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August 2003
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29 December

Funeral for Ian Stanners: the funeral for Ian Stanners (see News, 24th December) will take place tomorrow, 30 December at 9.30 am at the Linn Crematorium on the south side of Glasgow.

24 December

Death of Ian Stanners: it is with sadness that we have to report the death yesterday (Tuesday) of Ian Stanners of Clyde Masters. He had been taken into hospital last week suffering from pneumonia.

With his pairs partner Gordon Day, Ian enjoyed one of the most durably successful competitive careers in Scottish rowing. My recollection is that the duo's last major honours were a win in Vet G2- and a 2nd in Vet G2x at the World Masters Regatta in Racice in 2002.

Ian also put his energy behind projects targeted at the future of Scottish rowing: he acted as Quantity Surveyor to the project to build the National Rowing Academy, through his company Wilkinson and Lowe.

No funeral arrangements have yet been announced.

22 December

Merr-E-Christmas!: lot's of news items today before everybody heads off to forsake their vows to 'make lightweight this season'. A very Merry Christmas to all the users of the SARA web page.

Strathclyde Park closed for rowing: due to the construction work to widen Strathclyde Park from 6 to 8 lanes in preparation for the 2005 Masters (and other future major international events), the loch is closed for rowing from now until (provisionally) end February. Regular users will note that the closure has been cunningly timed to coincide with the time of the annual 'big freeze' anyway, so hopefully the number of real lost rowing days will be minimised.

Junior Trial goes north: as a result of the Park closure, national coach John McArthur proposes to move the junior trial scheduled at Strathclyde Park on 21 February to occur one week earlier within the Inverness Eights and Small Boats Head on Saturday 14th February. John asks any registered junior coach who believes this change would be inappropriate to e-mail him

SARA Indoor Rowing Championships: the venue for the Indoor Championships on 24th January is now confirmed as Dalziel High School in Motherwell (c 200 metres past the entrance to Strathclyde Park, up the hill into Motherwell). There are event classes from J10 to Age 90+ (!!!!) for both men and women, openweight and lightweight (<75kg men, <61.5kg women). The poster and entry form are now available for download.

SARA secretary's news column: "First of all, on behalf of the SARA Executive, may I pass on best wishes to
you and your club members and families for the Festive Season. A few bits 'n' pieces to keep you up-to-date:

1. Please note for your records (and Christmas cards list(!)) two changes of club secretaries:

Castle Semple - Duncan Walker, Holmhurst, Hazelwood Road, Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, PA11 3DJ Email: holmhurst@btinternet.com

Glasgow Rowing Club - Stephen J. Goldie , Flat 2/2, 7 Merrick Gardens, Glasgow, G51 2LF. Email: Stephen_goldie@hotmail.com Tel: 0141 427 2018 Mobile: 07711 354288

2. A wee job for the winter perhaps....... a reminder that club-coloured blades should be used at regattas and under no circumstances should Scotland blades be used outwith competing for Scotland. Anyone who still has their blades with a saltire - well they should be back in club colours by now.

3. Peter Morrison has volunteered to take on the responsibility as the Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Officer for the SARA. As you know the proposed Policy was presented to the AGM last month for clubs to review and return feedback with the intention of ratification at the Half-Yearly meeting - to date no feedback has been received. The policy will be on the agenda for the Half-Yearly Meeting in March for full ratification as it is required that we have a policy in place. Any comments on the policy please to Peter Morrison Pgmorrison@aol.com

4. Scottish Rowing Awards Dinner - volunteers are requested to organise and run the 2003 Awards Dinner. Locations suggested - Dumfries, Stirling, Glasgow and Inverness. This is an ideal opportunity to become involved in a great event and have some fun in the process. So if you fancy it, or indeed fancy getting a small team together to take it on then please get in touch. Bottom line is that we need some volunteers to run it or it won't run I'm afraid.

5. SARA Executive members visits to clubs - I repeat the offer made several times last season and repeated at the AGM that Exec members are willing to arrange to come along to your club committee meeting and discuss SARA issues and indeed any other issues that we may be able to help with.

6. Bob Neil is the volunteer coordinator for anyone who wishes to help out and have a great time in the FISA World Masters Regatta (the biggest regatta in the world!) which we are running at Strathclyde Park in September 2005. We need some 250 helpers - so get your name to Bob rhcn@george-heriots.com - there are so many varieties of jobs - there is one for everyone's taste! Don't forget that Scotland will also host the 2006 Commonwealth Rowing Championships at Strathclyde Park so now is the time to get involved.

7. Having a great time in the sport? Not racing too much? Not coaching too much? Wee bit of time to put something back into the sport and have some fun at the same time? Then how about getting in touch with Sandy Walker and find out how to become an umpire and see the racing from a different angle. We're always on the lookout for new umpires - there's no harm in finding out what is involved, is there? Sandy is at walkes@sculler.fsnet.co.uk

8. Artistic? Any good at drawing cartoons? If so, the Rowing Action team would like to talk to you as they are really keen on having a few cartoons in this terrific magazine of ours - which just keeps getting better and better with each edition. Please drop Ailie Ord a line on ailie.ord@blueyonder.co.uk."

14 December

Glasgow Fours Head washed out again: try as they might to reschedule, the weather really had it in for Glasgow this year. All credit to the club for getting the cancellation decision out to clubs on the Friday afternoon (and apologies that I did not see my copy of that e-mail in time to put it up here).

Scots on parade at GB distance trials: Gavin Shaw finished 3rd in U23 lightweight at Saturday's long distance single sculls trial at Boston, with other Scots racing also. Full results of the Heavyweight men's and women's race and the Lightweight men's and women's race are on the Boston Rowing Club web site.

SARA Indoor Rowing Championships: the event date is confirmed as 24th January with the provisional location at Dalzeil High School (nr Strathclyde Park). Full details and entry forms shortly.

SARA Trials news: 17 pairs and 23 scullers turned out for the SARA junior selection trial on 6 December - and were rewarded with perfect conditions at Strathclyde Park. Results go to the coaches - in which regard team manager Gary Bain is missing e-mail addresses for the junior coaches from Glasgow Schools, Strathclyde Park, Stirling and Loch Lomond.

Also there is an updated version of the SARA Senior Selection Policy (small corrections like the change of HIR venue to Nottingham!)

4 December

Oh, so cynical! Certain cynics have been heard to suggest that Glasgow RC will be 'trousering' the entry fees from their postponed Fours Head - AND gleefully accepting a whole new set of entry fees for the rescheduled event on Saturday 13th November. Race secretary Bob Reid has asked me to point out that GRC's e-mail round the clubs at the time of the postponement did say that the entry cheques were being destroyed. So the discounted entry fees (see GRC site for details) for the rescheduled race really are the only payments competitors will make.

Another gong for Grainger: this year's season of sports awards should be a bumper one for Katherine Grainger. Last weekend saw St Andrew BC's 'silver lady' and Cath Bishop (World Champions in the coxless pair) collect the Sunday Times 'Sportswomen of the Year' team prize last Sunday. As local and national polls for 'sports personalities' are launched, don't forget to nominate and then vote for members of the rowing community.

What should a Development Officer's priorities be? SARA's first development officer left his post at the end of November. Looking ahead, National Rowing Academy director Iain Somerside here invites input from clubs and individuals as the sport plans and prioritises the role of the post for the future.

1 December

Weather plays havoc with fixtures: both the Glasgow Fours Head in Scotland and the Scullers' Head in London fell foul of the weather on Saturday. Glasgow Rowing Club have moved quickly to reschedule their event for Saturday 13th December - full details on the GRC web site, but note that some events are not being offered in the rescheduled event.

Kirsty is Myles better: well, 17 seconds actually (which in a trial is almost as good as!). Belated congratulations to George Watson's College sculler Kirsty Myles who romped home first in the GB junior long distance trial at Boston a couple of weeks ago. This really sets Kirsty up well in this year's selection race - and has earned her a place on the World Class camp at Sarnen in Switzerland later in December.

Scottish Junior Trial this Saturday: there is a combined trial this Saturday for selection for both HIR 2004 and for the new Scottish Junior Elite Squad. The format and information for triallists/coaches are as follows:

• Trial format 2 x 2000m. All athletes must trial in 1x or 2-.
• Registration will be at 10am, please remember to bring completed registration forms found in the junior selection policy.
• Timetable will then be as follows;
  10.30 Athlete/coaches briefing
  11.00 Junior men
  11.45 Junior women
  12.30 Junior men
  13.15 Junior women
  14.00 Coaches meeting

Any athletes/clubs wishing to use any of the SARA pairs for the trial should notify Gary Bain at garyabain@hotmail.com

25 November

Home Uni leads going into Glasgow Fours Head: the rankings after the first round of the Universities Winter League at Inverness are on the right. With two Glasgow universities leading going into their 'home' race, they'll be expecting to build on that advantage this weekend. No big surprise to see Aberdeen 3rd, but encouraging to see Dundee in 4th.

21 November

Scotland Junior Selection Policy: as promised, here is the selection policy for the Scotland Junior Team for the Home International Regatta in 2004. Obviously it needs to be read in full, but the most obvious immediate priority is that all athletes, coxes and coaches must register before 6th December.

SARA/sportscotland Junior Elite Squad: another example of progressive partnership between SARA and Sportscotland is now ready for launch. The junior elite squad will provide high performance coaching for both athletes and club coaches, structured access to specialist resources such as physiotherapy, and financial assistance with costs of attending these events and also the GB junior trials. If you aspire to GB junior selection, or if you coach athletes with these aspirations, you really need to read the introductory document and note the registration requirement

Changes to Home International 2004: at a meeting last weekend, Wales 'swapped dates' with England with the result that the Home International Regatta in 2004 will now be at Holme Pierrepont (Nottingham) with 2005 going to Wales. There is also a change to the senior events to be contested: in line with a proposal which Scotland supported, the lightweight coxless four is discontinued and gives way to a lightweight coxless pair and a lightweight double scull. The effect of the change is to 'even up' the opportunity for numbers of scullers and sweepers in the teams.

Revised results from Inverness Fours Head: I understand some readers have had problems accessing the revised results. These have been uploaded again - if you still don't get the right file it may be that your browser is displaying from cache rather than downloading from the server. Try a 'force refresh' (shift+refresh).

16 November

Glasgow University BC racing to their win in Men's Open 4+ at Inverness yesterday.

In women's coxed fours it was Edinburgh University whose crew (Sturt) recorded the fastest times in each division (R2 and R1 events respectively).

Full results (now corrected) are here - and it's confirmed that the times shown for veterans are 'net' after application of handicaps. A good turnout all round, with the fours' racing supplemented by lots of small boats racing for times.

Next up, Glasgow Fours Head! The poster is now up for Glasgow Fours Head on the 29th November, with a link to an entry form on Glasgow RC's own web site.

National Junior Selection and Development Strategy: following the publication of the Scotland senior team selection policy, the junior team strategy is due for publication shortly. This will coincide with the publication of the details of a development initiative, the Scottish Junior Elite Squad, to be funded by sportscotland through their Junior Development Group Programme. This will be a small squad fully supported within their clubs who have aspirations to row for the GB junior team. This important new project will be led by the National Coach, John McArthur, who will work with the individual athletes and coaches, coordinating their training and racing programmes to ensure that the athletes are fully prepared for the rigours of GB junior selection. The minimum age for consideration will be those juniors who are J15 next season.

13 November

Inverness Fours Head news: start order is now here, together with important information for competitors, including trailer parking and boat rigging arrangements. I hear the stormy weather is due to pass through before Saturday morning - fingers crossed!

Selection Policy published: the Scotland Team Selection Policy for 2004 is now up, with apologies from team manager Gary Bain that it took a few days longer than hoped to get final approval. The policy seems simpler than in previous years - first over the line at Nat Champs being the driving criteria as far as I can see.

Regatta programme for 2004: the Scottish regatta calendar for 2004 was adopted at the recent AGM. I've published a quick PDF version here and will follow with the on-line page with links to various event sites within and outside Scotland asap. One additional date to note straight off: SARA AGM 2004 is on 7th November (so no complaints about lack of adequate notice there, then!)

10 November

Grainger honoured at Glasgow Sports Personality Awards: rowing's Glasgow-born world champion Katherine Grainger won the Lord Provost's Award at the weekend's Glasgow Sports Personality event. Katherine was unable to be present, but SARA president Mary Massaro accepted the trophy (not to mention a bottle of champagne) on her behalf.

Small boats battered, but Aberdeen Heads a success: conditions for Sunday's small boats head in Aberdeen were distinctly blustery, but both this and the preceding day's fours head went off well (record entry on the Sunday). Full results of both days' racing on the Committee of the Dee web site.

Rowing Action wants your news: the next edition of the Scottish Rowing magazine, Rowing Action, is due out shortly. Ailie Ord would welcome articles, photos, letters, etc before the end of this week.

Your competition plan for next year: I hope to have the full Scottish regatta calendar for next year up tomorrow.

5 November

Start order for the Aberdeen Fours and Small Boats Heads: Saturday and Sunday's start order are now up on the Committee of the Dee website.

30 October

Entry time for Aberdeen Heads: entries for the Aberdeen Fours Head and Aberdeen Small Boats Head will be closing over this weekend - full details on the Committee of the Dee web site. Remember there is also the Aberdeen Rowing Ball on the Saturday night.

Got a four to sell? A new wanted advert has joined the recent cop of Sales & Wants.

27 October

Congratulations to those who passed the recent Rowing Instructors Course in Aberdeen: Carol Wallace [Deeside Scullers], Lawrence Edwards and Derek McMorrine [both St Andrew BC], Fiona Insch, Jonny Graham, Pamela Stevenson, and Jeremy Mitchell [all Aberdeen Boat Club] and Morag Emery [ASRA].

2005 World Masters at Strathclyde Park - Masters Meeting: As part of our planning, SARA will be holding an informal meeting for all Scottish Masters / Veterans who have attended previous World Masters events. The object of the meeting is to find out opinions of what has been good and not-so-good in the past in order that SARA can use their experience and feedback to ensure that we organise the best World Masters ever. More information will be sent out in due course, but in the meantime Masters / Veterans please make a note in the diary - the will be held approximately 3:30pm on the day of the AGM - Sunday 2nd November and will be in the top meeting room at Strathclyde Park. It will be a "Cheese and Wine " format.

Annual General Meeting A reminder that it starts at 1:00pm on Sunday 2nd November in the National Rowing Academy.
Also that Club Affiliation Fees need to be paid in full prior to the start of the meeting. Clubs are requested to bring an up-to-date copy of their club constitution.

26 October

Clydesdale Scullers Head results: chalk up another win for Warnock - but interesting to see how far up the field some of the 'older and bolder' (vet) competitors were finishing.

Aberdeen Asset Inverness Fours Head: the poster/events offered, local rules and additional info for competitors are all now up here. Inverness has good racing faciltiies for all - a fast, near-straight course for the performance crews, and a wide, easy-to-steer course for inexperienced crews .

Sales and Wants updated: check the page for several new notices under both headings

22 October

Tayforth Boat Race this Saturday: Dundee University look to avenge last year's defeat at the hands of Stirling University in this year's event on the Forth t Stirling Rowing Club, this Saturday, 25th October from 1.30pm. The race (and probably many of the competitors) is fuelled by SUBWAY, the sarnie kings. The universities and Stirling Rowing Club will be welcoming guests from anywhere in the Scottish rowing community for the racing and to enjoy the excellent social facilities of Stirling RC. Check the event web site - do they REALLY have a 6ft SUBWAY as a raffle prize?!

Boat transport on dark winter days: the time is upon us when most of our boat-hauling is in the dark. Anybody responsible for loading or towing trailers would be well advised to read the ARA's excellent guide on the subject. There's a particularly important section on permitted 'overhang' distances (for both trailers and car-top loads) and on requirements for the marking/lighting of these overhanging loads.

There's not much worse than arriving late at a 'head' or trial because you were getting a lecture from the Police on the hard shoulder - or worse, having somebody smash into an overhanging boat and then find you insurance claim is invalid because the overhang wasn't properly marked. The reading time is a good investment.

Scotland selection policy - a chance to 'stick your oar in': Scotland team manager Gary Bain is currently reviewing selection policy and would welcome input/comment on organisational or policy aspects from anyone who has participated as a triallist or coach in the past. The 2004 policy is due to be presented at the SARA AGM, so prompt responses to Gary would be greatly appreciated.

GB Long Distance Trial Results: results from last weekends open and lightweight trials (men and women) at Boston are now up on the host club's web site: good to see a healthy number of Scots performing.

Last Chance Saloon: we're fast coming up to deadlines for applications for the Junior 16 Sculling Course (must reach Callum Macdonald by this Saturday) and also for the next RIC coaching course (must reach Callum by 30th October).

16 October

Strathclyde Park Head results: the weather was kind to SPRC for their inaugural Head last Saturday. Results for Division 1 and Division 2.

Somebody left with more than their entry fee entitled them to! A pair of sweep oars from the SARA fleet went missing over the weekend - presumably removed by accident by one of the clubs competing in the Head or training at the Park. Callum Macdonald would be grateful if all who were at the Park at the weekend could check they haven't come away with a 'bonus' pair of blades - and e-mail him to make arrangements for return if you find you have.

Aberdeen Fours and Small Boats Heads: full details of these (Sat 8th and Sun 9th November respectively) are now up on the Committee of the Dee web site. Added attraction this year is the opportunity to develop a really good hangover on the Saturday night at the Aberdeen Rowing Clubs Ball at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre. Good excuse to race both days and night-stop for the apres-row.

13 October

St Andrew seek trailer space to Fours Head: SABC have a crew competing in the Fours Head on the Thames (1st November) - but no trailer going down. Anyone/club who could offer them a space for their boat and blades (both directions) please contact either Mairi Torrie or Jo Wherret.

National Rowing Academy team takes to the road: National coach, John McArthur and development officer Callum Macdonald are setting off on a tour of meetings across Scotland to make presentations and invite discussion on their roles in the sport. This is a SARA initiative which the association hopes will draw senior committee representatives/coaches from clubs in each of the centres being visited. The full programme and an outline of the rationale for the visits is here.

8 October

Sculler Johnny Stevenson of Glasgow RC breaks the pain barrier during last weekend's '3 Heads' event on the Clyde. Photo: Niall Darroch

Strathclyde Park Small Boats Head - starting orders for Division 1 and 2 of this weekend's 'round the island' head at the Park.

Rowing Action gets inside stories: the new issue of Rowing Action came out at the weekend - excellent first person articles by Scottish World Champion Katherine Grainger, U23 GB Lightweight sculler Gavin Shaw and GB/France medal-winner Stephanie McDowell on their exploits, amongst other articles. Free copies for every SARA licence holder can be collected from your club.

6 October

Three heads are better than? Glasgow Rowing Club's experiment in holding 3 x 3000m head races instead of their scheduled sprint on Saturday looked (to me at least) to be highly successful. They got a good entry, with most crews doing a couple of divisions and seeming to use the event as a 'settler' for winter distance training and competition. Conditions were good, organisation went well - and Glasgow's newly extended boating steps make a HUGE difference to their capacity to host events smoothly. Full results for Divisions 1, 2 and 3 and an aggregate table compositing the results from all three.

3 October

Nobody guessed correctly! I did get some e-mailed guesses as to whose baby we were picturing below in yesterday's entry - but none were correct. The congratulations go to Ali Barnes (Scotland's reigning Commonwealth Champion in W 2-) and her husband Gordon on the birth of daughter Megan on 19 September. Ali and Gordon are Clydesdale 'stalwarts' who moved to London a few years ago.

2 October

Congratulations to . . . who? This charming addition (photo, left) to Scottish Rowing's 'junior' community recently made her debut. But who are the proud Mum and Dad (note, themselves reasonably weel kent faces on the Scottish Rowing scene!). Answer on the web site tomorrow . . .

Diggers delayed: the work to widen the Strathclyde Park course from 6 to 8 lanes has been re-scheduled and will now start 1st week in January. This means there will now be no interference from the work to rowing during November and December.

Edinburgh to tackle the Charles: Edinburgh University are sending two crews to compete in this year's Head of the Charles, as part of a university alumni/development initiative in the US. Read the full story in Student.

1 October

Glasgow 3 Heads attracts strong entry: the innovative '3 x 3000m head' concept developed by Glasgow RC for this Saturday has obviously fired a few imaginations. The organisers say there are 54 boat classes entered across the 3 divisions, and I can count 158 crew entries in total. Start order for Divisions 1, 2 and 3 are here together with important Instructions to Crews which include details of road traffic restrictions en route to GRC and of obstructions you may encounter on the course.

29 September

Faskally closing date approaches fast! The closing date for applications for the SARA coaching course at Loch Faskally (Pitlochry) is this Wednesday, 1st October. Full details and the application form are here. If you haven't been on this course I can thoroughly recommend it, both from the perspective of the rowing and the apres-row.

Glasgow Uni ladies seek coach: a keen eight from GULBC are looking for a coach to take training sessions on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Interested coaches are asked to e-mail Alex Lomas or phone her on 07866 806389

25 September

Last call for papers/proposals/questions for the SARA AGM: check this formal notice of the AGM - the bottom line is that clubs have until 2nd October to notify AGM business to the SARA secretary, Paul Mackie. This is also a reminder to the clubs to make sure they are fully represented at the AGM - as Paul puts it "the association is the clubs".

Scotland appoints new team manager: Tom Baker decided not to continue as team manager and the SARA Exec has announced that Gary Bain has been appointed team manager with John Langley as assistant team manager. Congratulations to them - and thanks to Tom for his work this year.

Masters and Commonwealths at Strathclyde Park: it has been pointed out that the Commonwealth Rowing Championships to be held at the Park in 2006 will fall in the 125th anniversary year of the SARA. Anyone for a ceilidh?

Meanwhile SARA is already starting to gather names of volunteers to help with the organisation and delivery of the FISA Masters Regatta at the Park in 2005. Believe it or not, it will take about 250 volunteers to run the regatta - if you would like to be one of them, drop a line to Paul Mackie.

sportscoach UK seminars: Callum Macdonald (SARA development officer) offers this report on some valuable generic coaching workshops, and also has brochures on courses offered for the rest of the year by local sport councils in conjunction with sportscotland. Contact Callum for more details . . .

23 September

Trailer spaces to London: Strathclyde University have a trailer heading to Janousek on 25th September: spaces available going south, more limited on the return journey. Anyone/club who would be interested, please contact SUBC captain Fraser Munro, tel - 07970602203. Meanwhile Aberdeen BC have a trailer going to the Vesta Scullers Head (London, 29th November): if anyone would like to book slots on that one, contact Fiona Insch

18 September

Strathclyde Park 'Round-the-Island' Head: Strathclyde Park RC have full details on their web site of their small boats head to be held at the Park on Saturday 11th October.

Another sales success: I hear from Jim Ferguson that every one of the blades George Watson's College advertised has now been sold. Do you have un-used equipment you could sell through the SARA site? The service is free to SARA clubs and their members - simply e-mail me the details.

16 September

Rowing Instructor Course filling up nicely: there are some places still left however. Full details and the application form are here - closing date is this Friday

No more day tickets for the Fours Head (London): a note from the secretary of the Head of the River Fours that, with the changes in the SARA licensing system, we no longer need day tickets to race in their event. HOWEVER this does mean you need current licence SARA licence numbers for every member of your crew to put on your entry - no 'TBAs' etc! Entry is exclusively on-line this year at the Fours Head web site: it may take a couple of days for the reference to day tickets to vanish, but the notice I was asked to pass on was definitely the official version.

15 September

Glasgow RC seek gluttons for punishment: in a dramatic change of format, the event scheduled as the Glasgow Sprint will now take the form of Three Heads! Full details here - it's certainly arguable that distance racing fits better with training priorities on the planned date (4th October). Full details and the entry form here

Aberdeen Sprint draw: good to see some faraway entries from places like Semple. Do I sense a bit of rivalry at the younger end between CSRC and ASRA?!

12 September

Blazing paddles: a warning to users of Strathclyde Park - there is a sprint kayak event taking place over the top 1000m of the course this Sunday from 11.00 am. Rowers must stay clear - suggestion from the Park is use the bottom 1000m. Detailed advice will no doubt be available from watersports reception when you check in.

11 September

Quick dash to the Aberdeen Sprint: a reminder that entries for the Aberdeen Sprint close this Saturday. The poster, accompanying letter and entry form are all here.

Send your news to 'Rowing Action': the next issue of Scottish Rowing's own magazine, Rowing Action is due out shortly. Articles, letters, photos, club news, advertisements - send them all to Ailie Ord by Monday 15th to get your news into print.

10 September

Scots "Misses" lead the way at the Masters: thanks to Alison Hulme of St Andrew for this report from last weekend's FISA World Masters Regatta at Vichy.

"Friday saw no wins for Scottish competitors - some very good second and third places though. Saturday got off to a better start: Janeen Collier (GWC), Hazel Smith (IRC), Lesley Stewart (SABC) and Ailie Ord (CARC) won in WC8+ in a composite crew with a couple of London clubs. This was followed by Scottish wins in the WB4+ for Janeen Collier (GWC), Ailie Ord (CARC), Alison Hulme (SABC) and Lesley Stewart (SABC) then WB4- for Janeen Collier (GWC), Ailie Ord (CARC), Alison Hulme (SABC) and Hazel Smith (IRC). The WB4- was only an hour and 20 mins after the WB4+ and was the third/fourth race of the day for each of the crew members, so there were some tired legs in that!

Saturday was rounded off by a superb club win in WC2x for Suzanne Hunter (IRC) and Mandy Towrie (IRC) against some very tough opposition. They also racked up the fastest time of all six heats in this event.

Sunday: Mixed races (always fun!) and a chance for truly international crews to get together. Wins in MixC8+ for Ailie Ord (CARC) in a Scottish/English/Croatian composite and in MixB8+ for Alison Hulme (SABC) in a Scottish/USA/Brazilian composite with an Irish cox!"

9 September

Rigging training at the National Rowing Academy: SARA development officer Callum Macdonald is running rigging training sessions this Saturday and next Wednesday - full details here. The scope covers pretty much everything from the basics to the opportunity to get answers to those really awkward questions that you may have encountered whilst setting up your own or your club's boats. E-mail or phone Callum to let him know you will be attending.

Getting the most from your session in the rowing tank: Callum Macdonald is running a series of (free) sessions to pass on 'the knowledge' to club coaches on how to operate the National Rowing Academy's rowing tank and how to get greatest benefit for athletes from your sessions. Full details and dates are here. From 1st October, any coach wanting to book the tank must either hold (at least) an RIC qualification or have attended one of these rowing tank training sessions (in reality, even more experienced coaches could benefit from the training session). Each session lasts 2 hours and there are a choice of 4 dates in September and October.

Important stuff worth reading! Callum Macdonald has produced this report on a whole range of topics to do with his own role and with facilities/arrangements for booking them at the National Rowing Academy and Strathclyde Park. Whatever your involvement in the sport, there's probably something in his report of relevance to you, so well worth a read.

Blade bonanza: George Watson's College have a whole bunch of blades for sale - check the Sales & Wants page for details.

7 September

FISA World Masters results: there's a very full results listing from Vichy on line - unfortunately I don't know who entered what from Scotland and with every one of the 400+ races being a 'final', it's simply too much to research from scratch. If you do know what your mates were entered in, however, you'll quickly see their results. Photos welcome as the bold heroes return in coming days!

News of the next SARA Rowing Instructor Course: this will be held on 5, 11, 12 and 26 October. Full details are on the poster, and the application form is also here. Further details if required from Scottish Rowing development officer, Callum Macdonald

GB Senior and Under 23 trials for 2004: (what already?). Yup, the first GB long distance trial is at Boston on 18th October, and all candidates must be registered with BIRO by 8th October. All intending triallists from Scotland are also asked to notify their intentions to Scotland's national coach, John McArthur - especially if they hope to train with him at the National Rowing Academy.

More course news tomorrow . . . Callum is also organising Rowing Tank Training Sessions and sessions on the 'Dark Art or Rigging'. Details on those will be here tomorrow.

4 September

Fun for all at the Aberdeen Sprint: I see from the poster that this year's event (Saturday 20 September) includes some novel events in addition to the 'old favourites'. Restricted Veteran Fours is a new one on me, while Coxed Tub Pairs sounds like an excuse for some fun if ever I saw one. The full poster, letter of invitation and entry form are all here.

2 September

Scotland's new World Champion: apologies for the late report on this very special news (I have been overseas). On Sunday in Milan, Katherine Grainger and pairs partner Cath Bishop added the World Championship title to the World Cup title they had already won this season. Could they really have a better launch-pad for an Olympic campaign?

Scotland to host Commonwealth Rowing Championships in 2006: in the year the World Rowing Championships are to be held at Dorney (Eton, England), Scotland is to host the Commonwealth regatta at Strathclyde Park (we should be old hands by then, what with the Masters coming here in 2005). The precise date is still to be agreed between member nations, with the various national federations understood to be keen to schedule the event to fit round the World Cup and Worlds such that they can enter strong teams.

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