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Four hundred and forty six miles is a long way down to get to the British Rowing Masters Championships in Nottingham (604 if you go via Cambridge) but it turned out to be well worth it.  With 3 pairs and the coxless four loaded up we had 8 races to look forward to (heats and finals), and what turned out to be excellent close racing.  Robert and Dave were in the E pairs, Tim and Adrian in the C pairs and Conor (Chesterton Rowing Club) and Steven going incognito in the B pairs.  The first two pairs would then team up for a D 4-.

We often talk about the wind at Strathclyde Park, but Holme Pierrepont National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham takes this to a new level, particularly as it is aligned to provide maximum headwind down the course. This was highlighted by Saturday afternoons racing being cancelled.  Better weather was on the bill for Sunday but that didn’t calm the nerves of facing crews from the rest of the UK that we had little experience of.

First up was the Chesterton/IRC composite, feeling a little shaky with only a handful of outings to prepare under their belts and their opposition demonstrating some fine square blades warm ups.  This pair had competed well in their heyday but that was eight years ago now, in a certain little yellow boat.  Now the 512 miles of separation posed a few problems in practicing. Nonetheless a scrappy and not so quick blast up the course took them into the final in first place. Part one done. Then it was Tim and Adrian. Feeling strong after their victory at the Scottish Championships, but with nerves ever present, they pushed all the way down the course to also qualify first for their final.  A good victory by plenty of clear water.

The finals came around quickly, with little time to do anything other than a quick stretch. It was the Masters B 2- on the stake boats first, held for what felt like an eternity, before the beep released us. Without taking a look we could feel we were well in the race but Henley RC, to our right, were just hanging on, as the crews to our left started to fade back.  At 750 m I had a panic that we were only at 500 m: I didn’t have another 500 m in my legs! But we were pulling clear of Henley – we were in the red buoys…. but what’s that on the outside? A sprinting yellow Tyne RC boat. Time to push, but too late.  They were gone and we had to settle for silver buy 0.9 seconds.  Great racing but in need of more composure (and practice). Races coming thick and fast, Tim and Adrian were hot on our heels in the Masters C 2- final – so much so that we nearly crashed into the presentation pontoon as we craned our necks to watch them over the line. It was a two boat race by the 500 m marker with Bradford on Avon, two lanes over, 1 second behind. A good lead, but BoA were coming back.  Time not to panic, but so much easier to say than do as muscles are tightening and lungs are burning. Was there one beep or two as they crossed the line? The super-sized score board flashed up. IRC had taken it by 0.04 seconds!! What an amazing race and vindication of rowing through the dark winter days and their commitment to the training.

Unfortunately the podium positions of the morning could not be replicated in the afternoon, but fortunately the rising winds that had been forecast also didn’t materialise.  Both crews made it through to their respective finals. The Masters D 4- competed well to place 5^th in their final, pushing a decent Rob Roy/City of Cambridge RC crew all the way.  Last up was the Masters E 2- which was perhaps feeling a bit tired but still managed to improve on their heat time in their final and finish just out of the medals in 4^th.

It may have been a long way down but to be involved in such close and competitive racing made for a fantastic experience and one we should perhaps aim to repeat, and hopefully with a larger contingent next time.

The Scottish Rowing Championships always seem to creep up on you.  But this time at least a number of crews had formed some time in advance, even if the entry system did its best to scupper long laid plans. With 41 crews (16 senior and 25 junior) entered over the two days it was looking like a packed program for IRC, but hopefully an opportunity to watch some great racing also.

It is always with trepidation that weather forecasts are checked as the weekend of competition approaches.  Strathclyde Park can lose any appeal when the wind picks up. Patchy rain held no demons and the wind, although coming and going, never kicked up the water as we know it can.

A really composed, and quick (3:40) run down the 1 km masters course brought the first gold of the weekend in the very first race of the championships for Tim Lathan and Adrian Hopkins in the Masters C/E 2-, winning by over 8 seconds.  It was the seniors to the fore once more in the women’s Int 4x with Emily Richens stroking their quad to bronze, only 1.6 seconds off from gold and beating what might have been the more fancied Inverness crew. Medals kept on coming as the day moved on, with only occasional torrential downpours slightly dampening spirits. The men’s masters randomised 8 stroked by Robert Gordon, who provided a lively rhythm, overcame masters time handicaps of up to 15 seconds to reel in ABC and St Andrew BC but could not quite get back on terms with Castle Semple and so had to settle for silver. This was the first medal for an Inverness men’s eight at the Scottish Championships for more years than most could remember. The masters double of Steven Andrews and Ciarán McManus then surprised themselves to sneak a silver in the B/C final beating ABC by 0.3 seconds: ‘pretty fast in a straight line, but didn’t spend much time going in a straight line!’, all those outings (2) paying off.

Strong performances by the juniors throughout the day, demonstrating some marked improvements, were capped off with a silver for Shay Hammock and Robin Roxburgh in the J 15 2x final. The seniors were back to the fore, after being caught in a downpour, with another silver forthcoming for the women’s Int 8+, again stroked by Emily Richens. And to bookend the day with gold Heather Gordon, rowing in a composite 2x with Vesta RC, took a solid win in the open women’s double.

Sunday dawned warm and fortunately the threat of increasing windspeeds never materialised.  Those that avoided police incidents in their accommodation woke refreshed for another busy day of racing.  Robert Gordon was back in the stroke seat to take the Masters B/D/E 4+ to the first medal of the day taking silver. The women then added to their tally with Emily Richens again stroking, taking bronze in the Int 4+. One of the highlights of the weekend was saved for last with the Novice 4+ stroked by Tim Latham who took gold with a winning margin of over 5 seconds and in doing so lost their novice status, a feat not to be achieved for a number of years by IRC. The juniors again put in a number of strong performances throughout the day but we were unfortunate to miss out on medals.

Hopefully we can now build on these strong performances into what remains of the regatta season and onward into the head season, and reap the rewards of settled crews for rower development and improvement.

A select band of rowers headed out east for day two of Aberdeen’s North East Regatta, with our chosen races all landing on the Sunday.  This was a new regatta to us all, but not dissimilar to the Aberdeen sprints: just 300 m longer.  That 300 m however, seemed to turn the straight line course into something far harder to follow with the bank moving away and towards you, bridge piers appearing where you hoped that they wouldn’t, and a finish line at an unexpected but welcome angle.

Arriving to a lovely sunny day the R2 4+ was first on the water in a straight final, taking on ASRA schoolkids…. always a tough opponent being young, fit and with boundless energy.  But with Ailsa on the rudder strings it was Inverness that stole a march off the start moving out to a couple of seats.  Perhaps taken by surprise by our position, or perhaps paying for our rapid start we started to lose form as we came through the bridges.  The home support, vocal from the boathouses, spurred our opposition on and they crept up on us with every stroke as the line approached.  Them putting on a push, or our inefficiency dragging us back? Lungs bursting. Legs screaming. Then whistles. We felt we had let it go.  Competed well.  The debrief continued on the bank. A solid row. Something to build on. It was R2. But bow piped up: were we sure we had lost? Putting the strangely phrased question to the umpire: ‘just checking, did we not lose?’  Indeed, we had not lost!! A great start to the day.

Mary was next into the fray in her masters single.  This time unfortunately the bridge did come into play but Mary put in a strong row nonetheless in what was a very strong competition.  This pushed the bridge even further into my consideration as I rowed up in the single for my race in the R2 1x.  Having not been out in the single as much as I would have needed, confidence was not high.  The pause between attention and go had me dragged back to ¼ slide by the stream for the start and things didn’t improve much from there. Having gotten up to a decent race pace, nagging doubts had me looking round expecting to see a wall of concrete looming, only to find I had veered off the other direction: lost at sea.  All academic in the end as at least I lost to the eventual, and speedy winner of the category.

Tim and Adrian had enough in them to have Inverness finish on a high, putting in a really strong performance to take the R2 2- in a straight final again against ASRA. The bridge again looked like it would come into play, but they slid by, and then the far bank, but the line came first (see video above). Two from two for these two – great day.  Taking these victories from ASRA probably helped ABC become overall champions in the regatta for the first time in several years.  All that remained was to find an open chippy on the way back, which was accomplished also.

Next up, the Scottish Championships.

The Scottish Rowing Spring Regatta, held on the 18^th and 19^th April, marked the start of the multilane racing season in Scotland. A healthy cohort of junior members and a smaller number of masters rowers Inverness Rowing Club (IRC) traveled down to the event which is held at Strathclyde Park. The weather was promising to be dry but with a reasonably strong North Easterly wind for the Saturday with the wind dropping a little for the Sunday – and that was exactly what was delivered.

Initial success on the first day for IRC arrived in the form of Wilbur Grant in the O J14 1x, winning his semi-final and securing a silver medal position in the final. Denied a first place due only to a crab caught in the closing moments as the water became rough in the more exposed final part of the course, where a fierce cross-wind was whipping up choppier waters.

Another medal was to follow with bronze for Sam Roxburgh, who formed the IRC contingent of a composite crew with Stirling RC in the O J18 2x. Theirs was a 2K race against not only that cross-wind, but very tough competition, so an admirable result.

The afternoon session started with four IRC singles rowing up to the start of the OJ15 1x semi-finals. Having made it through to the final Shay Hammock took silver, with the other IRC finalist Robin Roxburgh narrowly missing out on bronze.

IRC were also represented in the W J15 4x+, W J15 2x and the W J14 4x+ with rowers in each boat competing for the first time in a multilane regatta, and each one coming off the water invigorated and motivated by a very enthusiastic and encouraging performance.

Sunday seemed to herald in a change of season as the wind dropped substantially and the sun making itself known for most of the day.

Early racing for IRC in two masters finals and started the day off well with a medal in each. Gold was taken in the O Mas 2- (A-C) race by Tim Latham and Adrian Hopkins after facing off against a particularly stiff challenge from Castle Semple RC. Following that, Robert Gordon and Dave Rothwell secured another gold against Tyne United RC giving IRC a back to back win before it had gone nine o’clock.

An Inverness quad was next in the O J15 4x+, who were very pleased with their race despite not finishing in a medal position, given it was a relatively untested crew. A bronze medal was to follow however for Sam Roxburgh racing his single in the O J18 1x category. In what was a hard fought race, Sam managed to keep a Clydesdale ARC sculler at bay to secure his third place.

The IRC masters pairs combined forces to race a Castle Semple crew in the O Mas 4+ B-D Final next but lost out in a close race narrowly.

Hannah McManus was next to race her single scull in the W J15 1x category and secured a place in the final, which was the last race of the weekend. Competition was incredibly fierce however and this time she was denied a medal position despite racing incredibly strongly and fending off two scullers from George Watsons College.

The final medals of the weekend for IRC came in the O J15 2x category, with Shay Hammock and Robin Roxburgh taking away silver for their incredibly fast double in a tough final.  A satisfying note on which to finish a successful weekend for IRC.

The weather has not been feeling very wintery but as we turned the calendar page over into March it was time for seven hundred and twenty four crews to head north to race in the Inverness Rowing Club (IRC) Winter Head.  Unlike our November edition, this event includes eights and it was good to see a healthy entry of these most powerful of the flat water boats.  And it was eights that set the pace across the weekend with the fastest open 8+ being from Edinburgh University Boat Club, stroked by Onur Howie, coming down the 4.5 km course in a time of 13:53.1, and the fastest women’s boat being a women’s 8+ from St Andrew Boat Club stroked by B. Wall in a time of 16:11.

Racing was run over three divisions on Saturday and a further three divisions on Sunday with a gentle tailwind building through the weekend to provide some challenging conditions by Sunday afternoon.  IRC had success throughout the weekend, starting off in division one on Saturday where the IRC mixed R2 8+ stroked by Bethany Hinckley opened up a 5 minute lead over their nearest competitor to take their category in a time of 16:42.  Success continued in division two with the IRC juniors also taking medals in the J115 2x (Robin Roxburgh and Shay Hammock – 17:28).

Bethany Hinckley led the charge on Sunday, stroking the IRC womens R2 4+ to victory in the better conditions of the first division in a time of 19:43.  Mention should also go to Sam Roxburgh who, although third in the very competitive J18 1x category, set an impressive time of 18:12.  It was an Inverness masters 8+ stroked by Tim Latham which was first into the medals in the second division, setting the fastest time ever recorded by an Inverness mens 8+ over the 4.5 km course (16:16).  This was closely followed by a composite womens 4x including IRC’s Heather Gordon who won their category in a time of 16:17. The second division arguably saw the most challenging conditions with the strong tailwind kicking up some rough water.  It was therefore maybe Wilbur Grant’s win in the J14 (under 14 years of age) 1x that was the most impressive result from an IRC rower over the weekend.  Success continued for IRC in the third division with Tim Latham stroking his R1 2- to victory in a time of 18:51, closely followed by a second IRC 2- stroked by Robert Gordon.

Tough condition as the IRC masters 8+ races towards the finish line (below)

Attention will now turn to preparing for the summer regatta season which will see IRC rowers heading south to compete over 2 km multilane regatta courses.  And as always, the IRC race organisation team will go for a few weeks lying down in a darkened room.  Huge thanks to them and all involved for putting on what continues to be one of the highlights of the Scottish rowing calendar.

(or whose line is it anyway?)

Filled with enthusiasm from our own Fours head an intrepid band of Inverness rowers set out to the east to take on the bridges, stream and hail of the Aberdeen Fours and Small Boats Heads.  This is run in the lowermost reaches of the Dee, racing upstream for around 3.6 km but at high tide which lessens the stream somewhat, depending on the line you take!  Scratch fours were the order of the day for Saturday.  Division one saw us put together some rough and ready rowing to race up the course in a masters 4+ (with a helpfully lightweight cox borrowed from ASRA), beating the older ABC four by 1 min and 20 seconds but not managing to overhaul their full handicap advantage of nearly two minutes.  It was then the novice 4+ in division 2 with our own, slightly weightier but more experienced, cox on board.  Unfortunately a HWBC 4 decided to stop on the start line, and then veer into us after just 200m which was somewhat disruptive to what was already a boat of contrasting styles.  That was not the end of the excitement though with a coxed quad also appearing to be attracted by the gravity of our rowing as we rounded the final but, as our cox informed us, never ending bend (motivation stuff :-)).  Under the circumstances, no shame in a second place, 20 seconds behind ASRA.

Whose line is it anyway – there must be a good line in there somewhere!Sunday was the turn of the set crews, although given one was a single it’s difficult for it not to be set.  Division one had myself racing in the novice 1x and Tim Latham and Adrian Hopkins trying to replicate their R2 2- success of the previous weekends Inverness Head.  The weather started fine but the strengthening wind felt like it was going to bring some more interesting conditions, and possibly snow!  The course had been challenging with a cox, but now coxless it took on a whole new aspect.  However, racing in smaller boats often feels a very supportive experience, as was highlighted by one sculler shouting to me to tell me that I was going the wrong way, or rather taking a pretty bad line.  The wind and the associated chop really picked up towards the end of the course and nearly forced me to a standstill where it was funneling through the King George VI Bridge but once through it was possible to pick it up again with a good run into the finish line.  Tim and Adrian had a strong row in the pair finishing third, but only being 10 seconds off the winning time.  I took the win in the novice single and was pretty happy to also come in ahead of the J18 singles and one of the open category, despite a far from ideal race – practice on more lively water is needed.  While I headed off to Norway, Tim and Adrian went for the full experience by entering the final division in their pair, this time in the open category.  Their perseverance was rewarded by a heavy sleet shower just before the start but they were treated to some exceedingly tight racing: past the boathouses with all three open pairs were head to toe as one passed the other.  Taking second place was a great effort.  A fun head weekend and one that would be great to repeat with some more practiced crews……

(not sure we need the extra boats though!)

As we are perhaps becoming rather too accustomed, the winds of the preceding month dropped, the skies cleared and the rowers arrived.  It must be time for the Inverness Fours and Small Boats Head 2024 which always forms a highlight of the Scottish Rowing Callender.  The popularity of this event seems to just grow and grow with year on year record entries: this year being no exception with over 700 crews taking to the glassy water of the Caledonian Canal and our 4500 m Head Course, with racing was divided into 3 divisions on both Saturday and Sunday.

Perfect conditions greeted rowers in the first division on Saturday with the calm on the canal only being broken by the first boat down the course, disrupting the stunning reflections of the warm autumnal colours.  The first division saw success for Inverness Rowing Club with Steven Andrews rowing in a composite with Neil Paul (originally from the Black Isle) of St Andrew Boat Club who took the masters 2- in a raw time of 17:26. Success continued in the second division with Alan Sinclair taking the masters 1x in a raw time of 17:59.  The Inverness juniors placed second in the J15 2x, stroked by Shay Hammock, and Ciaran McManus also took second place in the masters novice 1x.  Second place seemed to be in fashion for Inverness in the third division with both our masters 4- (17:48) and women’s masters 4x (19:37) both coming home one off the top spot.

Sunday dawned a little less bright and a few showers cooled things down a little but the rowing conditions on the canal remained good.  In the first division Alan Sinclair took advantage of the conditions to knock 20 seconds of his time from the previous day, this time taking the open 1x in 17:38.  Sam Roxburgh also put in a great time in the J18 1x, coming third in 18:31.  Division 2 saw more Inverness success with Tim Latham and Adrian Hopkins putting in an excellent performance to narrowly defeat HWBC, winning the R2 2- in 19:01.  Wilbur Grant also took gold in the J14 1x finishing half a minute ahead of second in 20:49, and rowing through all of his competitors after starting at the back of the field!  There was one more victory for Inverness, which came in the third division for which the sun obligingly shone: Steven Andrews narrowly pipped a SPRC sculler, by 2 seconds in a time of 18:56, to win the R2 1x after a tough battle all the way down the course.  Inverness also picked up second places in the mixed masters 2x and the women’s novice 4x+.

The fastest time of the weekend for the open crews went to GUBC in the R1 4- with a time of 15:14 and for the women’s crews EUBC went fastest with a time of 16:58 in the women’s 4-.  Interesting to see sweep rowing ruling the roost.  The overall winners were George Watsons College based on a metric of participation plus average crew performance.

As always the best performers were really those that do all the hard work to make our Head weekends run so amazingly, from the marshals that spend most of their weekend up at the lock juggling boats, to those that spend weeks beforehand taking entries and organising numbers.

Junior Inter Regional Regatta – Nottingham 20th April

This is the first year that Scotland were invited to attend the Junior Inter Regional Regatta and 2 Inverness athletes were selected for the squad, following their excellent results at the Inverness Head in March.  Both did extremely well in what was a new experience for them with Sam Roxburgh finishing in 12^th in the J16 single and Shay Hammock taking bronze in the J15 1x A Final (2nd boats), just missing out on silver  one 100^th of a second.

Beach Sprints GB Trials & English Beach Sprint Championships – Bournemouth 27-28th April

Heather Gordon has been taking to the choppier waters of the beach sprint world, competing at a number of sprint regattas that have been held throughout the UK.  Most notably she placed fourth in the GB trials that were held in Bournemouth and followed that up with a third place in the English Beach Sprint Championships that were held the following day.

Scottish Spring Regatta 27-28th April

A large Inverness contingent headed south for what was the first multi-lane regatta of the season for many of them.  The weather smiled and the water was a lot less challenging that we have come to expect at Strathclyde Park.

Great performances on the Saturday saw Inverness take home silver in the J14 1x (Shay Hammock), narrowly squeezed out of the gold position, gold and bronze in the Novice 1x (Sam Roxburgh and Victor Atkinson) and a strong 4th in a hard fought final of the WJ15 4x with Hannah McManus taking a seat in a composite crew with members of Stirling RC.

Sunday was busy for both the juniors and the seniors who joined in the fun.  Lots of experience was gained throughout the club with a number of first time races at a multi-lane regatta and those that competed in singles over 1000m on the Saturday stepping up to the 2000m course on the Sunday.  Notably Sam Roxburgh came away with a bronze in the J16 1x.  It was the turn of the J14 doubles next, and somewhat mixed fortunes with Felix Latham and Wilbur Grant unfortunately capsizing after tangling with a buoy (although dealing with the situation admirably) and Robin Roxburgh and Shay Hammock storming through their heat and final to take a convincing gold.  The two crews then combined to take a well earned silver in the J14 4x+ with Hannah McManus coxing.

For many of the seniors competing it was the first time racing in a side by side regatta and although no medals were to be making their way back up the road with them, lots of experience was gained which will stand them in good stead for upcoming events.  A special mention must also go to the junior, Jessica Douglas, who traveled all the way down just to cox the senior crews.  Now everyone is looking forward to the rest of the regatta season.

With 682 entries received across all boat classes, fingers, and anything else crossable, was crossed that the weather would be kind, and no freak localised and stubborn fog patches would stop play this time.  Cool with a gentle breeze was on order and it was therefore a bit of a surprise to pull back the curtains on Saturday morning to see to snow falling.  Luckily the snow cleared and all looked set for a great weekends racing.  To try to lessen the time spent marshalling each day was being split in to three divisions for the first time.  This also seemed to make getting on to the water a bit more relaxed.

The first division went off bang on time but unfortunately for most of the small boats this coincided with a brief but almighty downpour of sleety rain – unlikely to have been able to get more wet if the racers had capsized!  The water was however perfectly flat and the drenching distracted minds from the effort that was being applied. Luckily that was the last of the precipitation to be seen and the sun had an ever increasing prominence in proceedings.  EUBC sent down the fastest boat in the first division recording an impressive 14:08 in their Open 8+.  IRC had to settle for some very tight second places.

Division 2 produced the first medal for IRC with Bethan Hinkley and Heather Gordon leading the way in their WR1 2x (18:36).  EUBC were back in their 8+ for Division 3 as a time only entry and managed to set the fastest time of the weekend by knocking 7 seconds off of their morning effort.

Sunday dawned bright and still.  Tom Baker and Jim Smillie took advantage of the fantastic conditions to win the Mas 2x.  And the medals kept coming for IRC in Division 2 with Shay Hammock taking first place in the J14 1x (19:59) and Mary Clouston winning the WMas Novice 1x. The success continued in Division 3 with Heather Gordon winning the WR1 1x in 19:51 and Gary Hunt and Sophie Baker sharing the Mix Mas 2x spoils with Dave Rothwell and Jude McManus in a dead heat.  The fastest ladies crew of the weekend was St Andrew Boat Clubs WR1 8+ with a time of 16:48.

A great event to draw a close to our head season and great to hear so much chatter already about the upcoming regatta season – all looking forward to what we hope will be some warm summer days competition.  Finally, it was brilliant to see so many people enjoying the racing and so many of our own crews progress in experience and seeing their times coming down.  And as always a huge thanks to all of those involved in the organisation and running of what is the largest head race in Scotland.