Regatta Season
Regatta season started with a bang at the Nithsdale Sprints in March. This event celebrated the 160th Anniversary of Nithsdale Rowing Club with our development and recreational squads having an enjoyable day racing.
With an unusual overlap this year, some squads trained in Chester while others raced at Strathclyde Park. Challenging weather didn’t stop the medals rolling in at Spring Regatta. Most starting their regatta season here to practice their racing.
Our junior development and recreational groups travelled north for the North East Regatta in Aberdeen, a new addition to our calendar. Racing 700m sprints in good conditions, it was a fun weekend out on the Dee. A couple of our junior coaches also got in on the action of the weekend.
Coming into May, a group of our athletes competed at Castle Semple Regatta. This annual event, with typically windy conditions, brought plenty of enjoyment, along with a few hard-fought victories.
From June 7th to 8th, we saw plenty of our squads compete at the Scottish Championships. Whilst we faced some rain and wind, sparks of sunlight still seeped through the clouds at times. Some of our athletes were trialling for the Scotland team and achieved impressive results. Collecting more medals to add to the ever growing pile for the season.
On June 14th, a small regatta for recreational groups took place under sunny skies. Rowers raced side by side against other clubs, enjoying the perfect opportunity to practice their skills and embrace the excitement of competition at Nithsdale Regatta.
Finishing off June, Henley Women’s Regatta and Marlow Regatta took place in England, where high-performance crews were be in attendance in both races. Having athletes over 5 crews at Henley Women’s Regatta and a crew at Marlow Regatta.
Moving onto Henley Royal Regatta, our men’s 4- ‘A’ from Marlow pre-qualified, whilst our women’s 8+ made history as the first Scottish crew to qualify for the Wargrave Challenge Cup. Sun and rain as the tradition follows this regatta, enjoyment was still had by our athletes.
Finishing the Henley trend, 2 crews travelled down for the Henley Masters’ Regatta – W MasE 4- and Mx MasE 8+. Making through the first round, both crews raced in the finals!
Now it was our juniors’ turn to be in the spotlight at the British National Championships. From the event being cancelled at National Schools regatta, our J16 boys quad was finally able to race. Seeing multiple crews racing this weekend, much enjoyment was had.
Finishing off the regatta season, 5 athletes represented Scotland in the Home International Regatta – 2 junior girls and 3 senior men. Having last year been hosted by Scotland at Strathclyde Park, our team travelled down to Dorney Lake for hosting by Wales. Strong performance were held that day by our athletes.
After a strong performance this year, the club looks forward to next year with hopefully many medals won and much enjoyment taking place. We yet again say a massive thank you to our trailer towers who spend many extra hours on the road to the rest of us as well as making sure our equipment is safely transported. Without such people we would not be able to race at so many different races over Britain.
