News

Eleven crews travelled down to London on the 19th March for what turned out to be a record-breaking day at the Head of the River Race on the Tideway. Four crews set their club record for their highest ever placing at the race, whilst five Scottish University crews finished inside the top one hundred for the first time.

Racing in tough, but fair conditions, 334 crews from across the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe took on the famous stretch of water. With slow stream and a strong headwind along sections of the race, the times were not at record pace over the four and a quarter mile course. With many of the top crews absent for Tuesday and Wednesday’s Olympic Trials, the overall win was taken by Oxford Brookes University with a nine second victory over Leander Club.

All Scottish crews taking part came from University clubs, with many other clubs opting to take part in the Veteran’s Head of the River Race the following day. The spoils were taken by Edinburgh University’s first eight that finished 14th in 18:15.30, the highest placing by a Scottish crew since Aberdeen Boat Club in 2002 and also a club record. The Edinburgh second crew finished in an impressive 40th position whilst their novice crews finished in 161st and 266th, the former being the highest placing by a Scottish novice crew in the event.

Glasgow University made a huge leap forward by equalling their highest ever position with 39th position, just 0.06 seconds ahead of the Edinburgh second crew. With four members of the eight only in their second year of rowing, the club is set up for continued improvement in the coming years. Glasgow’s second and novice eights also put in strong performances to finish 168th and 305th respectively.

There were also club records for the University of Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt University and the University of St Andrew's. Strathclyde beat their previous best of 56th in 2001 to place 55th whilst Heriot-Watt finished inside the top one hundred for the first time ever with a 96th place finish. St Andrew's finished 136th, a big move on from their previous best position of 177th which only happened a year ago. The St Andrews novice eight also put in a strong performance to finish in 326th, ahead of other novice crews from Universities with deeper rowing histories. Heriot-Watt’s result rounded out the last of the five Scottish University crews that finished inside the top hundred, a feat that has never happened before and a sure sign of the ever-increasing depth of rowing in Scotland.