News

Posted: 6 July, 2016

A fantastic Henley Royal Regatta for Scottish crews and athletes was finished off in style with a win for Edinburgh University Boat Club in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup. The race was a crowning glory for Colin Williamson’s squad as they came from a length down against Newcastle University to eventually win by a length. More details on their historic win can be found here.

The Edinburgh win was far from the only highlight of the regatta, as many other clubs and individual athletes made their mark on the event. The Prince Albert Challenge cup for student coxed fours was held with Scottish crews making up a quarter of the draw. The Edinburgh University ‘B’ crew was unlucky to come up against the ‘A’ crew in the first round. A disappointment as they had put in a fine display in qualifying. Crews from St Andrews University and Strathclyde University had also performed very well just to qualify in the notoriously difficult event. Up against incredibly tough challenges they both lost in the first round to Yale University and Newcastle University respectively by 1 ½ lengths.

In 2011* there were no crews from Scottish universities in the draw, so to see this having changed so dramatically in just five years is an indication of the growing strength in depth of Scottish Rowing.

The victorious Edinburgh University Boat Club crew of James Temple, Kieran Tierney, Calum Irvine, Rufus Scholefield and cox Rosie Margolis with Coach Colin Williamson

In the other university event, the Temple Challenge cup for student eights, there was a sole representative in the form of Glasgow University. In the year that Andy Barton’s men managed to reach the ‘A’ final of Championship eights at BUCS regatta for the first time in years, their appearance in the main draw was a sign of continued progression. Unfortunately they were drawn up against a very strong crew from St. Petersburg University, Russia in the first round. Whilst this would not have been the result they were hoping for, there are signs of strong upward growth that will continue into the coming years.

Edinburgh University also fielded a composite in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup for Intermediate Quads. Hugo Coussens and Ollie Varley of Durham University and Newcastle University joined Gavin Horsburgh and Matt Curtis from the baby blue club. The crew was coached by Colin Williamson and has been training at Strathclyde Park. They are hoping to be selected in the coming weeks as the Under-23 Lightweight Quad for the World Championships in Rotterdam this year. Dazzling spectators at the regatta with their electric starts and precise bladework, the crew came through tough races against a Swiss composite in the first round and Durham University in the second round. Unfortunately they came up against the eventual winners, Schuylkill Navy High Performance Center, U.S.A, in the semi-final. Giving away three stone per man in a tough headwind, the lightweights were not able to overcome the power difference, eventually losing by 2 ¼ lengths.

Glasgow Schools Rowing Club had boats selected in both the Fawley Challenge Cup for Boys’ Quads and the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup for Girls’ Quads. The boys, with world champion Josh Armstrong in the stroke seat, beat Gloucester Rowing Club comfortably in the first round before losing to eventual finalists Windsor Boys’ School in the quarter-finals. The girls’ quad were incredibly unlucky to be drawn up against the eventual winners Gloucester Rowing Club. The Gloucester crew had raced mostly as a coxed four throughout the year so had to go through qualifiers and were not selected in the main draw. Glasgow Schools fought well so soon after their tough regatta at Henley Women’s to lose by just over a length.

There were many individual Scottish athletes competing in the regatta, including many who had competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Rowing Championships for Scotland. There were wins for Cameron Buchan in the Ladies Challenge Plate for Intermediate Eights and Harry Leask in the Queen Mother Challenge Cup for Open Quads, both competing under Leander Club and Melissa Wilson who competed for Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club in a composite that won the Princess Grace Challenge Cup for Women’s Quads. The former win came in slightly controversial circumstances, as A.S.R. Nereus were disqualified for Unsportsmanlike Conduct. The Open Quad had a strong row to win by clear water against California Rowing Club. This crew will be hoping to be selected as the Under-23 Heavyweight Quad for the World Championships. The Women’s Quad put in a storming performance to row through a Polish crew that had won the Under-23 World Championships last year in Plovdiv. In the same event, Imogen Walsh competed in a composite that mostly represented the lightweight quad for the senior World Rowing Championships. Unfortunately they had to compete with a substitute on board due to late illness and were beaten by a heavyweight crew of international hopefuls from Schuylkill Navy High Performance Center, U.S.A. by two lengths.

Katherine Douglas of Leander Club reached the final of the Remenham Challenge Cup for Women’s Eights, competing in a Great Britain development composite before coming up against an incredibly strong eight from Princeton Training Center, U.S.A. Also in the Remenham, Great Britain Under-23 Rowan McKellar competed in a younger Great Britain composite with potential Under-23 athletes. They were also drawn up against the Princeton Training Center crew in the quarter finals and weren’t able to compete with their superior power. The third Scot racing in the Remenham was Christie Duff, racing with Oxford Brookes UBC. They went down to a Czech composite crew in a close quarter final race.  Cameron Kerr also reached the final of the Britannia Challenge Cup for Club Coxed fours with Sport Imperial BC where they met an insurmountable crew from Bayer Leverkusen, Germany. The German crew flew off the start to take a three length lead by the barrier in a time that would have rivalled coxless fours. The Sport Imperial crew fought back to only lose by 2 ½ lengths at the finish.

Lewis McCue of Robert Gordon University left his usual stroke seat to swap into the bow seat of a composite in the Stewards’ Challenge Cup for Open Coxless Fours. Racing in a crew which is expected to be selected as the Great Britain Under-23 four for the World Championships in Rotterdam, Lewis and his crew were drawn against the Dutch Olympic coxless four in the semi final. Despite the experience and size gap, the GB crew did well to hold the Dutch to a length. Callum McBrierty, formerly of George Watson’s College and currently racing for Leander Club, reached the semi-final of the Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup for Open Pairs with Oliver Cook. Drawn against a fast French crew, the British crew fought back from a length down moving into the Stewards Enclosure to only lose by an agonising two feet. This crew will be hoping to compete at the World Championships for non-Olympic class events in the coxed pair with Henry Fieldman. Finally Emma McDonald of Glasgow University competed in a composite in the Princess Grace Challenge Cup with three other lightweights from Wallingford Rowing Club. Happy just to qualify, the composite came up against a heavyweight Leander crew with former Olympic medallists in the first round, eventually losing by 3 ¾ lengths.

There were fantastic results across the board for Scottish crews and athletes. Edinburgh’s win marked only the second ever Scottish win at the regatta and many athletes pushing for international selection put their mark on an incredibly high quality field. The signs are bright for continued Scottish success at future Henley Royal Regattas.

*Changed from 2010 as GUBC entered the Prince Albert Challenge Cup, thanks to Iain Rice for correcting us.