Scottish schools gold for Stirling club pair
Indoor titles for Ruairidh and Gregor at Ravenscraig
Stirling Rowing Club made it a fine end to 2018 with two victories to close out the year.
First up was the Scottish Schools Indoor Rowing Championships on Friday November 16 at the Ravenscraig regional sports facility, Motherwell.
Ruairidh Reid, who was racing for Stirling High School, and Joshie Matthews, racing for Dollar Academy, took part in the S3 boys event.
In one of the biggest fields of the championships - 53 competitors - Ruairidh managed a distance of 1197 meters over the four minute race winning gold by over 30 meters.
Joshie came home just behind in third place, taking bronze.
On Saturday November 17, a larger number of Stirling rowers attended the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships at the same venue.
Once again Ruairidh Reid dominated the junior under 14 boys event, winning gold by over 190 meters to become the Scottish champion.
Further success followed when Gregor Hall also became Scottish champion in the men’s open lightweight event, winning in a time of just over 1.24 for the 500 metre sprint distance. A silver followed soon after for Natalie Firth in the women’s open lightweight sprint event.
Rory Duncan managed to achieve a silver medal in the junior under 16 boys event. Rory slowly worked his way through the other competitors over the 2000m distance in a controlled and well executed race. Joshie Matthews also raced in this event, having been moved up an age category, and just missed out on a medal with a fourth placed finish.
The final Stirling competitor, Melissa McGarva, raced to a silver medal in the girls under 15 event.
The final event of 2018 was held on Saturday, November 24 back on the water with a number of crews racing at the Glasgow Rowing Club fours head race on the River Clyde through Glasgow over a 5km course.
The first race saw four crews racing. The men’s open quad of Graeme Duff, Ross Marchbank, Kevin Plank and Gregor Hall gave their all but were beaten by a single second over the 17 minute race by a local crew from Clydesdale Rowing Club.
In third place was the Stirling/ Castle Semple composite crew containing Billy Brown who were a further four seconds back.
The boys coxed quad of Ruairidh Reid, Quinn McDonnell, Ardal McKenzie, Rory Duncan and coxed by Ollie Plank had equipment problems losing their rudder early on but still managed to complete the race in second place.
The final race saw four crews take to the water. A much deserved win for the Stirling/Castle Semple composite crew who had raced in the first division containing Billy Brown easily won the masters quad event from the Stirling crew of Gordon Henderson, Neil McGuire, Richard Gravelling and Kevin Plank who placed second.
The ladies coxed quad of Natalie Firth, Lindsey Arnott, Sam Sellars, Sophie Brett and cox Gregor Hall raced well finishing second in the women’s restricted 2 event.
The boys coxed quad of Ollie Plank, Ruairidh Reid, Quinn McDonnell, Ardal McKenzie and coxed by Rory Duncan also raced to second place in the men’s novice event thankfully with no equipment issues this time.