At the Inverness Head of the River Race on the Caledonian Canal on Saturday 16th February there was unfortunately no junior opposition for our J18 entries. Both eights however put up excellent performances with the girls ending up 7th overall and the boys 11th out of a total entry of 34.

Our boys - Atholl Wallace, Gary Wilson, Lewis Morton, Jonnay Wright, Lewis Masson, Niall Rundle, Christy Masson, Blair Sorbie and cox Bruce Sorbie - a novice crew with only one R2 aboard - came in with the highly respectable time of 18.59 which beat the winning time of the Men's Novice Eight from Dundee University by over half a minute over the 5K course.

Our girls with 5 Nat. Champs. junior medallists on board - Lucy Bonnamy, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel, Catriona Bain & Rachael Hadjitofi, ably supported by novices Rosie Morton, Fiona McKinnon & Holly Reid and coxed by Niall Ford - would clearly be expected to fare better when compared with their adult counterparts and did not disappoint us as they romped home in some style with a recorded time of 18.35. This time was only bettered by that put up by a fearsome composite eight from Castle Semple, Glasgow Rowing Club, Dundee University & Clydesdale ARC and with it they would have won the WR2 8s section outright and been second in WR1 8s.

A great opener for the 2008 season for both the boys and the girls from ASRA but we must be prepared for a backlash from ABC, AUBC & RGU crews at the Aberdeen Eights Head next week.

At the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships 2008 held at the Heriott-Watt University, Edinburgh on Saturday 9th February, ASRA athletes racked up a total of 4 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals.

• Individual Gold: Women's Junior 13 - Morven Shaw; Women's Junior 14 - Rosie Morton; Women's Junior 16 - Iona Riley.

• Team Gold: Women's Royal Mile - Lucy Bonnamy; Catriona Bain; Iona Riley; Jamie Steel.

• Individual Silver: Women's Junior 11 - Erin Wyness; Men's Junior 16 - Gary Wilson; Women's Junior 18 Lightweight - Jamie Steel.

• Team Silver: Mixed Junior 15 - Rosie Morton; Fiona McKinnon; Lewis McCue; Chris Milne.

• Individual Bronze: Women's Junior 10 - Katherine Lawrie; Men's Junior 13 - Nick Riddoch; Women's Junior 16 - Catriona Bain; Women's Junior 18 - Lucy Bonnamy.

• Team Bronze: Mixed Junior 15 - Morven Shaw; Emily Duff; Donald Cruickshank; Murray Urquhart

At the Glasgow Rowing Club Head of the River Races on the Clyde on Saturday 24th November, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association members recorded excellent wins in four boat categories.

• Women's J16 Coxed Fours: Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain, Jamie Steel & cox Erin Wyness
• Men's Novice Coxed Quads: Lewis Masson, Lewis Morton, Oliver Hamlet, Gary Wilson & cox Nicolas Riddoch
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Quads: Erin Wyness, Morven Shaw, Rosie Morton, Rachael Hadjitofi & cox Christy Masson
• Men's J14 Coxed Quads: Niall Ford, Lewis McCue, Robert Hamlet, Daniel McSherry & cox Nicolas Riddoch

Our congratulations to all who braved the extremely cold and wet conditions and did the club proud down on the Clyde.

At the Aberdeen Head of the River Races on Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th November, ASRA crews recorded 4 major category wins against good opposition including crews from Heriott Watt University, Robert Gordon University, Dundee University, Stirling Boat Club and Aberdeen Boat Club.

• Women's R2 Coxed Fours: Lucy Bonnamy, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie Steel coxed by Niall Ford

• Men's Novice Fours: Gary Wilson, Lewis Masson, Lewis Morton & Oliver Hamlet coxed by Lewis McCue

• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Atholl Wallace, Daniel McSherry, Christy Masson & Niall Rundle coxed by Nicolas Riddoch

• Men's Novice Doubles: Gary Wilson & Atholl Wallace

The following crews also won in boat categories where stout opposition was supplied from within our own ranks:

• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Jamie Steel, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Rachael Hadjitofi coxed by Niall Ford

• Men's Junior 16 Fours: Gary Wilson, Oliver Hamlet, Jonathan Wright & Lewis Masson coxed by Katherine Lawrie

• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Rosie Morton, Laura Smith, Pearl Black & Emily Geddes coxed by Christie Duff

• Men's Novice Coxed Quads: Atholl Wallace, Gary Wilson, Daniel McSherry & Niall Rundle coxed by Katherine Lawrie

• Women's Junior 16 Pairs: Iona Riley & Catriona Bain

• Women's J16 Single Scull: Iona Riley

• Women's Junior 14 Double: Emily Geddes & Holly Reid

• Women's Junior 15 Double: Rosie Morton & Fiona McKinnon

• Men's J14 Double: Robert Hamlet & Blair Sorbie

• Women's Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Holly Reid, Erin Wyness, Christie Duff & Katie Harrower coxed by Daniel McSherry

At the Tees Head of the River Races on Saturday 27th October, ASRA athletes won two category divisions outright. Iona Riley & Jamie Steel won the Women's Junior Under 18 Double Sculls event and were the fastest junior women overall and the Men's Junior Under 15 Quad Sculls event was won by Niall Rundle, Christy Masson, Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace coxed by Blair Sorbie.

Lack of familiarity with the river and and failure to study the course warnings issued with the race instructions resulted in three of our crews being disqualified. Iona, Catriona, Rosie & Jamie and cox Robert - for example - recorded easily the fastest time in Women's S4 Coxed Fours only to be robbed of the pots as a result of passing through an inner arch on one of the road bridges.

That apart, promising performances all round however and a lot to look forward to in the season ahead.

At the Aberdeen Sprint Regatta on Sunday 26th August, lively Junior opposition in the form of crews from Castle Semple and Inverness gave notice that they will be a force to be reckoned with this season at J16 and below.

There was also an early warning for our our senior girls - Jamie Steel, Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley & Lucy Bonnamy - who, like last season at this time, went down to Veteran opposition from ABC in the final of Women's R2 Fours. Admittedly they were without the usual services of university-bound Joy Davies on the day, but still we might expect a little more from 3 Under-18 British Champions.

Elsewhere ASRA recorded a total of 9 wins in a variety of boat categories:

• WJ 18 2- : Lucy Bonnamy & Rachael Hadjitofi
• Women's Novice 1x : Lucy Bonnamy
• Men's Novice 4+: Robert Hamlet, Oliver Hamlet, Daniel McSherry, Lewis Masson & cox Bruce Sorbie
• WJ 16 2x : Iona Riley & Jamie Steel
• WJ16 1x : Iona Riley
• MJ 16 1x : Gary Wilson
• MJ14 2x : Atholl Wallace & Daniel McSherry
• MJ 14 1x : Blair Sorbie
• Mixed Invitation Novice 4x : Katherine Lawrie, Katie Harrower, Bruce Sorbie, Robert Hamlet & cox Blair Sorbie

Grateful thanks to all the parents and FPs who came along to support our team and special thanks once more to Alan Bonnamy for his first-class boat marshalling services.

At the Home Countries International Regatta held on Lough Innescara, Cork, on Saturday 28th July, only two boat classes were contested by Scotland's Junior Women - WJ18 4+ and WJ 2-. Aberdeen Schools' R.A. represented Scotland in both.

In the WJ 2- race, British Champions Claire Innes & Maud van den Broeke of England led our Lucy Bonnamy & Joy Davies from the 500 mark and never looked like being caught, but in the race for second place against the Irish Pair from Galway RC and the Welsh from Haberdashers Monmouth, our girls beat both handsomely to the line... but not across it! Unbelievably our girls (both blondes) heard the klaxon, stopped rowing at what was the vaguest of finishing lines and were duly overtaken by the Irish!

In the WJ 4+ race, Lucy & Joy were joined by Jamie Steel, late substitute Catriona Bain for Iona Riley and cox Robert Hamlet and led the race again to 500 metres. There the Irish composite from Cork & Coliaste Iognaid Rowing Clubs put in a massive push and left us playing catch-up the rest of the race. Our girls made repeated heroic efforts to close the gap, but to no avail, finishing however a comfortable second ahead of England and Wales.

The girls were a little disappointed but should not have been. As always they did ASRA proud. Given the amount of travelling they had done between the Nat. Champs. and the HIR, the lack of a real rest period had to catch up with them in the end.

At the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain held at the English National Watersports Centre, Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham from the 22nd to the 24th of July, our senior girls (seen right) - Lucy Bonnamy (17) & Joy Davies (17) - teamed up with Iona Riley (15) & Jamie Steel (15) to repeat their Scottish Championship success and bring home a brilliant Gold in the Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours event. It is almost a decade since ASRA girls stroked by a certain Morag Emery last won Gold at this level.

Later on Sunday, Jamie Steel & Iona Riley were joined by Catriona Bain & Rachael Hadjitofi to win Silver in Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours. Both crews were steered to victory by Association cox Robert Hamlet(14).

Our WJ18 crew - with Catriona Bain rowing in place of Iona Riley - has duly been selected to row for Scotland at the Home Countries International to be held next weekend at the Irish National Rowing Centre at Inniscara, Cork. Lucy and Joy will also represent Scotland in the Women's Junior Coxless Pairs event.

Things went rather less well in our sculling races. Our girls could only come 5th in the final of Women's Junior 15 Quads and our J14 boys - Atholl Wallace, Daniel McSherry, Bair Sorbie & Niall Rundle - although they show distinct improvement every time they race - had to fight hard to reach 7th place out of 11 in men's

Junior 14 Quads. The fact that only 5 seconds separated places 4 to 7 indicates how tough the competition is south of the border even at J14 level.

At the Scottish Rowing Championships on the 16th & 17th June at Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, ASRA won a total of 7 Gold Medals and 1 Silver. Pride of place this year goes to the ladies who brought home the lion's share of the medals. No test at WJ2- however for our GB Final Trialists, Lucy & Joy, but their opening win in WJ18 Doubles set off a roll for the girls which culminated in the win in WJ18 Fours over favourites George Heriot's of Edinburgh and almost certain but not yet ratified - selection for the Home Countries Match in Inniscara, Ireland, in July.

• Women's Junior 18 Doubles - Lucy Bonnamy & Joy Davies
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours - Lucy Bonnamy, Joy Davies, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel (cox Bruce Sorbie)
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours - Jamie Steel, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley, Rachael Hadjitofi (cox Robert Hamlet)
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Quads - Jamie Steel, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain, Rachael Hadjitofi (cox Daniel McSherry)
• Women's Junior 15 Single Sculls: Iona Riley
• Women's Junior 14 Single Sculls (Silver) - Rachael Hadjitofi
• Men's Junior 14 Quads - Atholl Wallace, Daniel McSherry, Blair Sorbie, Niall Rundle (cox Bruce Sorbie)
• Boyd Cup for Best Juniors in their First Year of Rowing - Lewis Masson, Oliver Hamlet, Robert Hamlet, Graham Doig (cox Bruce Sorbie)
• The MJ14 crew being presented with their medals by Stewart Maxwell MSP, Minister for Community & Sport

Congratulations to all who took part and particularly to Morag Emery's Kincorth & Harlaw beginners who acquitted themselves so admirably against much more experienced opposition from the Glasgow Dry Start programme.

At the National Schools Regatta at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham where this year 3500 junior rowers from all over Britain contested 50 different events from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th of May, members of our club reached two finals out of four events entered, but were unfortunately not able to emulate Iona & Jamie's cup winning performance of 2006.

Our Under 17 girls - Lucy Bonnamy and Joy Davies - in Championship Girls' Pairs produced the best ASRA result of the weekend by coming in a brilliant fourth in the hotly contested final of that event. They had held silver position for a large part of the race, faded a little in the last 500 metres and were unfortunate in the end to be pipped on the line for the bronze by the girls from Lady Eleanor Holles School. This is the best ever performance by an ASRA crew in this the most feared of all girls' sweep events.

Our Under 15 scullers too - Catriona Bain, Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel & cox Robert Hamlet - did well to reach the final in Girls' Under 15 Coxed Quads, an event which started off with a massive entry from 33 clubs. At 500 metres to go, less than a second separated the four crews vying for bronze and in a blanket finish ASRA must consider themselves unlucky to have missed out on a medal.

Our Boys' Under 15 Double - Atholl Wallace & Gary Wilson - having won their first eliminator in grand style were unable to reproduce this fine form in the semi-final where their fourth position ruled them out of a place in the final.

Our Under 14 Scullers in a newly formed crew - Niall Rundle, Blair Sorbie, Robert Hamlet, Daniel McSherry & cox Rachael Hadjitofi - found the going predictably tough in Under 14 First Quads and rather shot themslves in their collective feet with a couple of major crabs early in the race, but certainly they too will have gained a great deal from competing at the highest level in British junior rowing.

The North East Regatta on the Dee on 5/6 May brought excellent competition from our main rivals George Heriot's and George Watson's College of Edinburgh and our scullers in particular found it difficult to live with the blistering pace of our Southern opposition. Nevertheless our ASRA team recorded 7 wins at the in conditions that were far from perfect.

• Men's Junior 14 Sculls - Atholl Wallace
• Men's Novice Doubles - Atholl Wallace & Gary Wilson
• Women's Junior 15 Doubles - Iona Riley & Jamie Steel
• Women's Junior 15 & Junior 16 Fours - Catriona Bain, Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel coxed by Robert Sorbie
• Women's Novice Doubles - Lucy Bonnamy & Joy Davies
• Generation Doubles - Ron Wallace (ABC) & Atholl Wallace (ASRA)

At the Strathclyde Park Regatta in Motherwell on 21/22 April ASRA crews racked up a total of 6 Golds and 3 Silvers.

• WJ15 1x - Iona Riley
• WJ15 2x - Iona Riley & Jamie Steel
• WJ15 4+ - Catriona Bain, Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel & cox Cara Parker
• WJ 16 4+ - Catriona Bain, Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel & cox Robert Hamlet
• MJ14 4+ - Niall Rundle, Blair Sorbie, Daniel McSherry, Atholl Wallace & cox Robert Hamlet
• MJ14 4x+ - Niall Rundle, Blair Sorbie, Daniel McSherry, Atholl Wallace & cox Robert Hamlet
• Silver went to Catriona Bain in WJ15 1x, to Iona Riley & Jamie Steel in WJ16 2x and to Atholl Wallace in MJ14 1x.

All the winning rowers, it should be noted, attended our Rowing Camp in Gent.

At the Gent Spring International Regatta 2007 in Belgium on 14th & 15th April ASRA crews put in a series of fine performances in scorching conditions to win two Silvers and two Bronzes rowing against first class opposition from France, Holland, Belgium, Germany and the UK.

• Womens' Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Lucy Bonnamy & Joy Davies (Silver & Bronze)
• Mens' Junior 16 Double Sculls: Gary Wilson & Atholl Wallace (Silver)
• Womens' Junior 16 Single Sculls: Catriona Bain (Bronze)

Elsewhere our Girls' Junior 15 Coxless Quad rowing in the Under 16 category - Catriona Bain, Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel - were more than a little unfortunate to see themselves placed just out of the medals over the two days for the second year in succession despite a dramatically improved performance on the second day. Our Boys' J14 Quad - again rowing at J16 - also put in a magnificently defiant performance on the Sunday against impossible odds. Special congratulations to Atholl Wallace, Daniel McSherry , Blair Sorbie and Niall Rundle.

Following an excellent camp, all our rowers showed significant improvement over the weekend's racing and were a credit to our colours and our coaching staff. Given continued commitment we can look forward with some confidence to SPR and beyond.

On Saturday 10th March on the Clyde at the Scottish Schools Head of the River Race, ASRA failed for the first time in a decade to win a divisional pennant. Our Boys' Junior Under 14 Quad - Blair Sorbie, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry, Atholl Wallace & cox Robert Hamlet - was the most successful of our crews and came home only 9 seconds adrift of the all-conquering boys of George Watson's College at the end of the 3 kilometre course and our scratch Girls' Junior Under 18 Four - Lucy Bonnamy, Catriona Bain, Danielle McNaughton & Joy Davies - also did reasonably well to finish in a time only 11 seconds short of Strathclyde Park's winning time of 9.44.

Our J15 Boys on the other hand with two complete beginners aboard were given a comprehensive mauling by a brilliant Watsonian J15 quartet which finished the Head as second crew overall, while our Girls' J14 Quad on their first outing as a crew did well not to come in last.

Crumbs of comfort are difficult to find. Hopefully however the message will finally have been brought home to our crews that this drubbing was almost totally attributable to their failure to turn up and train as units on a regular basis (ie 3/4 times per week). Strathclyde Park Regatta is only 6 weeks away!

At the Junior GB Trials in Boston, Lincolnshire, on Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th February, our senior girls - Lucy Bonnamy & Joy Davies - could only manage 11th place against 14 of the best Women's Junior Pairs in Britain. These girls were contesting places in the British squad for the World Junior Rowing Championships to be held this year in Beijing, China and the Coupe de la Jeunesse which will be held in Varese, Italy. Lucy & Joy must now wait to see whether or not they just have missed the cut-off point for invitations to the next stage in the GB trialling process.

Meanwhile at the SARA Trials held on Sunday in Inverness on the Caledonian Canal, Jonathan Wright & Johnathan Lockhart put up the fastest time in Men's Junior Pairs - albeit in the absence of George Watson's & George Heriot's - and should be invited back to the next stage of the selection process for places in the Scottish team at the Home Countries International Regatta at Inniscara in Ireland.

On Sunday 11th February 10 ASRA rowers brought home from the 2007 Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships at the Time Capsule, Coatbridge a total of 9 category medals - 6 gold, 2 silver and one bronze.

Gold (individual)

Girls Junior 13 - Fiona McKinnon (Robert Gordon's College), Girls Junior 14 - Catriona Bain (Aberdeen Grammar School), Boys Junior 15 - Jonathan Wright (Harlaw Academy), Girls Junior 18 - Joy Davies (Aberdeen Grammar School).

Gold (team)

Boys Junior Team Championship - Jonathan Wright (Harlaw), Johnathan Lockhart (RGC), Gary Wilson (AGS) & amp;Atholl Wallace (Meldrum Academy). Girls Junior Championship - Joy Davies (AGS), Lucy Bonnamy (Cults), Catriona Bain (AGS) & Jamie Steel (Harlaw).

Silver

Boys Junior 15 - Johnathan Lockhart (RGC), Girls Junior 18 - Lucy Bonnamy (Cults).

Bronze

Girls Junior 14 - Rachael Hadjitofi (AGS).

Good performances all round and some indication of how well winter training is going for the more committed members of the club.

At the Aberdeen Head of the River Dee races on the weekend of 4/5 November, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association members recorded the following category wins:

•  Women's R2 Pairs: Lucy Bonnamy & Joy Davies
•  Women's Novice Fours: Rachael Hadjitofi, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel & cox Niall Rundle.
•  Women's Novice Single Sculls: Lucy Bonnamy & Joy Davies (First Equal)
•  Women's J15 Double Sculls: Iona Riley & Jamie Steel
•  Men's J15 Double Sculls: Gary Wilson & Johnathan Wright
•  Men's J14 Quadruple Sculls: Blair Sorbie, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry, Atholl Wallace & cox Ilyes Dali-Ahmed

Particular congratulations to our J14 boys who finally overcame their formidable opposition from Stirling Boat Club.

At the annual Tees Small Boats Head of the River Race, Middlesbrough, on Saturday 28th October, ASRA crews racked up 6 category wins over the gruelling five kilometre course.

• Lucy Bonnamy (Cults Academy) & Joy Davies (Aberdeen Grammar School) - Women's Junior 18 Doubles and the pennant for the fastest Women's Junior Crew overall.
• Rachael Hadjitofi (Aberdeen Grammar School), Catriona Bain (Aberdeen Grammar School), Iona Riley (Hazlehead Academy) & Jamie Steel (Harlaw Academy) with cox Niall Rundle (Aberdeen Grammar School) - Women's Junior 15 Quadruple Sculls (First Division)
• Iona Riley (Hazlehead Academy) & Jamie Steel (Harlaw Academy) - Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls (Second Division)
• Johnathan Lockhart (Robert Gordon's College) - Mens' Junior 16 Single Sculls.
• Gary Wilson (Aberdeen Grammar School) - Men's Junior 15 Sculls.
• Atholl Wallace (Meldrum Academy) - Men's Junior 14 Sculls.

A magnificent performance by members of the Association rowing for the first time ever on the Tees.

At the Aberdeen Sprint Regatta on Saturday 9th September there was again unfortunately very little outside competition for our athletes. Stirling, Inverness and ABC did however give us food for thought in a number of events. Results were as follows:

•  MJ13 1x : Blair Sorbie
•  MJ14 1x : Atholl Wallace
•  MJ16 1x, MJ18 1x & MR2 1x : Johnathan Lockhart
•  MJ14 2x: Atholl Wallace & Blair Sorbie
•  MJ16 2x: Johnathan Lockhart & Jonathan Wright
•  WJ16 1x & WR2 1x: Catriona Bain
•  W Novice 1x: Lucy Bonnamy
•  WJ16 2x: Jamie Steel & Iona Riley
•  WJ18 2x: Jamie Steel & Iona Riley
•  WJ18 2- : Joy Davies & Lucy Bonnamy
•  Mixed R2 2x: Joy Davies & Colin Wallace

Disappointing results for our perhaps overly complacent WR2 Coxed Four and Coxless Pair who were beaten comprehensively by an extremely neat quartet from Aberdeen Boat Club - Margaret Cottam, Mette Jacobsen, Angela Ogier & Vanessa Duncan - and Stirling clearly still have the beating of us in J14 Quads.

Atholl Wallace and new partner Blair Sorbie with their excellent row in MJ14 Doubles gave notice however that Stirling may not have it all their own way in 2007. Star discovery of the day was without doubt our WJ15 sculler Catriona Bain who made a nonsense of our established sculling ladder and in a whole series of powerful and elegant performances threw down the gauntlet for the season ahead.

At the Home Countries Rowing International 2006 hosted this year by Scotland at Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, our 4 ASRA Scottish caps played a major role in securing second place ranking overall in the Junior Girls section of the competition. Joy Davies (Stroke) & Lucy Bonnamy (Bow) selected as a "development pair" after their Gold at the National Championships of Great Britain, showed remarkable composure for 16-year olds at this level and having left the Welsh at the start, rowed through the English National Schools pairs finalists from St. Leonards of Durham in the last quarter of the race to finish strongly only a length and a half behind the brilliant Coupe de la Jeunesse pairing from Ireland.

They then joined clubmates Seonaid Crosby at 6 and Jamie Steel in the cox seat in the Scottish Junior Girls' Eight to beat the English National Schools Champions from Thames-based Molesey Boat Club into third place and end again a highly respectable second behind the all-conquering girls from Ireland's Coupe squad.