Novices At North East Regatta 2018!
Saturday saw our two novice squads out at North East Regatta, a local event up on the River Dee in Aberdeen. North East is a short sprint regatta, at 700 meters long.
Oscar, the coach for the novice women said the following regarding the race weekend: "Aberdeen Summer Sprints Regatta was a great opportunity for the Novices to experience some intense (700m) side by side racing and to gain that all important race experience which will hopefully pay-off at the more important SUCS and BUCS weekends. Various small boats were tested with highlights including reaching the final of the WRes2 2-and Wres2 4+. Racing outside novice categories proved a challenge which paid off thanks to some bow ball on bow ball finishes. It was a shame that a broken footplate prevented the WNov4+ to finish their race and after having established a controlling lead early in the race emotions were high when stern pair were told to easy there 300m to go. Overall, we took another big step along the learning curve and are ready for 2k racing!" Jasper, the coach for the novice men said of the weekend: "On Saturday, April 14, the novice men raced at the North East Regatta in Aberdeen. It was a tough day of racing for the boys but we took away some valuable lessons and experience heading into regatta season! In spite of the difficulties, each of the guys put in their best effort and despite some issues and it is their attitude and determination which provided the greatest victory that the program could ask for. The racing served as a reminder that there is stiff competition to come and if one thing goes wrong, a race can be lost as each crew has spent months preparing for these moments. The novice men look to jump back after Saturday and will be coming to SPR and BUCs ready to reassert themselves and to show that the results from Aberdeen do not in any way represent their capabilities."
The Committee of the Dee, who organised the event, said the following after the event on Saturday: "The North East Regatta in Aberdeen on Saturday produced a shock result with the Championship of the Dee trophy being awarded to Stirling Rowing Club. It was 39 years ago in 1979 when this trophy last went to a rowing club from outside Aberdeen. Stirling sent a large squad to this, the main regatta in Aberdeen, and had successes across Junior, Senior (adult) and Masters (veteran) categories for both men and women. Their success was partly due to efforts from three generations of one family who were all competing.
The Plank family team was led by granddad David (69) along with his son Kevin (42), and two grandchildren Rebecca (13) and Ollie (11). Sadly, David was the only family member to go home without a medal but all others won at least one event and Kevin managed to go home with four medals.
Stirling Rowing Club amassed a final tally of 98 points for the Championship of the Dee award with the locally-based Aberdeen Boat Club in close second place with 83 points. Albyn Schools Boat Club and Inverness Rowing Club tied for third place on 17 points each. The University of St Andrews Boat club had no event wins but gained 12 points by making it thorough to finals and finished ahead of Aberdeen University Boat Club who gained 10 points.
Racing over the 700m course finishing at Aberdeen Boat Club took place in ideal conditions. The next rowing competition in Aberdeen will be the Sprint Regatta on 25th August and Stirling have already thrown down the gauntlet stating they intend to return to Aberdeen to do battle at this event."
