THE PROGRAMME
“The Boat Club exists to provide the sport of rowing to all students, regardless of socioeconomic background, at the University of St Andrews. We aim to create an environment that supports athletes of varying ability, enabling them the achieve their maximum potential, and compete at the highest levels of British, and international, sport, representing the University of
St Andrews and its Boat Club on the global stage.”
The club is aiming to be a highly competitive entity in both Scottish and British rowing. The club is well secured as the 3rd most successful in Scotland, just behind Glasgow and Edinburgh. Results have seen a huge improvement in the last couple of years and continue to follow an upward curve as we are becoming an increasingly competitive club.
The boat club consists of four different teams - Novice and Senior Men and Novice and Senior Women. We were designated a performance sport in 2014 by the Athletic Union, and have since been under the management of our Director of Rowing, Iain Rice.
We train 6 days a week, with 10-11 sessions throughout but maxing at around 13 just prior to the sprint season. Our programme includes both land and water training, including coached S&C sessions. All weekday training takes place at the Sports Centre just outside of town. On weekends and Wednesday afternoons, we travel to Loch Ore for two sessions each day on the water but just one on a Wednesday afternoon. The men and women train alongside each other, creating a supportive yet competitive program.
We have training camps both in the winter, before returning for spring semester, and during the Easter holidays. The location and duration of these camps varies each year, but they are vital to making improvements before the summer racing season. Recent training camps have included: Spain, Italy, Holland and the highlands of Scotland.
We are becoming an increasingly competitive club at the; British University Championships, Scottish Championships, Henley Royal Regatta, and Henley Women’s Regatta.
Our rowers come from all backgrounds with many different levels of experience. We cater to heavyweight, lightweight, and novice rowers. If you are interested in joining please get in touch to find out more.
BRITISH UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Alongside Henley, BUCS Regatta is a pivotal event in the Saints Rowing calendar. Every year sees consistent and impressive improvement in the competitive performance of the Club at BUCS. The Club, in recent history, has had multiple medal finishes and A Finals in both Men's and Women's events, in pairs, fours and singles, including a win in both Men's and Women's Intermeidate Pairs in 2019. The Club ranks consistently within the top non-funded programmes in the country, placing 9th in the medal table in 2019 beating some prestigious funded programmes, including Imperial College Boat Club and University of London Boat Club.
BUCS REGATTA
BUCS HEAD
The club had never attended BUCS Head prior to 2016 but our showing at the event in the last few years has been up with the major UK university rowing programmes. In 2017 we won not only our first BUCS points but also medalled in the WChmp4+ event. 2017 and 2018 brought a series of 5th finishes in championship events, narrowing missing out on medalling. BUCS Head is also used as a racing opportunity for our novice squads in their development towards becoming senior athletes.
SCOTTISH UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
SUCS REGATTA
Taking place at Strathclyde Park in April, SUCS Regatta gives the Club the opportunity to trial crew combinations nad race plans before the central summer racing focuses, including BUCS Regatta and Henley regattas. In the past few years, the Club has secured multiple Scottish University Championship titles, including wins in Men's and Women's Championship Pairs, Interemdiate Eights, Fours, Doubles, Quads and Singles. We are consistently the top non-GB funded programme within Scotland and multiple VL accolades with Scottish Student Sport.
HEAD OF THE RIVER RACE
Two of the World's largest Head Races in London feature on the Club's annual racing calendar. Despite our comparaively small size, the Club has had tremendous success at Men's and Women's Tideway over recent history. Every year since 2015, the 1st VIIIs have broken Club records with the Senior Women breaking the top 50 in 2018 and the Men's 1st VIII+ finishing 63rd in 2019, winning the Medium Academic Club Pennant.
HORR & WeHoRR
TRAINING CAMPS
The programme incorporates two training camps, one during the Winter break and the other during Easter. Training camps have become integral to supporting our rapidly improving results, with our 2017 training camp leading to a bronze at BUCS Head just a few weeks later. Training camp schedules are tough, with athletes training 3 times a day on the water (weather permitting.) Recent locations have spanned across Europe and the Scottish highlands.