At the Aberdeen Small Boats Head on Sunday 16. November, ASRA won all 9 of the
Junior events on offer.
There were exciting internal tussles at all age levels, but two results were
particularly outstanding.
Gary Wilson came a brilliant first out of 14 in Men's Novice Sculls against
opposition from Heriot Watt, Dundee , Robert Gordon's & Aberdeen Universities
and Rosie Morton totally upset the form book in the Women's J18 category by
beating all her ASRA HIR team-mates for the first time.
In so doing she beat the time of First Division Open Winner and GB Under 23
International, Stephanie McDowell.
At the Aberdeen Fours
Head of the River on Saturday 15. November, ASRA racked up a total of 7
category wins , four of them against welcome opposition from our old rivals from
George Heriot's School of Edinburgh.
These were:
Open Men's Junior 18 Fours: Lewis Masson, Jonnay Wright, Oliver Hamlet, Gary
Wilson (cox Petar Spanovic)
Women's Junior 18 Fours: Rosie Morton, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain, Jamie Steel (cox
Erin Wyness)
Open Men's Junior 15 Fours: Lewis McCue, Nicholas Riddoch, Blair Sorbie, Robert
Hamlet (cox Lily Taylor)
Women's Junior 15 Fours: Christie Duff, Emily Geddes, Holly Reid, Morven Shaw (cox
Amelia Donovan)
At the Glasgow Rowing Club Head of the River Race on the
Clyde on Saturday 1. November, crews from the Association won four divisional
titles.
Our Home Countries Champions - Rosie Morton, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie
Steel coxed by Niall Ford - showed that they had lost little of their form
since their triumph on Cardiff Bay in July as they won the Women's Junior 18
title by over a minute from their nearest rivals from Strathclyde Park.O
Our promising J16 boys - Grant Ross, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry & Atholl
Wallace coxed by Emily Geddes - were the fastest junior boys in the First
Division.
Our minis too covered the 5 kilometre course in fine style with Morven Coghill,
Emily Duff, Amelia Donovan & Erin Wyness coxed by Lily Taylor winning Women's
Novice Coxed Quads
and Niall Ford, Danny McCue, Yinglun Huang & Cameron Gordon coxed by Jamie Steel
winning Open Under 13 Coxed Quad title.
At the Durham Primary Sprint Regatta on 27th September
for the first time with a result of 10 event wins.
Held on the river Wear, all races were very close and showed the good level of
competition to be found in North England.
Everyone will hopefully take lessons away from the weekend and spur the club on
to train hard through the winter to move forward.
The event wins are as follows:
Women's Senior 3 coxed quads - Jamie, Catriona,
Iona, Ruth, Niall; Women's Senior 4 double scull - Rachel, Fiona;
Women's Junior 18 double scull - Iona, Catriona; Women's Junior 14 coxed quads - Morven,
Erin, Emily D, Amelia, Lily; Women's Junior 13 double scull - Emily D, Amelia
Men's Senior 4 coxed four - Ollie, Gary, Jonnay, Lewis, Jamie; Men's Novice
coxed four - Ollie, Christy, Grant, Lewis, Keira
Men's Junior 15 double scull - Robert, Nic; Men's Junior 15 coxed quads - Robert, Nic,
Lewis, Chris, Ying; Men's New To Sport double scull - Peter, Chris
Well done to everyone who travelled to Durham.
At the Aberdeen Sprint Regatta on the River Dee on the
13th of September, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association crews won a total of 26
events at both Junior and Senior levels.
Almost a clean sweep at Junior level as might have been expected with the only
competition being provided by Inverness Rowing Club and St. Andrew Boat Club of
Edinburgh,
but excellent performances overall by our beginners from the Aberdeen Schools’
Lottery Funded Dry Start programme and outstanding wins by our older boys and
girls against
adult opposition indicate strength in depth at all levels within the club and
promis e well for the season ahead.
Girls
Senior
Women's R1 Coxed Fours; Women's R2 Coxed Fours; Women's R1
Single Sculls
Junior
Women's Junior 16 coxed fours; Women's Junior 14 coxed quads; Women's Junior 12
coxed quad; Women's Junior 16 Double sculls; Women's Junior 14 double sculls
Women's Junior 12 Double sculls; Women's Junior 18 sculls; Women's Junior 16
sculls; Women's Junior 14 sculls.
Boys
Senior
Men's Novice eights; Men's R2 coxed fours; Men's Tub Pairs; Men's R2 sculls
Junior
Junior 18 coxed quads; Junior 16 coxed fours; Junior 18 double sculls; Junior 16
double sculls; Junior 12 double sculls; Junior 18 sculls; Junior 16 sculls;
Junior 14 sculls
Junior 12 sculls
Mixed
R2 double sculls
At the Home Countries International Regatta in Cardiff on Saturday 26. July, the ASRA Women's Junior 16 Coxless Four - Rosie Morton, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel - recorded a resounding victory over the other home nations to win gold for Scotland in the opening race of the regatta. Having dropped the girls from England & Wales by the 1000 metre mark, our girls fought stroke for stroke with a determined Irish select for the remaining 500 metres of the race to run out in the end deserved winners by a length.This was the culmination of three weeks of intensive preparation and competition at the highest level for the girls from Aberdeen. On the 13. July, they were capped for Great Britain in the GB v France Match in Valenciennes and a week later on the 20. July they were winning gold in Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours & silver in Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours in Nottingham at the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain. Two days at home in three weeks for arguably the most talented Women's Junior Under 16 quartet in the history of ASRA!
At the National Championships of Great Britain at the
weekend Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association came back with a
gold and silver medal. Jamie Steel, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley,
Rosie Morton and coxed by Emily Geddes won the Women's Junior 16
coxed fours event comfortably in an outstanding row. They led
from the start and were not challenged throughout. The same
crew then raced in Women's Junior 18 coxless fours and came a
solid second placed. The girls will now be travelling to
Cardiff to represent Scotland at the Home International Regatta.
Other notable performances included the Men's Junior 14 double
scull coming 5th in the final after being seeded a very poor
lane due to the prevailing wind and our Junior 18 coxless four
who came 6th in the final with a good row. Unfortunately the
two quads were both knocked out in the first round. Although
they both had brilliant rows it shows the high standard of
British junior rowing.
ASRA at Valenciennes As result of their success at the GB Under 16 Junior Trials on Wednesday 9 July at the National Watersports Centre, Nottingham, four girls from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association represented Great Britain at the annual GB v France Match in Valenciennes on Sunday 13 July. Rowing with girls from the prestigious Lady Eleanor Holles School, London, Rosie Morton (Robert Gordon's College), Catriona Bain (Aberdeen Grammar School), Iona Riley (Hazlehead Academy) and Jamie Steel (Harlaw Academy) made up the stroke four in the GB Eight. On the day, the ASRA/LEH composite put up a magnificent performance, rowing stroke for stroke with the French Eight for most of the 1500 metres. They faded however in the last 200 metres sprint to the line and ended up three quarters of a length down on the French in the end. The next time the ASRA quartet will meet up with their erstwhile GB teammates from LEH will be in the heats of the WJ16 Coxed Fours at the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain in Nottingham on Friday!
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Congratulations to all at ASRA who racked up an impressive 10 gold medals at the Scottish Rowing Championships 2008 at Strathclyde Park. On Saturday conditions were mixed with sun, rain and wind however the following crews excelled to bring home a medal:
The National Schools Championships at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, -
scheduled to take place from 23rd - 25th May - were called off half-way
through Saturday after 4 Boys' Eights were swamped and conditions were
rightfully deemed thereafter to be too dangerous to continue.
This was of course a bitter disappointment for our J18 Schoolgirls' Coxed
Four and our J16 Double who had trained so hard for the event and it was
left to our younger boys to keep the ASRA colours flying.
On Friday our J14 Coxed Quad (Nic Riddoch, Robert Hamlet, Blair Sorbie &
Lewis McCue with cox Emily Geddes) sailed through the processional in 10th
place out of 21 and were unlucky in a strong semi-final to lose out on a
position in the final by a mere 4.5 seconds - a boat-length in old money.
On Saturday our J15 Coxed Four (Blair Sorbie, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry
& Atholl Wallace with cox Lewis McCue) claimed a highly respectable 8th
place out of 19 in the processional and were looking forward to doing even
better in the next round. This however was not to be and the worsening
weather conditions compelled the organisers to cancel any further
competition at this level and to award the medals according to the places
gained in the processional. Our boys ended up 10 seconds short of the bronze
medal time.
At the Castle Semple Regatta, Lochwinnoch, on the 17th May ASRA crews won two events.
At the Strathclyde Park Regatta, Motherwell, on the 26th & 27th of April, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association crews brought home a total of 13 golds over the two days.
Girls
Congratulations to all who took part, our thanks to the parents and supporters who made the long journey to the Park to support us and once again particular thanks to the parents who rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into the tedious task of trailer unloading at the end of an exhausting weekend's racing. Incidentally we share the concerns of many parents about the length of each day's racing at the SPR and will be writing to SARA with the recommendation that the Uni. Champs. be made a separate event.
At the Aberdeen & NE Regatta on the 19th & 20th April, ASRA athletes racked up a total of 8 open & 10 junior wins against formidable local opposition from Aberdeen University, Robert Gordon University, Victoria Bridge Rowing Club and Aberdeen Boat Club to win the Championship of the Dee outright for the first time since 2004. Our girls once again were responsible for the majority of our open victories.
In our ASRA v ASRA races there were a great many close run things. Great preparation for Strathclyde Park Regatta next weekend. Congratulations to winners and losers for providing such an entertaining display of pretty impressive junior rowing. Category winners were:
Grateful thanks as always to all the parents and friends who came along to support our crews.The coaches were also particularly pleased with the way in which our members helped each other off and onto the water without been dragooned into so doing. Well done, ASRA!
On Saturday 15th March at the Scottish Schools Head of the River Race held this year for the first time on the Forth & Clyde Canal between Banknock and Auchinstarry, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association crews won two divisional pennants.
Rosie Morton (Robert Gordon's College), Iona Riley (Hazlehead Academy), Catriona Bain (Aberdeen Grammar School) & Jamie Steel (Harlaw Academy) coxed by Niall Ford (Aberdeen Grammar School)) won the Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours event and were the fastest female crew at the head beating the Women's J18 time by 2 seconds and Lewis McCue (Harlaw Academy), Nicolas Riddock (Harlaw Academy), Robert Hamlet, Blair Sorbie & cox Bruce Sorbie (all Robert Gordon's College) won the Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quads event in the fantastic time of 12 minute 35 seconds over the 4 kilometre course to take third place overall.
Boys J14 Quad at the Scottish Schools Head 2008
Our J15 Girls were only 9 seconds behind the winning Heriot's crew in WJ15 and our J15 Boys a disappointing, but not insurmountable 22 seconds behind the Clydesdale composite in their division. Three whole months to Scot. Champs. It's all about commitment between now and then.
On Thursday the 6th of March 2008 the ASRA coaching team hosted the inaugural Aberdeen Inter-Schools Indoor Rowing Championships at the ASRA Boathouse on the banks of the Dee. There was strong competition between Bankhead, Kincorth and Harlaw Academies who had pupils competing in individual S1, S2 and S3 events as well as the team event.
S1 Girls
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S1 Boys
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S2 Girls
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S2 Boys
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S3 Girls
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S3 Boys
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Team Event
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The team event was nail bitingly close with a strong finish by
Bankhead Academy who won the team event in real style!
The overall event was won by Harlaw Academy with 87 points, Bankhead came second overall with 66
points and Kincorth Academy came third with 42 points. The whole competition
was a real success with all participants and teachers enjoying the
afternoon. This was the first time any of the youngsters had been at the
boathouse, so it was a fine chance to show them what all of their efforts on
the indoor rowing machines at their schools over the last few months have
been working towards. All participants are completing their swim test in the
next 2 weeks and commence their 10-week Wet Start immediately after the
Easter holidays. Watch this space for an update! The ASRA team would like
to thank all three schools for supporting this event and also the many helpers
who ensured that the afternoon ran smoothly.
At the Aberdeen Eights Head of the River Races on Saturday 23rd February, again in the absence of any junior opposition ASRA faced, as anticipated, a fierce backlash from the university clubs they had had rather shown up on the Caledonian Canal the previous weekend.
In the first division in the Women's R2 event, Aberdeen University had, as expected, beefed up their crew considerably since Inverness. They had however failed to register the fact with the organising committee, were duly disqualified and had therefore to concede victory in the end to our girls.
Our crew - unaltered from Inverness - Lucy Bonnamy, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel, Catriona Bain, Rachael Hadjitofi, Rosie Morton, Fiona McKinnon & Holly Reid and coxed by Niall Ford - were of course delighted to accept the pot, given the fact that they had shipped a blade twice in the course of the race. In the second division in the Women's Open event, our girls engaged the bank twice on the way up river in what turned out to be a thrilling race, going down finally to AUBC by 4 seconds.
Our boys failed to reproduce the form they had shown in Inverness, but put up creditable performances in both divisions against powerful university opposition in events dominated by the students from Heriot-Watt University.
ASRA turning into a fierce headwind at the railway bridge
At the Inverness Head of the River Race on the Caledonian Canal on Saturday 16th February there was unfortunately no junior opposition for our J18 entries. Both eights however put up excellent performances with the girls ending up 7th overall and the boys 11th out of a total entry of 34.
Our boys - Atholl Wallace, Gary Wilson, Lewis Morton, Jonnay Wright, Lewis Masson, Niall Rundle, Christy Masson, Blair Sorbie and cox Bruce Sorbie - a novice crew with only one R2 aboard - came in with the highly respectable time of 18.59 which beat the winning time of the Men's Novice Eight from Dundee University by over half a minute over the 5K course.
Our girls with 5 Nat. Champs. junior medallists on board - Lucy Bonnamy, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel, Catriona Bain & Rachael Hadjitofi, ably supported by novices Rosie Morton, Fiona McKinnon & Holly Reid and coxed by Niall Ford - would clearly be expected to fare better when compared with their adult counterparts and did not disappoint us as they romped home in some style with a recorded time of 18.35. This time was only bettered by that put up by a fearsome composite eight from Castle Semple, Glasgow Rowing Club, Dundee University & Clydesdale ARC and with it they would have won the WR2 8s section outright and been second in WR1 8s.
A great opener for the 2008 season for both the boys and the girls from ASRA but we must be prepared for a backlash from ABC, AUBC & RGU crews at the Aberdeen Eights Head next week.
At the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships 2008 held at the Heriott-Watt University, Edinburgh on Saturday 9th February, ASRA athletes racked up a total of 4 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals.