Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club

The newly incorporated group of representatives from each of the 5 rowing clubs on Glasgow Green have secured funding for professional project management services to push the new boathouse project along.

In this great year for sport in Glasgow, the rowing clubs on Glasgow Green are keen to make the most of the current enthusiasm for sport.  With so many clubs involved and the potential for other sports and activities, we need someone enthusiastic and experienced to support our activities, develop the business plan and manage the project to realisation.  We are grateful for the support from Glasgow City Council’s Social Enterprise Community Facilities Fund and the Boathouse Trust for this critical role.  There is much work to do, but also a great team of volunteer support available from throughout the rowing community and from the Glasgow Green Community Boathouse directors, who will manage the successful candidate on behalf of the 5 rowing clubs involved.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 4th July.

Job Description

The results for the 2014 Clydesdale Summer Regatta are now available on the event page.

With 168 races scheduled at 3 minute intervals for almost 10 hours, we all knew the Clydesdale Regatta was going to be a long day.  Only the most optimistic of individuals would have predicted that the event could run to time.  At one point, the regatta fell 20 minutes behind programme, due to boats from the Rutherglen Cruising Club passing down the regatta course and through the weir at high tide.  However, sterling efforts from the Umpires quickly got the regatta back on track and we were all delighted when the day finished bang on time.

Whilst there were some dominant performances, some highly charged and exciting races, some dubious steering and the occasional capsize – there was also some magnanimous spirit with a few races being restarted after competitors suffered misfortunes – showing good sportsmanship and a desire to see worthy competition.  In one case this was to the bemusement of the Umpire as Glasgow University abandoned their race after testing the buoyancy of their cox-box.  In another it was when one Clydesdale sculler watched another Clydesdale Sculler fail to execute an eskimo role fully.

The most competitive  event of the day was the ever popular mixed double sculls, with 11 entries and eventually won by Emma McDonald and Michael McNaul of Glasgow University.

Men’s Restricted 2 single sculls provided some interesting races and was ultimately won by the Ben Parsonage of Strathclyde University over Don Milesh of GRC.  Womens Novice Double Sculls was won in the end by Loch Lomond Rowing Club’s Heather McKenzie and Robyn White.

The always important Novice Singles event commanded a large field of scullers vying to lose their Novice status and ultimately it was Clydesdale’s Kristopher Hughes who succeeded over Strathclyde’s Youssef Hounat.  Also losing her Novice status was Strathclyde Park’s Jennifer Ord in Women’s J16 Single Sculls after seeing off competition from 8 other contenders.

With running presentations throughout the day, Vice-President Michael Foran was on hand to present the Glencairn Crystal Mixer Glasses to the winning crews.

Huge thanks to all involved in making it such a successful day on the river.  Thanks to the club members and parents for taking on a role, whether marshaling or providing stock for the tea-bar; to the humane society for the provision of safety cover; to the Glasgow clubs for the use of their steps and facilities by visiting clubs; to the Scottish Rowing Umpires for their efforts throughout the day and the biggest thanks of all to Michele Foran who pulled it all together.  See you all next year!

The club has long benefitted from the support of our local sports council (most recently Development Coach of the Year Award for Maureen Malone, Volunteer of the Year commendation for Amy Walton and Service to Sport Award for Gordon Simpson).  We are delighted that this support continues with a £750 club grant towards equipment to support the work of our coaches.  The Sports Council for Glasgow is a voluntary agency that exists to be an effective voice for sports clubs in Glasgow, and provides services to meet club needs.  Clydesdale ARC are very grateful for the continuing assistance of the Sports Council for Glasgow, whether in volunteer recognition, sports promotion or purchase of equipment.

The draw for Saturday’s Summer Regatta is now available on the event page.

We have just launched our new club calendar. Please have a look at the events which the club intend to attend over the coming months. Each page has, or will be, updated with a variety of useful information about the particular events such as race venue, entry deadlines and boat loading arrangements, and a link to our racing page which includes lots of useful information for our novices, juniors and their parents (and a helpful reminder for the rest of us!).

The Poster, Events List and Entry Information for this year’s Summer Regatta are now available on the event page (Summer Regatta).

At a glittering awards ceremony in the magnificent City Chambers and in the company of the great and the good of Scottish sport, Gordon Simpson won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Continue reading →

After a week of worrying weather, we were delighted to be able to run the Fours and Eights Head on Saturday, over the long course.  This presented challenging river conditions, particularly at the railway bridge and marshalling at the start, but all crews handled the conditions admirably.

There were some close results which indicates some good racing down the course.  The faster conditions in the second division caused several time penalties to be applied as crews struggled to make it to the start.

Congratulations to the Glasgow Schools/Glasgow Academy/Loch Lomond MO8+ composite crew in winning the first division by 3 seconds over Clydesdale, and to Glasgow University MR28+ on winning the second division by 16 seconds over Strathclyde University, with the fastest time of the day (11 minutes, 53 seconds).  Glasgow University’s MR2 crew was the fastest four in the first division, with the Glasgow Schools/Glasgow Academy/Loch Lomond MJ18 composite crew the fastest in division two.

We have identified an error in the allocation of time penalties for crews 42 and 47 in the 2nd division which resulted in the wrong crew being awarded the pennants for winning J18 4+.  The results have been amended and we will ensure the winning crew receives their pennants.  We apologise to both crews involved.

Our thanks go to the Glasgow Humane Society for safety cover, Glasgow Rowing Club for their safety launch and driver, GUBC’s Andy Barton for driving our safety launch, Strathclyde University Boat Club for a boat loan, the Scottish Rowing Umpires (led by John McKinney), the volunteer marshals, time keepers and tea bar organisers.

The updated results from Saturday’s event are now available on the 4′s and 8′s Head page.

A nice time-lapse video of the 1st division at the start is available here, courtesy of local photographer Andrew Lynch.

Olympic Champion Dr Katherine Grainger CBE was joined by members of the GB Start Group at Clydesdale today for a photo-shoot to launch the ‘Going for Gold’ fundraising dinner for Aberlour Child Care Trust.  The charity will host a black-tie dinner on Thursday 5th June at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Katherine will be the guest speaker.

Katherine, who is an ambassador for the charity, said:  “This promises to be a fabulous evening in aid of a great cause, and I’m really pleased to be able to take part.  I’ve worked with Aberlour for a number of years, I’ve seen the vital work which they undertake and it means a lot to me that I can help them in this way”.

More details about Aberlour Child Care Trust and their fundraising activities can be found here.

Clydesdale is pleased to support today’s photo-shoot and will look into ways of working with the charity again in the future.

Katherine Grainger, Aberlour CCT Ambassador, with members of the GB Start Squad at Clydesdale ARC.
Photo: Sandy Young Photography.

The Scullers Head ran today in good conditions.  In the end, 58 single scullers completed the course, with 31 doubles following in the 2nd division.  Results on the event page here.

Congratulations to Kieran Brown of Edinburgh University Boat Club for winning the 2013 Scullers Head, in a fine time of 14.38.  Kieran was closely followed by Gavin Horsburgh of Glasgow Schools, just 3 seconds behind.  Ross Marchbank retained the Tankard Trophy for winning Res2 Singles.

Emma McDonald of Glasgow University had a commanding victory in the Woman’s event with a time of 15.56 to win the Life Members Cup, with Gillian Connal of Strathclyde Park and Liz Creighton of Edinburgh University 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Ross Marchbank with the Tankard Trophy (M Res2), Kieran Brown with the Peter Grieve Quaich (Head of River) and Emma McDonald with the Life Members Cup (Fastest Woman).

To the Doubles Event, where Gavin Horsburgh and Josh Armstrong of Glasgow Academy won with a 20 second margin over the Clydesdale J18 double of Euan Malone and Giacomo Galano, with SUBC 3rd.

Emma McDonald was joined by Rebecca Lightfoot in the Fastest Women’s Double with a time of 15:12 – about 6 seconds ahead of the Strathclyde Park double of Natalie Irvine and Gillian Connal in 2nd.

Huge thanks to all those assisted: including the Scottish Rowing Umpires, the Clydesdale Marshalls and timing teams, the Glasgow Humane Society for safety boat cover and also Glasgow Rowing Club for their safety boats, launch and driver.  Thanks to Clyde Gateway and Stampfli for programme sponsorship.

Particular thanks to the tea bar team, led by Nadia Sterlini and Mary Snape, for keeping us warm and well fed all day.  Lastly, many thanks to event organiser Michele Foran who pulled it all together.