Month: June 2025

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.