Success for Dundee students

Dundee University students hauled away bronze, silver and gold medals at the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships.

More than 40 students from Dundee helped make club history after they were presented with the trophy for best overall student performance.

The squad left rivals in their wake as they won 14 medals, including gold in the women’s student open, mixed open teams, men’s student teams, women’s student teams and women’s open.

Club captain Matthew Simpson said this year’s performance was testament to the club’s hard work over the last few years.

“We didn’t have a gameplan but that didn’t stop Dundee from making waves in the world of rowing this weekend,” said the law and French student.

“A lot of the clubs we race have professional coaches, better boats and ultimately better conditions to train, so rowing indoors makes the playing field level and what we displayed was a brilliant showcase of athleticism and student coaching.”

Women’s captain Katie Canniford said: “Our female team took the club to women’s Henley last June and we are building on that success.

“The fact a beginner like Fiona Lapp, who only took up rowing in the last two years, has now gone on to win the senior open just shows how accessible we are making this sport. It is down to her dedication, our nine training sessions a week and our teamwork that we were able to put on such a strong show of strength.”

The Dundee team will next face national squads in February at the BUCS Head in Newcastle-upon-tyne.

Pictured: Katie Canniford, Matthew Simpson and Alasdair Iredale.