News

Posted: 12 March 2025

Last Saturday, in a fitting coincidence, International Women’s Day fell on the same day as the largest women’s rowing race in the world, WeHORR, at which Three Scottish clubs travelled back from London with pennants and medals in their bags. Fifteen Scottish crews made the journey to the Tideway, competing across the majority of categories, with universities, clubs, masters, juniors and beginners all taking part.

The highest finishing Scottish Crew were Edinburgh University BC ‘A’ who took advantage of their starting position of 13 to finish a strong 14th in a fiercely competitive field featuring many Paris 2024 Olympians. The crew from Edinburgh University were also a mere 5 seconds from winning the senior pennant, missing out only to locals London RC ‘A’. Edinburgh University ‘B’ were the second Scottish crew in the rankings, sitting 30th overall.

Glasgow University ‘A’ brought home the Challenge Pennant for their efforts down the Thames, the third ranked Scottish Crew finished 49th overall in the field of over 300 crews. Earning them another strong starting position for next years event.

Image provided by Glasgow Uni BC

Chris Rae, Glasgow University Head of Rowing said “It was a pleasing pennant win with over 50% of the crew having learnt to row with us at GUBC, despite losing access to the boathouse in recent week. The crew managed to keep their focus and overcome the challenges and put together a good performance on the day and have come away with a pennant”

St Andrew BC ‘A’ finished 59th overall and claimed their fourth WeHORR pennant in recent years. Having won the Small Club Pennants in 2017 & 2018, and then the Challenge Pennant in 2024, now in 2025 they have stepped up to take the Medium Club Pennant.

Image provided by St Andrew BC

St Andrew BC President & Senior Women’s Coach, Lindsay Flockhart shared his thoughts on the achievements of the SABC women’s squad “Last year’s win in the Challenge Pennant was big for us, but coming back and winning back to back Pennants with the Medium Club Pennant this year is a testament to the fantastic athletes we have and how much depth, discipline and belief we've built in the squad. They are fitting in sessions after long workdays but still managing to have fun through it all. It's a massive team effort and that blend of hard work and genuine camaraderie is what makes this group so special.”

The third and final Pennant winners from Scotland, came from another squad going for multiple wins, the ever growing Edinburgh University BC Beginner programme produced a crew to once again win the Beginner Academic Pennant for the event, with a 117th place finish, an outstanding result for athletes yet to spend even 12 months in the sport, and the second time in a row they have won this pennant since winning it in 2023 (no beginner crews were permitted to race in 2024 due to fast flowing river conditions).

Image: Chloe Howe

Edinburgh University BC Performance Pathway Coach, Mike Hughes shared his thoughts on the crews result “I was very happy with the way they showed their maturity, focus and commitment in overtaking at least nine crews on the way to winning their category. Their barnstorming finish along the Putney embankment is something I won’t forget for a while.”

The Tideway once again saw a Scottish Junior crew donning the Lion Rampant this year, as athletes came together from multiple clubs to race as the Scottish Argonauts. This year’s crew came from the back of the field, starting 287th, seeing several overtakes to sneak their way into the top 100 crews, finishing 99th overall, placing them 15th overall in the School/Junior category, not bad for a composite crew who only came together two weeks earlier! The crew contained athletes from Clydesdale ARC, George Heriots School RC, The Glasgow Academy, Glasgow RC and St Andrew BC.

Image: Mary Rouse

We look forward to seeing how the Scottish Men’s crews get on when they race Tideway in 2 weeks’ time as they take on the HORR.

Full results from WeHORR can be found on their website.

Scottish Results Round-up: 
14th Edinburgh University BC ‘A’ 
30th Edinburgh University BC ‘B’ 
49th Glasgow University BC ‘A’ 
59th St Andrew BC ‘A’ 
63rd University of St Andrews BC ‘A’ 
81st University Rowing Aberdeen 
99th Scottish Argonauts (Junior) 
117th Edinburgh University ‘C’ (Beginner) 
136th Aberdeen BC (Masters) 
152nd Glasgow University ‘B’ 
173rd University of St Andrews BC ‘B’ 
197th St Andrew BC ‘B’ 
238th Glasgow RC 
240th Dundee University BC 
291st University of St Andrews ‘C’ (Beginner)