie (1600 hrs Friday) who was sheltering disconsolate in the boathouse, watching a rather swollen river and the rain still falling. The race is clearly in doubt, he says, but a final decision will be taken early tomorrow at which time he will start phoning round clubs and competitors (if cancelling) trying to catch them before they leave home for the scheduled 2.00pm start.

28 October

Clydesdale Scullers Head start order: Saturday's provisional start order is now up. I hear from race organiser John Eadie that the river has been high and more rain is forecast. It would probably be wise for intending competitors to keep an eye both on this SARA news page and on the Clydesdale site, both of which will try to publish news as soon as it becomes available on the firm go/no-go decision.

Civic welcome in Aberdeen for Katherine Grainger: Katherine Grainger's achievement as GB rowing's first female Olympic double-medallist was recognised at a home-coming civic lunch in Aberdeen yesterday, hosted by Aberdeenshire Provost Raymond Bisset and attended by senior councillors of all parties, by senior council officials, and by Katherine's most avid supporters - her parents Liz and Peter.

Provost Bisset was effusive in his speech welcoming Katherine. “Let no one be in any doubt; for our honoured guest today to win one Olympic medal would have been outstanding, but to win medals in two successive Olympics, and to land a series of World Championship and World Cup titles along the way, defies even my usual armoury of superlatives," he said.

On behalf of Aberdeenshire Council (Katherine's family home is at Netherley just outside Aberdeen), Provost Bisset presented Katherine with a framed painting of the Auld Brig o’ Dee at Invercauld, by North-east artist Howard Butterworth.

The event has been reported in the local press, though not in their on-line editions I'm afraid so no links. None of the other reports I've seen, however, records the 'top quip' of the day (exclusive for SARA web site?). When the Provost congratulated Katherine on her two silver medals she instantly pointed at his impressive chain of office and said "Yeah, but you've got a gold one!"

(Photo: Raymond Bisset, Provost of Aberdeenshire Council, presents a commemorative painting of Deeside to Olympic double silver-medallist Katherine Grainger. Photo courtesy Duncan Glennie, Aberdeenshire Council)

27 October

Fullers Fours Head draw now up: highest Scottish start number this year appears to be Clyde (S2 4-) at 180 followed by AUBC (S2 4+) at 225. Fun and games in the mid 300s with Dundee and Edinburgh universities going off next to each other in S3 4+ at 350 and 351. Well done Edinburgh Uni who, despite having poor training water, have managed to boat 3 entries (2 of them women's crews)

26 October

Digesting trials results: a bit of reflection on the trials results (including thoughts from John McArthur) reveals some particularly encouraging results from north of the border. Of the National Rowing Academy athletes, Gavin Shaw was fastest U23 lightweight (10th overall), and in senior lightweight Dave McNeill was 23rd and Henry Westwood 40th. Neil McRae (currently London RC, but he'll come home eventually!) was 16th in senior lightweight. Of the heavyweights, Alistair Warnock was 8th in the men's event with, in the women's race, Lindsay Dick 20th and Ellie Dorman 35th.

SARA coaching conference: a bit of advance notice of this event on 4th-5th December at the National Rowing Academy. The first SARA Coaching Conference will be led by

• Paul Thompson: High Performance Coach, BIRO, coach of Katherine Grainger
• Marty Aitken: Performance Director, Scottish Institute of Sport and former Chief Coach, BIRO Women and Lightweight Men.
• John McArthur: National Coach Scottish Amateur Rowing Association
• Kevin Watson: Sports Science Consultant

The event is targeted to be of interest and value to a wide cross-section of coaches, being a forum for exchange of coaching fundamentals, new concepts, best practices etc. Fuller information will be posted to clubs and on this web site once available but, for now, a date for your diary.

Scotland 2005 prospective team coaches' meetings: two meetings will take place in the meeting room at the National Rowing Academy this Sunday. The meeting for prospective senior team coaches and prospective senior team athletes takes place at 11.00 am with the second meeting, for prospective junior team coaches, at 1.00pm the same day. Any questions relating to these meetings should be addressed to team manager Gary Bain

25 October

GB Long Distance Trial results: results from Saturday's single sculling trials at Boston (Lincs) for open and lightweight men and women are here. Only members of the 2004 Olympic team were excused this trial. Nice to see a fair crop of Scots competing.

Meanwhile at the 'other' Boston (Mass.): the Head of the Charles was weather-affected, but run over shortened courses. There are usually some Scots competing, sometimes 'embedded' with friendly US crews. Results are here.

18 October

St Andrews University Regatta: an unusual offering for this time of year of side-by-side sprint racing on Saturday 6th November at Forfar Loch. The poster, events offered and conditions of entry are here (in PDF) with an entry form (in Word to encourage you to type it!). Entries close Sunday 31st October at 5.00pm

Up the creek without a paddle? Did you, perchance, lose a set of oars at Aberdeen Boat Club at the Aberdeen Sprint? Claimants are invited to contact Neil Smith.

Aberdeen Fours & Small Boats Heads: the traditional two-day event of Aberdeen Fours Head (Saturday 13th November) and Small Boats Head (Sunday 14th November) have posted information and entry forms for both on the Committee of the Dee web site.

15 October

Normal service resumed: a technical hitch meant the site could not be updated for a few days. Sorted now.

Dundee UBC captain, Ali Black (foreground), backed up by Abdallah Alhakim. In the background, the Stirling UBC crew, with President Neil Smith at Stroke.

Dundee University take Tayforth titles: notwithstanding much talk of injuries in the run-up, Dundee University pulled a clean-sweep victory in last weekend's Tayforth University Boat Race series between Dundee and Stirling Universities. Full report on the event web site

Strathclyde Park Small Boats Head: blessed with fair weather and a good turnout, results for Division 1 and Division 2 are here.

Clydesdale Scullers Head: details and the entry form for the Clydesdale Scullers Head (30th October) are on the club's web site.

2005 Home International Regatta Coaches Meeting: There will be two meetings on Sunday 31st October at the Meeting room at the National Rowing Academy. The first, starting at 1pm, will be for junior coaches. An agenda for this meeting will be sent shortly to junior coaches. The second meeting, starting at 3pm, will be open to senior coaches and senior athletes intending to try for Scottish selection next year. An agenda for this meeting will be posted on the SARA web site in due course.

GB Coaching Technique Seminars a 'sell out': the recent seminars on GB technique in Aberdeen and at the National Rowing Academy were successful and well attended (25 attended at Strathclyde and 18 attended in Aberdeen). Sessions started with John McArthur using BIRO visuals to illustrate a talk on posture and suspension, then launching a SARA DVD on sculling technique which John has put together using footage shot on training outings with Gavin Shaw. GB U23 physio Karen Burn led a session on core stability and its function in rowing technique, injury prevention and boat propulsion, then Rebecca Caroe of Rowperfect illustrated how to use the machine to practice BIRO technique concepts (and the dark art of analysing force curves!). John McArthur rounded the event off announcing a SARA conference on 4-5th December with Marty Aitken (formerly GB Rowing chief coach lightweight men and women coach, now with Scottish Institute of Sport) and Paul Thompson (GB High Performance Coach women, who coached the Grainger/Bishop Olympic silver-medal women's pair).

7 October

Extra notes for Strathclyde Park Head competitors: there will be a safety briefing for crews in the SARA 'eights' boat-bay at 1130 am on Saturday morning - at which time the SPRC catering operation will also swing into operation for the day.

Tayforth Universities Boat Race: this annual fixture is rowed on the Forth at Stirling between Dundee University (the 'Tay' bit of the name) and Stirling University (the 'Forth' part). Races are between single sex fours. This year's event kicks off at 2.00pm on Saturday 9th October at Stirling Rowing Club. You can find crew news, info, and past form (a tad one sided in favour of Stirling!) on the event web site . You can even (scroll down on their home page) take a free punt on predicting the winner. Interestingly, when I checked this morning, Dundee were WAY ahead in the poll; given past form, could this be an off-the-water triumph of optimism over experience, or does somebody know something?

St Andrew Boat Club Biathlon: if sore hands aren't enough reward for your exertion and you fancy sore feet as well, why not try the St Andrew Biathlon at Stirling on 23rd October. Format is a 5 km row followed by a 5 km cross-country run. Full details at the event web site.

5 October

Start order for the Strathclyde Park Small Boats Head: really healthy 95-boat entry for Saturday's event at the Park, with a good spread from small juniors through open scullers to venerable vets. Division 1 and Division 2 start orders are here (PDF format).

Coode calls time: Ed Coode, the super-sub for Tim Foster in the Sydney build-up who finally got his Olympic gold medal substituting for the injured Alex Partridge in Athens, has announced his retirement. Full piece on the BBC web site.

Patricia Ferguson appointed Scottish minister for Tourism Culture and Sport: yesterday's Scottish Executive reshuffle included the appointment of a new minister with responsibility for sport. Patricia Ferguson is MSP for Maryhill.