News

Posted: 04 September 2025

Cam Buchan & Natacha Searson in the CMix2x (All Mark One)

Scottish athletes walked away from a blustery Knoll Beach in Studland with five Gold, three Silver and three Bronze medals at the final domestic event of the Beach Sprint season. Thirteen Scots travelled down to the south of England for the championships, many of whom will be hopeful to represent Great Britain or Scotland over the International stage of the season at the World & European Championships, HIR Beach Sprints and the Commonwealth Rowing Association Beach Sprint Championships.

Saturday

Saturday opened with the first time-trial for the CMix2x, where Cam Buchan (University of St Andrews BC) took the top spot with his partner Natacha Searson from Jersey RC, Scott MacCallum (Strathclyde Park RC) & Isabel Soyinka (Clydesdale ARC) finished third, closely followed by Tom Mitchel & Hansine Marshall (University of St Andrews BC) in fourth, and were joined in the Quarter Finals by Harris Bisset (University of St Andrews BC) & Isla MacCallum (Edinburgh University BC) who qualified in the second time-trial for the knockout stages. Tough racing in the combined event saw the majority of Scot’s knocked out in the Quarter Finals, but Cam Buchan’s crew held strong to win the Gold medal with dominant performances throughout the head to heads.

Iain Docwra pushing Harris Bisset (Univ. St Andrews BC) and Isla MacCallum (Edinburgh Univ. BC) in the CMix2x (All Mark One)

Heather Gordon (Inverness RC) & Megan Hewison (Molesey BC) won Gold in the CW2x event following strong performances in both the time-trial and knockout races to beat the other A Final crew from Tynemouth RC.

Heather Gordon (Inverness RC) & Megan Hewison (Molesey BC) (All Mark One)

In the CO1x, Tom Mitchell (University of St Andrews) & Gregor Hall (Stirling RC) finished second and third in the time-trial, respectively, leading to the Scots meeting in Semi-Final 2 in what turned out to be a true buzzer-diving finish that we’ve come to enjoy in this new discipline, with Gregor taking the win and earning his spot in the final. Tom won his next race in B-Final, taking the Bronze medal in his first year in the sport, where Gregor earned a silver medal in the A-Final having lost out to the sculler from Agecroft RC.

Gregor Hall (Stirling RC) in the CO1x (All Mark One)

The CO Student 1x saw another Scottish two-three in the time-trial, leading to Harris Bisset (University of St Andrews) & Scott MacCallum (Strathclyde Park RC) coming head to head in the Semi Finals, with Harris taking victory in this match up, having already beaten his teammate Will Lawson in the quarter finals. Harris & Scott both went on to win their respective finals, meaning a Bronze medal for Scott and a Gold for Harris when he overturned the top seed from Christchurch RC.

Scott MacCallum (Strathclyde Park RC) in the CO Student 1x (All Mark One)

Colin Wallace (University of St Andrews BC) was the lone Scot in the COMas1x event, finishing fourth in the time-trial, and holding his position when he made the B-Final but eventually losing out to the sculler from Bexhill ARC to miss out on a podium finish.

Sunday

Sunday kicked off with the CJW1x, where Isabel Soyinka (Clydesdale ARC) took third in the tightly fought time-trial. Isabel met the recent Scottish Beach Sprints CJW1x Champion in the semi-final, losing out to the eventual British Champion, Isabel went on to finish fourth overall, losing out to silver medallist from the Scottish event a few weeks earlier.

The CW1x was a very Scottish heavy event, with scullers from north of the Border finishing first, third, fourth and fifth in the time-trial. Inevitably, this meant that there were Scottish head-to-heads in each round of the knock-out stages. Former Aberdeen Schools RA rower Megan Hewison (Molesey BC) beat Henley Women’s Regatta winner Hansine Marshall (University of St Andrews) in the quarter-finals, earning a race against GB athlete Laura McKenzie (Glasgow University BC) in the semi-final, whose international pedigree held true as she took the race win, and rounded off a clean sweep across the UK Domestic Beach regattas, and a Four Nations win. Laura went on to meet Heather Gordon (Inverness RC) in the A-Final, where she expanded her recent Scottish Championship title to British Champion too, Heather will be happy to have upgraded her Bronze medal at the Scottish Championships to a Silver here at the British Event.

CW1x Medallists: Heather, Laura & Tish (All Mark One)

Isla MacCallum was the sole Scottish entrant into the CW Student 1x, and the former U19 World Beach Sprint Medallist and Commonwealth sculler finished second in the time-trial, lost in the semi-final to the eventual winner from Fishguard & Goodwick Jemima RC, but went on to win the Bronze medal in the B-Final ahead of the Bradford ARC sculler.

Scottish interest at the Championships was concluded in the CO2x, where Cam Buchan (University of St Andrews) added to his CMix2x Championship title with his partner from Agecroft RC, beating the young crew of Will Lawson & Harris Bisset from University of St Andrews BC in the A-Final. 

CO2x Medallists: Lymington ARC, Univ. St Andrews BC/Agecroft RC and Univ. St Andrews BC (All Mark One)

Several of our Scottish athletes stayed down for an extra day of racing in Studland as the GB Beach Sprint Team looked to finalise their selections for the European and World Beach Sprint Finals in the coming months. We look forward to celebrating all the Scots soon to be in GB Teams, as well as announcing the Scotland Rowing Team for the upcoming Home International and Commonwealth Rowing Association Beach Sprint Championships – keep your eyes peeled for these announcements coming soon!

Full event results and photos can be found on the British Rowing website.

Scottish Results Summary:

CMix2x 
GOLD – Cam Buchan (Univ. St Andrews BC) & Natacha Searson (Jersey RC) 
QF – Harris Bisset (Univ. St Andrews BC) & Isla MacCallum (Edinburgh Univ. BC) 
QF – Tom Mitchell & Hansine Marshall (Univ. St Andrews BC) 
QF – Scott MacCallum (Strathclyde Park RC) & Isabel Soyinka (Clydesdale ARC) 
TT – Colin Wallace (Univ. St Andrews BC) & Isobel Wakeley (Lymington ARC)

CW2x 
GOLD – Heather Gordon (Inverness RC) & Megan Hewison (Molesey BC)

CO1x 
SILVER – Gregor Hall (Stirling RC) 
BRONZE – Tom Mitchell (Univ. St Andrews BC)

COStu1x 
GOLD – Harris Bisset (Univ. St Andrews BC) 
BRONZE – Scott MacCallum (Strathclyde Park RC) 
QF – Will Lawson (Univ. St Andrews BC)

COMas1x 
4th – Colin Wallace (Univ. St Andrews BC)

CJW1x 
4th – Isabel Soyinka (Clydesdale ARC)

CW1x 
GOLD – Laura McKenzie (Glasgow Univ. BC) 
SILVER – Heather Gordon (Inverness RC) 
4th – Megan Hewison (Molesey BC) 
QF – Hansine Marshall (Univ. St Andrews BC)

CWStu1x 
BRONZE – Isla MacCallum (Edinburgh Univ. BC)

CO2x 
GOLD – Cam Buchan (Univ. St Andrews BC) & James Cox (Agecroft RC) 
SILVER – Harris Bisset & Will Lawson (Univ. St Andrews BC)