On Saturday 26th August, we held our 13th annual regatta which saw 19 clubs from across Scotland participate, the largest number of clubs to enter our regatta to date! County clubs Dunbar, Boatie Blest from Port Seton and Musselburgh’s Eskmuthe, as well as Edinburgh clubs Eastern, Row Porty and, Newhaven took part in the day’s racing with 10 races for men, women, mixed crews and juniors. Conditions were variable throughout the day with the morning bringing lots of wind and choppy seas so the course was altered to a 3 kilometre triangle from the old Pier, out to the west of Craigleith, along in front of the island and back to the old Pier.
By mid afternoon we had beautiful calm water and we were able to revert to the classic course around Craigleith much to the delight of all visiting clubs. Due to the high volume of entries crews were set off in 2 waves which made for very exciting spectating, each race was all to play for as the crew with the fastest time across the two heats wins.
Racing started with the 45+ age categories, boats bravely headed out into wind and chop, the real challenge of coastal rowing is never knowing what conditions you’ll be met with and having to adapt accordingly! North Berwick brought home the first gold medal of the day with our 45+ men’s crew winning, followed by Wormit and Golspie. North Berwick’s 45+ women then also won gold with Golspie taking silver and Eastern taking bronze. Next up were the juniors, the under 18’s from North Berwick coming first across the line followed by Queensferry three seconds later, and Ullapool in third. The under 15’s race saw Eastern take first place, with North Berwick coming in second and then a second Ullapool crew coming third. First places followed in the Mixed Decades category for Ullapool, with Golspie coming in second only 3 seconds later and then Eastern 3 seconds after them. The Mixed Open event allows two women and two men of any age to take on their rivals. Golspie came out on top with the fastest time of the day of 16 minutes and 32 seconds on the triangular course, followed by Broughty Ferry and then North Berwick. The novice race is for rowers in their first year of rowing or for those who have not won a medal before. Eskmuthe won this one with Elie & St Monans coming second and North Berwick bagging a bronze.
In the afternoon, the old salty sea dogs had their chance in the 240+ race where the ages of the four rowers must total 240 or more. St Ayles from Anstruther came first with Eastern sweeping in 3 seconds later and Troon taking third place. The sea conditions improved so our Chief Umpire decided to return to the original race course around the rock, i.e. the Craig, much to the delight of all the rowers. The mixed 45+ category saw Wormit win gold with a 20 second margin, Eskmuthe taking silver and North Berwick in their wake.
The blue ribbon events are always the men’s and woman’s open categories and winners will claim overall club dominance. In the fastest time of the day round the rock, Eastern stormed ahead claiming the men’s title with a 29 second lead in a time of 16mins 49 secs, St Ayles bagged a silver medal with Boaty Blest hot on their tail coming in 1 second after. In the final race of the day our very own North Berwick ladies crew came in first place leading by 22 seconds, followed by Broughty Ferry and then Wormit.
We would like to thank all the volunteers and organisers who made the day such a success. Thank you to our sponsors Anne Baird & Co, NB Pharmacy, North Berwick Harbour Trust, The Seabird Centre, The Nether Abbey Hotel, Earth Squared, Lyndsay Henderson Personal Training, The Lobster Shack, The Rocketeer and Fenton Tower.
We were delighted to see such a broad range of clubs winning medals, coastal rowing is growing in popularity year on year with new clubs popping up all the time. The full results sheets is available on our website
If you are interested in trying rowing we offer Try Rowing sessions on Sundays at 2pm. http://www.j3.nbrowingclub.com/
More photos of the day can be found here