On Saturday 16 October, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association (ASRA) competed in the Tyne Long Distance Sculls and Tyne United Small Boats Head –time trials rowed over the 4500m course between Blaydon and Newburn, west of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

An early morning conversation with our hosts at Tyne Rowing Club about The Battle of Newburn Ford, was remarkably prescient as the athletes of ASRA demonstrated the skills, strength and determination necessary to dominate their coevals from the North East of England. On the day, ASRA’s twenty-two athletes came away with a fantastic ten wins out of the eleven categories they raced in.

Tyne LDS

• Winners of Open Junior 16 Double Sculls – Magnus Heidenreich & Harris Pearce
• Winners of Women’s Junior 17 Quadruple Sculls – Ella Brooks, Freya Cummine, Gemma Collins & Gabrielle Topp
• Winners of Women’s Junior 16 Quadruple Sculls – Isla Petty, Sophie Sinclair, Anna Donald & Maggie Seward
• Winner of Open Junior 18 Single Sculls – Alex Fowler
• Winner of Women’s Junior 18 Single Sculls – Maisie Aspinall
• Winner of Women’s Junior 17 Single Sculls – Zoe Beeson

Tyne United SBH

• Winners of Women’s Fours – Freya Hughson, Maisie Aspinall, Zoe Beeson & Sophia Brew
• Winners of Open Junior 18 Pairs – Alex Fowler & Murray Bone
• Winners of Open Junior 16 Coxed Quadruple Sculls – Callum Sherwood, Jack Winton, Gabrielle Topp, Mackenzie Reid & Ian Petty (cox)
• Winners of Women’s Junior 16 Double Sculls – Maggie Seward & Sophie Sinclair

With such a successful start to the season, ASRA will knuckle down to training with renewed enthusiasm and look forward to their next races… Aberdeen Head (6/7 Nov) and Inverness Head (20/21 Nov).

• WJ15 2x: B Final 1st place
• OJ15 1x: B Final 2nd place
• OJ16 2x: B Final 3rd place
• WJ18 2- 🥈 
• WJ18 8+ Composite🥈 
• OJ18 1x: H Final
• OJ18 2-: A Final 5th Place
• OJ18 4-(A): A Final 5th Place
• OJ18 4-(B): B Final 2nd Place
• OJ18 8+: B Final 1st Place

Over the weekend of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of July ASRA competed in the Junior Women's Coxed Fours event for the Groton School Challenge Cup, at the Henley Women’s Regatta. The crew consisted of Freya Hughson (J16), Zoe Beeson (J16), Maisie Aspinall (J17) and Sophia Brew (J17), coxed by Isla Petty (J15)  and even though the Covid-19 restrictions in place meant that the event was missing its usual contingent of overseas crews, the standard of the event was as high as ever with tough competition across the field. Our ASRA girls put in a highly competitive performance in the Time Trial to come 4th out of the 17 crews entered and that allowed them a bye through to the first round on Saturday afternoon and straight into the second round. The girls then made it through to the semi-finals on Sunday where they came up against formidable competition from The Glasgow Academy, the eventual winners of the event, and unfortunately lost out by only two lengths to be knocked out of the competition. Making it to the semi-finals of Henley Women’s Regatta is no small achievement, a fantastic effort  and well done to all of the girls!

At Scottish Rowing’s Junior Summer Regatta held at the National Rowing Centre, Strathclyde Park on Saturday 5^thJune, athletes from the Aberdeen Schools’ Rowing Association, brushed aside the effects of a punishing racing schedule down at the National Schools and Scullery Regattas at Dorney Lake, Eton, just last weekend and put in a series of outstanding performances against the best of Scotland’s junior rowers to win a total of 6 gold and 3 silver medals.

Gold:

• Women’s Junior 15 Quadruple Sculls: Charlotte Arthur, Maggie Seward, Sophie Sinclair & Emily Simpson, coxed by Erin Gibson
• Women’s Junior 15 Double Sculls: Maggie Seward & Emily Simpson
• Men’s Junior  15 Quadruple Sculls: Magnus Heidenreich, Gregor Macleod, Magnus Lawson & Harris Pearce , coxed by Sam Cordiner
• Women’s Junior 16 Single Sculls: Zoe Beeson
• Men’s Junior 16 Doubles: Murray Bone & Sam Doherty
• Men’s Junior 18 Single Sculls: Matthew Hughson

Silver: 

• Women’s Junior 14 Double Sculls: Lily Arthur & Gabrielle Topp
• Women’s Junior 15 Double Sculls: Charlotte Arthur & Sophie Sinclair
• Women’s Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Freya Hughson, Maisie Aspinall, Zoe Beeson & Sophia Brew

Grateful thanks to all the parents who stepped in to ferry our troops to the event when our new minibus lost power enroute and had to be returned to the boathouse.

A selection of photos from the day are available to view in the Photo Gallery 

The National Schools Regatta, which annually draws in over 5.000  junior competitors from all over Great Britain but was a Covid casualty in 2020, was held again this year on Saturday 29^th and 30^th May on the Olympic course at Dorney Lake, Eton. A  group of 21 athletes from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association entered what was their first competitive rowing event in over a year, signed up for 5 events and medalled in two of them.

In the Girls’ Championship Coxless Pairs event Zoe Beeson and Maisie Aspinall dominated the field in both Time Trial and A Final to bring back gold and the Leander Cup back to Aberdeen and ASRA’s senior boys – Matthew Hughson, Ashley Geddes , Gregor Charles  & William Penny – won  silver in the A Final of the Boys’ Championship Coxless Fours event, gold going to the St Georges College Boat Club foursome from Waltham -on-Thames.

Elsewhere ASRA’s  J17 boys – Alex Fowler, William Lawson, Joe Ritchie & William Cooper , coxed by Erin Gibson -  won the B Final of the Boys’ Championship Coxed Fours event with a time that would have placed them 5^th in the A final and ASRA’s J16 Girls -  Charlotte Arthur, Freya Hughson, Sophie Sinclair, Phoebe McCraith, Ella Brooks, Emily Simpson, Freya Cummine & Gemma Collins, coxed by Erin Gibson - fought their way through to a second place in the B Final of the fiercely competitive Girls’ Junior 16 Eights event some 4 seconds ahead of the Irish girls from the Enniskillen Royal Boat Club.

A magnificent effort all round and the best performance of any Scottish club at the event. Our thanks go as always to our volunteer coaches and drivers whose hard work and dedication. prior to, during and after the regatta, made these outstanding results possible.

Following his J15 bronze at the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships, at the British Rowing Indoor Championships Online on Saturday 5^th and Sunday 6th December ASRA’s Magnus Heidenreich came 8^th in a field of 31 in the Year 10 Race over 500 metres, with a mere 4 seconds covering places 2 to 8.

In the 5 minutes race for year 10 boys, he came a creditable 10^th in a field of 27.

Congratulations to all who took part in the Scotish Virtual Indoor Championships and in particular to coaches Holly and Alan, who organised what was a technical nightmare!!!

WJ13 – Gabrielle Topp - silver medal (gold out of Scottish competitors)

WJ15 – Sophie Sinclair – gold

WJ15 – Maggie Seward – bronze

WJ15 team – Erin Gibson, Maggie Seward, Phoebe McCraith & Sophie Sinclair – gold

WJ15 team – Anna Donald, Charlotte Arthur, Emily Simpson& Gabrielle Topp - silver

WJ16 – Zoe Beeson – silver

WJ18 – Maisie Aspinall – gold

WJ18 team – Freya Hughson, Maisie Aspinall, Sophia Brew, Zoe Beeson - gold

OJ14 – Jack Winton – bronze

OJ15 – Magnus Heidenreich – bronze (silver out of Scottish competitors)

OJ18 – Gregor Charles – silver

OJ18 – Ashley Geddes (bronze out of Scottish competitors)

OJ18 team – Ashley Geddes, Gregor Charles,, Matthew Hughson &  William Penny – gold

OJ18 team – Alex Fowler, Joe Ritchie, Murray Bone &  William Lawson - silver

Out of fourteen athletes doing 2000m, there were nine PBs.

ASRA - Hazlelhead Academy 1984. Recognise anyone?

Back Row: Steve Miller, Alison Harper, Catherine MacInnes, Beverly Jones, Aonghus Drummond, Fiona Byers (maybe ?), Malcolm Watson (?)

Middle Row: The Manny Steel, Brenda Hugheson, Carol Oswald, Lynda Aikenhead, Malcolm Smith, Sean MacIntyre, Sheena Law, Graeme MacDonald, (?), (?), (?), Ewan MacInnes, Euan Garden, Tracy Fong

Front Row: Gregor Simpson, Graham Ritchie, James Florence, Alan Harper, Gordon Alexander

On Saturday 7 December, in cold but calm conditions, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association (ASRA) crews took first place in two of the three categories entered at the Rutherford Head. This 4500m time trial, on the River Tyne through Newcastle, attracts a strong contingent of crews from some of the country's top rowing universities who are wanting an early indication of their levels of performance.

In the first division the ASRA coxed eight of Oscar Forbes, Ashley Geddes, Alexander Beeson, Euan Fowler, Gregor Charles, Jakub Zbikowski, Archie Innes and Matthew Hughson, ably coxed by Skye Ballance, comfortably won the Open Junior Eights with the second placed juniors from Durham School /Tyne ARC 75 seconds behind. ASRA came thirteenth overall in a total field of 133.

In the second division the ASRA crew of Harris MacDonald, Ashley Geddes, Gregor Charles and William Penny, coxed by Skye Ballance, racing up in Senior Coxed Fours due to limited junior opposition, came fourth in their category and ASRA’s coxless quad of Matthew Hughson, Oscar Forbes, Alexander Beeson and Jakub Zbikowski won the Open Junior Quadruple Sculls after a tough fight with their opponents in a Chester-le-Street/George Watson’s College composite, the winning margin just 2.6 seconds!

At the Inverness Fours and Small Boats Heads on the 9th and 10th November on the Caledonian Canal with over 550 crews representing clubs, schools and universities from all over Scotland taking part, ASRA crews fought their way against stiff opposition to winners’ medals in the following 9 categories:

Saturday

Division 1:

• Men’s Restricted 1 Coxless Quads: Mathew Hughson, Oscar Forbes, Xander Beeson & Jakub Zbikowski
• Men’s Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Gregor Charles, Ashley Geddes, Archie Innes & Michel Dearsley, coxed by Dom Rogerson

Division 2:

• Men’s Restricted 2 Coxed Quads: Alex Fowler, Joe Ritchie, William Lawson & Christy Probart, coxed by Harris Pearce
• Men’s Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Oscar Forbes, Ashley Geddes, Archie Innes & William Penny
• Men’s Novice Double Sculls: Harris MacDonald & Michel Dearsley

Sunday

Division 1:

• Men’s Restricted 1 Coxed Fours: Gregor Charles, Michel Dearsley, Harris MacDonald & William Penny, coxed by Dom Rogerson

Division 2:

• Men’s Restricted 2 Single Sculls: Matthew Hughson
• Women’s Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Maisie Aspinall, Zoe Beeson, Stefani Panova & Sophia Brew, coxed by Ziah Vixamar
• Men’s Novice Coxed Quads: Harris Pearce, Gregor Charles, William Penny & Dom Rogerson, coxed by Joe Ritchie

At the 2019 Aberdeen Fours Head Races on the Dee on Saturday 26. October, ASRA’s top boys put in strong performances to record the fastest time over the course in both divisions for the second year in succession. In most other categories, University Rowing Aberdeen (URA) composites dominated, but ASRA’s girls did well to pull off a win against the odds in Women’s Novice Coxed Quadruple Sculls.

Open Men’s Coxless Fours & Fastest Crew in Division 1

Oscar Forbes, Gregor Charles, Ashley Geddes and Matthew Hughson

Open Men’s Coxless Quadruple Sculls & Fastest Time in Division 2

Matthew Hughson, Ashley Geddes, Jakub Zbikowski and Oscar Forbes

Women’s Novice Coxed Quadruple Sculls

Freya Hughson, Emma Atkinson, Ella Johnston and Sophie Sinclair, coxed Zoe Beeson

Unfortunately Sunday’s scheduled Small Boats Heads had to be cancelled due to gusting 40 mph winds causing dangerously rough water conditions especially on the upper reaches of the course.

At the inaugural self-styled “Scottish Junior Sculling Head”, held over a 1900 metre (!) course at the Scottish National Rowing Centre, Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, ASRA scullers won an impressive total of 3 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze medals in a field involving most of Scotland’s top rowing clubs and came second to George Watson’s College in the overall Victor Ludorum ranking, pushing their normal nemeses Glasgow Schools into third place.

Gold

• Men’s Junior 18 Coxless Quads : Scott Lewis, Xander Beeson, Oscar Forbes & Matthew Hughson
• Women’s Junior 16 Double Sculls: Maisie Aspinall & Zoe Beeson
• Women’s Junior 16 Single Sculls: Maisie Aspinall

Silver

• Men’s Junior 18 Double Sculls: Oscar Forbes & Matthew Hughson
• Men’s Junior 16 Coxless Quads: Alex Fowler, Joe Ritchie, Will Cooper & William Lawson
• Men’s Junior 14 Double Sculls: Harris Pearce & Magnus Heidenreich
• Men’s Junior 14 Sculls (B); Harris Pearce
• Women’s Junior 16 Coxless Quads: Maisie Aspinall, Zoe Beeson, Freya Hughson & Sophia Brew
• Women’s Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Emily Simpson, Charlotte Arthur, Ella Johnston & Phoebe McCraith, coxed by Christy Probart
• Women’s Junior 14 Double Sculls: Emily Simpson & Charlotte Arthur

Bronze

• Men’s Junior 18 Coxless Quads: Michel Dearsley, Ashley Geddes, William penny & Harris Macdonald
• Men’s Junior 18 Double Sculls (equal third) : Michel Dearsley & Harris Macdonald/Alex Beeson & Scott Lewis
• Men’s Junior 18 Single Sculls; Matthew Hughson
• Men’s Junior 18 Single Sculls (B): Euan Fowler
• Men’s Junior 16 Double Sculls: Alex Fowler & Will Cooper
• Women’s Junior 14 Double Sculls; Ella Johnston & Erin Gibson
• Women’s Junior 14 Single Sculls: Emily Simpson

On Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association played host for the second year running to the Bob Neill Scottish Schools’ Head of the River Races held on the Dee over a timed 3 kilometre course from the Victoria Bridge to the Ruthrieston Burn. On Saturday morning, ASRA won the Scottish Junior Club Fours Championship Cup in commanding fashion for the 10th year in succession, but over the three sculling races on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, despite collecting 6 category winners’ pennants and recording the fastest time of any sculling boat on either day over the course, ASRA had to concede defeat in the end – and the Scottish Junior Club Champions’ Sculling Trophy - to an extremely powerful squad from George Watson’s College , Edinburgh.

Category winners’ pennants went to the following ASRA crews:

Fours’ Head

• Men’s Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Xander Beeson (Albyn School), Chris Bardas (Harlaw Academy), Scott Lewis (Mearns Academy) & Jakub Zbikowski (Harlaw Academy) coxed by Skye Balance (Cults Academy)
• Men’s Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Alex Fowler (Albyn School), Joe Ritchie (Aberdeen Grammar School), William Lawson & Will Cooper coxed by Harris Macdonald (All of Albyn School)
• Women’s Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Abigail Topp (Kemnay Academy), Zoe Beeson (Albyn School), Maisie Aspinall & Sophia Brew (both of Cults Academy), coxed by Julia Zbikowska (Harlaw Academy)
• Women’s Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Charlotte Arthur (Aberdeen Grammar School), Emily Simpson (Hazlehead Academy), Ella Johnston (Robert Gordon’s College) & Phoebe McCraith (St. Margaret’s School), coxed by Gabrielle Topp (Kemnay Academy)

Sculling Heads

• Men’s Junior 18 Doubles: Oscar Forbes (Albyn School) & Matthew Hughson (Aberdeen Grammar School)
• Women’s Junior 16 Doubles : Maisie Aspinall (Cults Academy) & Zoe Beeson (Albyn School)
• Men’s Junior 18 Coxless Quadruple Sculls : Xander Beeson (Albyn School), Chris Bardas ( Harlaw Academy), Euan Fowler (Albyn School) & Jakub Zbikowski (Harlaw Academy)
• Men’s J18 Single Sculls: Jakub Zbikowski (Harlaw Academy)
• Women’s J18 Single Sculls: Abigail Topp (Kemnay Academy)
• Women’s J14 Single Sculls: Emily Simpson (Hazlehead Academy)

At the annual Aberdeen Sprint Regatta on Saturday 31st August on the Dee, ASRA was the most successful of the six clubs taking part, amassing a total of 80 points over the day’s racing. Runners up were Stirling Rowing Club with 72 points. ASRA’s 14 category winners were:

• Men’s Restricted 1 Coxed Fours: Michel Dearsley, Scott Lewis, Euan Fowler & Alex Beeson, coxed by Skye Ballance
• Men’s Novice Double Sculls: William Penny & Gregor Charles
• Men’s J16 Double Sculls: Will Cooper & William Lawson
• Men’s Open Single Sculls: Jakub Zbikowski
• Men’s Restricted 2 Single Sculls: Euan Fowler
• Men’s Novice Single Sculls: Michel Dearsley
• Men’s J16 Single Sculls: William Lawson
• Women’s Restricted 2 Coxless Pairs: Zoe Beeson & Maisie Aspinall
• Women’s J15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Erin Gibson, Phoebe McCraith, Gabrielle Topp & Emily Simpson, coxed by Skye Ballance
• Women’s J16 Double Sculls: Zoe Beeson & Maisie Aspinall
• Women’s J14 Double Sculls: Charlotte Reynolds & Freya Hughson
• Women’s J16 Single Sculls: Maisie Aspinall
• Women’s Duathlon (Run + 1x) : Maisie Aspinall
• Men’s Duathlon (Run + 1x) : Alex Beeson

ASRA members Abigail Topp and Megan Hewison were selected to race the Women’s Junior Pair at the championships held in Tokyo, Japan from August 7th-11th 2019. The girls had a hard heat but placed 5th heading into the repechage where they then only missed out on the A final by 5 seconds to Italy. At the 1000m mark and 3 lengths down to the Lithuanian and American pair the girls then made a fantastic effort and raced to the finish winning the B final by clear water of 3.85 seconds and an amazing time of 7 minutes 34 seconds. The girls finished their last race together winning in ASRA style.

Abigail and Megan once again did ASRA and Scotland proud and they carry our best wishes with them as they leave us now to head off to university.

We also should mention ex ASRA member Miles Beeson who won an outstanding Silver in the Junior Men’s coxless four. This was also a phenomenal race for spectators to watch.

On the 17th July at the 2019 Home Countries International Regatta, held this year at the Scottish National Rowing Centre, Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, 8 ASRA athletes swapped their customary black and white all-in-ones for Scottish blue and made an outstanding contribution towards Scotland’s victory in the Junior Men’s section of the HIR for only the second time in the 57 years history of this event.

Valuable points were added to the junior men’s total by ASRA’s Xander Beeson, Chris Bardas, Aidan Graham & Robert Davis of St Andrew Boat Club Davis in the men’s junior coxless four and by ASRA’s J16 quartet – Gregor Charles, Ashley Geddes, Scott Lewis & Matthew Hughson, coxed by Skye Ballance – in the coxed fours event, but after the penultimate junior men’s race, Scotland and England stood equal in the points table and final victory depended on the outcome of the eights race.

After a disappointing start which left them trailing the pack at 500 metres, the Scots eight - Mathew Hughson (ASRA), Rhuari Stuart (Heriot’s), Aidan Graham (ASRA/St Andrew’s Uni), Ashley Geddes (ASRA), Scott Lewis (ASRA), Chris Bardas (ASRA), Xander Beeson (ASRA), Gregor Charles (ASRA) and Robert Davis (St Andrew BC), coxed by Yousef Djoudi (Glasgow Academy) - looked to have thrown the game away but stroke by stroke they gradually pulled themselves back through Wales and England to be just beaten by the Irish on the line in one of the most exciting races of the day. This second position was however enough to place the Scotland’s junior men one point ahead of England and 2 points ahead of Ireland in the final points tally and made them deserved 2019 Home Countries Champions.

At the 2019 British Rowing Junior Championships held from the 19th to the 21st July at the English National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, ASRA athletes won a record three gold and two silvers against strong opposition from all over the United Kingdom.

Our J16 boys – Oscar Forbes, Archie Innes, Ashley Geddes and Matthew Hughson, coxed by Skye Ballance - fresh from their famous victory in the GB versus France Match - simply outclassed most of their opposition in the A-Final of the J16 Coxed Fours event and were understandably delighted to force their ASRA club mates, Scott Lewis and Michel Dearsley - rowing in a composite with Etonians, Harry Geffen, Cal Gorvy, and cox Jasper Parish - into the silver medal position.

In the final of the J16 Coxless Pairs event, Lewis & Dearsley had no compunction about beating their erstwhile shipmates from Eton into the bronze position, while they themselves had to be content with silver in the race for the line against a strong pairing from King’s Canterbury.

In the J18 Coxless Fours event, ASRA’s senior boys – Xander Beeson, Chris Bardas, Jakub Zbikowski & Aiden Graham – made up for their disappointment at Nat Schools, where they were beaten into silver by fractions of a second – by trouncing their nearest opposition from Walton and Henley to win gold by a clear 6 seconds.

In the final event of the day, a ding-dong battle ensued between ASRA (Archie Innes, Ashley Geddes, Michel Dearsley, Scott Lewis, Gregor Charles, Aidan Graham, Christos Bardas, Xander Beeson and coxed by Skye Balance) and a Walton/Tideway Scullers composite with ASRA down by a second at the 1000 metre mark. At 1500 both crews drew level and in the last 500 metres ASRA put in an incredible burst of speed to beat their opposition by a clear 2 seconds on the line. ASRA is the only non-composite Scottish crew to have won the Eights event at this regatta and has the distinction of having done it twice, on the previous occasion back in 2016.

Elsewhere our girls continue to show improvement with Maisie Aspinall coming 5th in a field of 55 in WJ15 Single Sculls and later winning the B Final of WJ15 Double Sculls in grand style with her partner Zoe Beeson.

A wonderful achievement for the J16 boys in securing a place on the J16 GB team and then winning their coxless four race against France.

At the GB vs France J16 Team Trials held on Sunday 30^th June at Dorney Lake, Eton,  ASRA’s J16 boys – Oscar Forbes (Albyn), Ashley Geddes (Grammar), Archie Innes (Harlaw) & Matthew Hughson (Grammar) - put in a magnificent performance to come first in the coxless four trial and so secure their place on the GB J16 Team to face the French at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham on Thursday 11^th July. 

ASRA’s other J16 hopefuls, Scott Lewis (Mearns) and Michel Dearsley (Cults), in what was virtually a scratch pairing, came an impressive second in the coxless pairs trial and were duly teamed up with two Etonians to race-off in a coxed four for places in the second half of the GB eight. There they dead-heated for first place against the Eton A crew but sadly just lost out on selection after an exciting re-row. Three near misses in one day but a fantastic  series of races nevertheless!

At Henley Women’s Regatta held on the Thames from the 21^st to the 23^rd June , Abigail Topp and Megan Hewison, as GB final triallists, were unfortunately ineligible to compete in the event normally entered by ASRA’s J17/18 girls - the Girls’ Champion Coxed Fours event for the Groton Cup.

Instead, at the behest of Scottish Rowing, they teamed up once more with Heather Gordon of Inverness Rowing Club and Laura McKenzie of Loch Lomond Rowing Club, with whom they had struck HIR gold in 2018, and were entered in the Aspirational Club Coxless Fours event, essentially an event for adult club crews. That said, having come an impressive second fastest in Friday’s time trials, they put in strong performances the following day to defeat crews from Cantabrigian Rowing Club and Vesta Rowing Club, before finally losing out on Sunday to an experienced crew from Thames Rowing Club in the semi-final of their event.