At the Inverness Head Races on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th November, ASRA athletes recorded the following category wins:

• Men's Open Quadruple Sculls: Lewis McCue & Elliot Bruce in an ASRA/ABC composite with FPs Gary Wilson & Iona Riley
• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Lewis McCue, Nick Read, Jacob Vyse & Elliot Bruce, coxed by Jacob Turner
• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Andrew Main, George Turner, Lawrence Jennings & Alistair Frost, coxed by Sam Cassidy
• Men's Restricted 2 Coxless Pairs: Andrew Main & George Turner
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Gregor Duncan, Gregor Pittendreigh, Alex McGrath & Ollie Kinghorn, coxed by Leyi Yang
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Joanna Cassidy, Cara Napier, Katherine Lawrie & Charlotte Davie, coxed by Caitlyn Stewart
• Women's Junior 15 Fours: Cara Napier, Katherine Lawrie, Jessica Walker & Angelica Burzyk, coxed by Rémi Théron
• Women's Junior14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Sam Cassidy, Eilidh Matthew, Sade Igwike & Molly McAra, coxed by Erin Wyness

Some promising performances, but no room at all for complacency. No-one present could have failed to notice the strength in depth demonstrated by a resurgent George Watson's College, particularly in the sculling events.

At the annual Tees Head of the River races on Saturday 3rd November, ASRA crews opened their away account for the 2012/13 season with a series of promising performances, clinching 6 division winners' pennants in the course of the two 5 kilometre rows.

Division 1 (Tees Long Distance Sculls)

• Women's Junior 18 Double Sculls: Amelia Donovan & Erin Wyness
• Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Cara Napier & Katherine Lawrie
• Men's Junior 16 Double Sculls; Andrew Main & George Turner
• Men's Junior 15 Quadruple Sculls: Gregor Duncan, Gregor Pittendreigh, Ollie Kinghorn & Adam Stelmaszyk, coxed by Alex McGrath

Division 2 (Tees Small Boats Head)

• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours; Cara Napier, Katherine Lawrie, Jessica Walker & Angelica Burzyk, coxed by Bethany Galley
• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Gregor Duncan, Gregor Pittendreigh, Alex McGrath & Adam Stelmaszyk, coxed by Ollie Kinghorn

At the Aberdeen Head of the River Races on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th November, our ASRA athletes - in the absence of any junior entries from the South - all acquitted themselves with distinction against stout opposition from their own clubmates and members of Aberdeen Boat Club, AUBC, RGU and Dundee University. Special mention however must be made of our Lewis McCue, who showed that he had lost none of his form since his outstanding performances in a GB vest at the Junior World's as he not only stroked both ASRA's Men's J18 Four and Men's J18 Pair to beat all comers - Senior & Junior - in their respective divisions but as last year roared home to overall victory in Men's Open Single Sculls.
Medal winners in their finish order in each division were:

Saturday - Fours Head - Division 1

• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Four: Michael Brown, George Turner, Andrew Main & Alistair Frost, coxed by Ze Yu Ng
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Quad: Gregor Duncan, Gregor Pittendreigh, Ollie Kinghorn & Alex McGrath, coxed by Rémi Théron
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Four: Erin Wyness, Amelia Donovan, Morven Shaw & Clara Douglas, coxed by Ruth Bryce

Saturday - Fours Head - Division 2

• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Four: Lewis McCue, Nick Read, Jacob Vyse & Elliot Bruce, coxed by Leo McKeever
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Four: Alex McGrath, Ollie Kinghorn, Gregor Pittendreigh & Gregor Duncan, coxed by Rhys Hunter
• Women's R2 Coxed Four: Amelia Donovan, Erin Wyness, Morven Shaw & Ruth Bryce, coxed by Clara Douglas
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Four: Joanna Cassidy, Charlotte Davie, Liga Valentinas & Eilidh Thomson, coxed by Sade Igweke.
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quad: Rémi Théron, Hamish Dunnett, Adrian Thomson & Ewan Harold.

Sunday - Small Boats Head - Division 1

• Men's Open Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Jacob Vyse
• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Andrew Main & George Turner
• Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Cara Napier & Katherine Lawrie
• Men's Novice Quad Sculls: Jacob Turner, Hamish Dunnett, Alex Brown & Adrian Thomson, coxed by Finn Truter
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Amelia Donovan & Erin Wyness

Sunday - Small Boats Head Division 2

• Men's Open Coxless Pairs: Lewis McCue & Elliot Bruce
• Open Junior 15 Octuple Sculls: Alex McGrath, Gregor Duncan, Gregor Pittendreigh, Ollie Kinghorn, Rhegan Main, Calum Bird, Alex Brown & Carly McCready, coxed by Rhys Hunter
• Men's Junior 18 Pairs: Nick Read & Jacob Vyse
• Men's Junior 16 Single Sculls: George Turner
• Women's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Joanna Cassidy & Charlotte Davie
• Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Sam Cassidy & Eilidh Matthew
• Women's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Amelia Donovan
• Women's J15 Single Sculls: Cara Napier

On Saturday 13th October the inaugural Aberdeen Club Championship replaced the traditional Aberdeen Sprint Regatta. This new event - the brain child of our Senior Development Coach, Colin Wallace - saw the retention of 500m side-by-side racing but with the additional challenge of each club having to build a team of 27 men and 27 women to compete in only one event each in a variety of boat classes and land tests. Being the first weekend of the school holidays it was more difficult than usual for ASRA to build a team; however lots of new faces signed up to save the day and have their first experience of racing on the river , doing an excellent job in the process. Points were awarded for each event with 4 going to the winner of each event down to 1 for the loser. ASRA ended the day in a close third position after a great club effort:

1st -AUBC - 56 points

2nd - ABC - 50 points

3rd - ASRA - 44 points

4th - RGUBC - 27 points

ASRA athletes won 3 events during the day, all on the girls' side. Our "new" J18 girls' four - Amelia Donovan, Erin Wyness, Ruth Bryce & Morven Shaw - won the Women's 4+ event, last year's "golden girl" and new coach Holly Reid won the Welly Boot Toss and Joanna Cassidy & Charlotte Davie won the Women's 2- event after both the ABC & AUBC pairs capsized.

At the World Junior Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from the 15th to the 19th August, ASRA's boys' captain, Lewis McCue together with Robert Wickstead and Alexander Lloyd of Hampton School and Harry Lonergan of Royal Shrewsbury School came fourth in the final of the Men's Junior Coxless Fours event. Having rowed impressively in their heat and come a close second in the semi-final, the GB four were entitled to believe that they were in the running for a bronze medal at least behind Germany and the race favourites, Roumania. The Italian four had clearly not read the script however and led Roumania and Germany from start to finish and so pushed the GB boys out of the medals. The baking heat had not helped, but the boys were left feeling a little disappointed that their performance on the day had not come up to their high expectations. Coaches Duncan and Wallace, who had travelled out to Bulgaria to see the racing and the rest of the coaching team at home nevertheless salute Lewis's immense achievement as the first boy and only the second athlete in our history to achieve selection for GB at the World Junior Rowing Championships. The longer toothed amongst us will recall that ASRA's Lucy Buglass also came fourth in the Women's Junior Coxless Four event in the 2002 Junior World's on Lake Trakai in Lithuania.

At the Home Countries International Regatta on Saturday 21st July on Cardiff Bay, 12 ASRA athletes were capped for Scotland, a great achievement in itself, but the results unfortunately fell a little short of our high expectations.

Perhaps victims of the dreaded "commentator's curse" but more probably simply "rowed out" at the end of an incredibly exhausting and highly successful racing schedule, our "seemingly unstoppable" senior girls - Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes & Christie Duff - finally met their Waterloo in the shape of a revitalised Trentham four in the Women's Junior Coxless Fours event and were beaten by a convincing five seconds on the day.
Bitterly disappointed and with heads more than a little down, our foursome coxed by Sam Cassidy then went on to lose narrowly again to the old enemy, this time in the Women's Junior Coxed event against a formidable English composite of GB final selection triallists. A shock for coaches and athletes alike, but Scotland Team manager, Graeme Cunningham, said afterwards ... " the ASRA athletes in the JW4- achieved the best GMT% of any Scottish crew racing as well as being in the top 10 of all crews. I know from speaking with them on Saturday that they were very disappointed but I hope this helps them to realise they have every reason to be proud of the their performances"
Our three boys too - Elliot Bruce, Nicholas Read & Jacob Vyse - found the going extremely tough, but they have the consolation of knowing, as indeed do our J16 girls - Joanna Cassidy, Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness, Amelia Donovan with cox Samantha Cassidy - that they can do it all again next year.

At the British Rowing Championships held this year from the 13th to the 15th July at the English National Watersports Centre, Nottingham, our National Schools' and Women's Henley champions continued their seemingly unstoppable series of victories to win brilliant golds in both the Women's Junior Under 18 Coxed and Coxless Fours.
This "awesome foursome" - Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes, Christie Duff & cox Charlotte Davie - is unbeaten this year in all domestic competitions north and south of the border and will move forward next week to represent Scotland in both these disciplines at the annual Home Countries International Regatta in Wales on Cardiff Bay.

Not to be outdone, ASRA's Junior Under 16 Coxless Pair - Jacob Vyse and Nick Read - went one better than the silver they had won at National Schools' and demolished a classy field to take gold, a thumping 13 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals.

In a fiercely contested final, ASRA's injury troubled Junior Under 16 girls - Joanna Cassidy, Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness , Amelia Donovan & cox Sam Cassidy - showed that they too are the stuff of champions as they snatched the bronze from Pangbourne College in the closing metres of the race.
Congratulations too to our MJ14 Double and our MJ16 and MJ18 Coxed Fours on reaching their respective finals and grateful thanks as always to our loyal parents for their help and support over the three days of the event.

On Saturday 30th June ASRA returned to the Talkin Tarn Regatta, Cumbria, for the first time since the early seventies where a squad of our young, less experienced rowers put in a series of creditable performances to bring home an impressive haul of six category B gold medals.

• Women's Junior 13 Double Sculls: Eilidh Matthew & Samantha Cassidy
• Men's Junior 13 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Alex Brown, Hamish Dunnett, Rémi Théron & Ewan Harold, coxed by Angelika Burzyk
• Men's Junior 13 Single Sculls: Rémi Théron
• Women's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Eilidh Matthew, Samantha Cassidy, Angelika Burzyk & Lise Théron, coxed by Ewan Harold
• Women's Junior 14 Single Sculls: Jessica Walker
• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Gregor Pittendreigh & Alex McGrath

Meanwhile ASRA FP and Coach - Iona Riley - has finally clinched selection for the the GB team to take part in the World Under 23 Rowing Championships in two weeks time in Vilnius, Lithuania .

On the Saturday 16th June, ASRA hosted the 4th Annual Inter-Schools Regatta which sees all the wet start crews compete against each other after only 9 weeks of rowing.
The weather held out for the day which featured 9 beginner crews from Torry, Oldmachar, Cults, Harlaw, Kincorth, Bucksburn Academies, the Grammar School and Holy Family Primary School. Racing was excellent with the Cults B crew winning the Aberdeen Inter-Schools Cup in the final over a composite crew from Cults/Torry.
At the same time, all ASRA members raced against each other for their own schools. At the end of the pool stage four crews were tied on points which resulted in a four way race off for the Elliot Rowing Cup between Albyn, Cults, Hazlehead and Robert Gordons. Cults were the eventual winners by just over a length to Albyn.
Thanks to all parents for coming down and helping make the event run so smoothly.

At the Henley Women's Regatta on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th June, our outstanding Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association National Schools' Rowing Champions - Morven Shaw, Holly Reid , Emily Geddes & Christie Duff, coxed by Charlotte Davie - rowing into blustery headwinds and powerful rain-swollen currents, triumphed yet again on the Thames to win the Groton School Challenge Cup.

The original field of 17 included household names from all over England and three crews from North America. On Saturday they beat King's School Canterbury and Groton School USA and on Sunday they overcame King's School Chester to set up a final against the Merion Mercy Academy's "Varsity Four", fresh from their second win in a row in America's annual National Scholastic Rowing Championships in New Jersey.
A well deserved gold also went to ASRA F.P. and coach, Iona Riley, who together with seven other GB Under 23 aspirants, swept the board in Women's Elite Eights.

At the Scottish Rowing Championships at Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, 0n the 9th & 10th June, athletes from the Aberdeen Schools' Rowing Association, in a season of tumbling records, established yet another a new record for the club at this event by bringing home an almost unbelievable haul of 23 gold medals over the two days.
There were memorable performances at all age levels, but special mention has to be made of our seniors' victories in Women's Open 4 - and Men's Open 2 - and the long- awaited ASRA win in MJ 18 Single Sculls, a feat last achieved by Ernie Clarke way back in 1973 !
Nothing has been confirmed yet, but clearly a number of our seniors must now be in line for selection for the Home Countries International Regatta in Wales in July.

Saturday

• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw, Emily Geddes, Holly Reid & Christie Duff, coxed by Charlotte Davie
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Joanna Cassidy, Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness & Amelia Donovan, coxed by Sam Cassidy
• Women's Junior 12 Single Sculls: Eilidh Matthew
• Men's Junior 18 Eights: George Turner, Andrew Main, Calum Knowles, Alasdair Crawford, Nicholas Reid, Jacob Vyse, Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue, coxed by Henry Tawse
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Elliot Bruce, Jacob Vyse, Nick Read & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 18 Double Sculls: Lewis McCue & Elliot Bruce
• Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Jacob Vyse & Nick Read
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Gregor Pittendreigh, Ze Yu Ng, Adam Stelmaszyk & Gregor Duncan, coxed by Lise Théron
• Men's Junior 13 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Rémi Théron, Alex Brown, Hamish Dunnett & Jacob Turner, coxed by Joanna Cassidy

Sunday

• Women's Open Coxless Fours: Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes & Christie Duff
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes & Christie Duff
• Women's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Kiera Paterson & Amelia Donovan
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Charlotte Davie, Erynn Fraser, Tanneth Parker & Joanna Cassidy, coxed by Jessie Paterson
• Open Junior 12 Single Sculls: Eilidh Matthew
• The Grieve Cup for Girls' Novice Coxed Fours: Bethany Galley, Lise Théron, Jessie Paterson & Cara Napier, coxed by Angelika Burzyk
• Men's Open Coxless Pairs: Elliot Bruce and Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Elliot Bruce, Jacob Vyse, Nick Read & Lewis McCue, coxed by Henry Tawse
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 15 Eights : Calum Bird, Rhys Hunter, Lawrence Jennings, Leo McKeever, Alistair Frost, Andrew Main, George Turner & Michael Brown, coxed by Jacob Turner
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Fours: Findlay Douglas, Christian Chapman-Bird, Ollie Kinghorn & Alexander McGrath, coxed by Angelika Burzyk
• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Adam Stelmaszyk & Gregor Duncan
• The Wylie Cup for Boys' Novice Coxed Quads: Rémi Théron, Calum Bird, Hamish Dunnett & Alex Brown, coxed by Lise Théron

From Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd June, 7 crews from the Aberdeen Schools' Rowing Association joined 4,500 junior rowers from all over the British Isles to take part in the annual National Schools' Regatta at the English National Watersports Centre, Nottingham...and to great effect. They brought home to Aberdeen 2 gold medals, 1 silver and 2 bronze in a phenomenal record-breaking performance for the club at this regatta.

Gold

• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours (and the James Mason Plate for the second time in three years): Morven Shaw (three NSR golds in a row!), Holly Reid, Emily Geddes & Christie Duff, coxed by Charlotte Davie
• Men's Junior 17 Single Sculls (and the Politzer Trophy): Lewis McCue, setting a new course record

Silver

• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Jacob Vyse & Nick Read

Bronze

• Men's Junior Championship Coxless Pairs: Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Adam Stelmaszyk & Gregor Duncan

There were good performances too from our J15 Boys and our J16 Girls. The boys reached the final of their event and the girls, having come an excellent 3rd out of 16 in the time trial, were unlucky to be squeezed out in an unxpectedly tough semi-final. Congratulations to the coaching team and grateful thanks to our long suffering parents for their help with transport and their unswerving support during the event.

On Saturday 19th May at Castle Semple Regatta, Lochwinnoch, ASRA athletes won a total of 16 gold medals, a new record for the club at this regatta. Good performances all round and some grounds for optimism as we move forward to the prestigious National Schools' Championships in Nottingham.

Boys

• Men's Open Coxless Pairs : Lewis McCue & Elliot Bruce
• Men's R2 Coxless Pairs: Nick Read & Jacob Vyse
• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Lewis McCue, Jacob Vyse, Nick Read & Elliot Bruce, coxed by Charlotte Davie
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Lewis McCue & Elliot Bruce
• Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Men's Novice Coxed Fours: Michael Brown, George Turner, Andrew Main & Alistair Frost, coxed by Bethany Reece
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Gregor Duncan, Adam Stelmaszyk, Alex McGrath & Gregor Pittendreigh, coxed by Henry Tawse
• Men's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Gregor Duncan & Adam Stelmaszyk
• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Ollie Kinghorn & Ze Yu Ng
• Men's Junior 14 Single Sculls: Adam Stelmaszyk
• Men's Junior 13 Double Sculls: Jacob Turner & Rémi Théron

Girls

• Women's Open Coxless Pairs: Christie Duff & Emily Geddes
• Women's R1 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff, Emily Geddes, Holly Reid & Amelia Donovan, coxed by Henry Tawse
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Christie Duff & Emily Geddes
• Women's Novice Coxed Fours: Emily Mowat, Bethany Reece, Charlotte Davie & Joanna Cassidy, coxed by Lise Théron
• Women's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Cara Napier & Jessica Walker

At the Munich International Junior Regatta on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th of May, the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association Boys' Club Captain, Lewis McCue, rowing for Team Great Britain, won an outstanding gold in the "A" Final of Junior 18 Coxless Fours and came second in the "A" Final in Junior 18 Coxless Pairs.
He now moves forward to final GB selection trials in July for the World Junior Rowing Championships to be held this year in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in August.

Meanwhile, back home at the annual NE Regatta, Lewis's fellow ASRA rowers were again winning outright the Championship of the Dee, well ahead of their nearest rivals from Aberdeen University. The Girls' Club Captain was presented with the trophy by Aberdeen Boat Club's President, Jim Steel.

On Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th April at the Strathclyde Park Regatta, Motherwell, the girls and boys from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association won a grand total of 13 gold medals. These included total dominance in all the girls' junior sweep oared events on offer and historic wins in Women's Open Coxless Fours and Men's Open Coxless Pairs.

• Women's Open Coxless Fours: Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes & Christie Duff
• Women's Restricted 1 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw , Holly Reid, Emily Geddes, Christie Duff & cox Charlotte Davie
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes, Christie Duff & cox Charlotte Davie
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Emily Geddes & Christie Duff
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Joanna Cassidy, Kiera Paterson, Charlotte Davie, Amelia Donovan & cox Sam Cassidy
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Tanneth Parker, Jessie Paterson, Charlotte Davie, Amelia Donovan & cox Sam Cassidy
• Women's Junior 14 Coxed Fours: Bethany Galley, Jessica Walker, Katherine Lawrie, Cara Napier & cox Henry Tawse
• Men's Open Coxless Pairs: Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Alistair Frost, Andrew Main, George Turner, Michael Brown & cox Bethany Reece
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quad Sculls: Gregor Pittendreich, Chak Yuk Ng, Adam Stelmaszyk, Gregor Duncan & Samantha Cassidy
• Men's Junior 14 Single Sculls: Adam Stelmaszyk
• Open Junior 13 Double Sculls: Samantha Cassidy & Hamish Dunnett

Commiserations to our J16 boys who were just pipped at the post by Heriot's and to our boys' J14 Double who shipwrecked so close to victory, and grateful thanks as always to our magnificent parents' support team without whose efforts these results would not have been possible.

At the Gent Spring International Regatta, on the 7th & 8th of April, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association athletes won a total of 5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals.

Saturday

Gold

• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours - Emily Geddes, Christie Duff, Holly Reid & Morven Shaw
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls - Adam Stelmaszyk, Gregor Pittendreigh, Gregor Duncan, Ze-Yu Ng & Cox Bethany Reece

Silver

• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs - Emily Geddes & Christie Duff Silver -
• Women's Open Eights - Emily Geddes, Christie Duff , Morven Shaw, Amelia Donovan, Holly Reid, Clara Douglas, Kiera Paterson, Joanna Cassidy & Cox Charlotte Davie

Bronze

• Men's Junior14 Single Sculls - Adam Stelmaszyk.

Sunday

Gold

• Women's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls - Bethany Galley, Cara Napier, Katherine Lawrie, Jessica Walker & Cox Lise Theron
• Women's Junior18 Coxed Fours - Emily Geddes, Christie Duff, Holly Reid & Morven Shaw
• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls - Adam Stelmaszyk & Gregor Duncan

Silver

• Women's Junior 18 Pairs - Emily Geddes & Christie Duff

Bronze

• Women's Junior 18 Pairs - Holly Reid & Morven Shaw

Meanwhile, as a result of his exceptional performance at the GB Spring Assessments in Nottingham, ASRA Boys' Captain, Lewis McCue has been selected to attend the Munich Regatta on the 5th & 6th of May as part of the Great Britain Junior Rowing Team.

On Saturday 3rd March at the Scottish Schools' Head Races on the Forth & Clyde Canal (Banknock to Dullatur) crews from the Aberdeen Schools' Rowing Association dominated the event for the third year in succession to bring back the Scottish Club Team Trophy once again to Aberdeen.

Winners' pennants were awarded in the following boat categories:

• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours; Lewis McCue(Harlaw), Alistair Crawford (RGU), Callum Knowles (RGC) & Elliot Bruce (Harlaw) coxed by Euan Gregory (Albyn)
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Emily Geddes (Harlaw), Holly Reid, (Aberdeen College) Christie Duff (Harlaw) & Morven Shaw (Portlethen) coxed by Alex McGrath (Albyn)
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Amelia Donovan (RGC), Erin Wyness (Bridge of Don), Joanna Cassidy (Cults) & Kiera Paterson (Harlaw) coxed by Findlay Douglas (Albyn)
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Gregor Duncan (Cults), Gregor Pittendreigh (Hazlehead), Chak Yul Ng (Albyn), Adam Stelmaszyk (Harlaw) coxed by Cameron Bell (Cults)

Elsewhere, in the individual schools' event, ASRA boys from Albyn School (Alex McGrath, Findlay Douglas, Ollie Kinghorn & Christy Chapman-Bird coxed by Euan Gregory) won the Schoolboys' Junior 14 Coxed Quads in convincing style.

On Saturday 25th February at the Aberdeen Eights and Coxed Quads Head there were excellent performances from our ASRA squad despite the absence of any Junior opposition from the South.
Special mention must be made of our Women's Junior 18 Eight - Emily Geddes, Holly Reid, Christie Duff, Morven Shaw, Amelia Donovan, Erin Wyness, Kiera Paterson & Joanna Cassidy - which put up the fastest women's crew time in Division 2 and beat in so doing the old WJ18 record time set in 2002 by 14 seconds.
Rowing against stout opposition mounted by their ASRA clubmates, Adam Stelmaszyk, Gregor Pittendreigh, Gregor Duncan and Ze-Yu Ng won MJ14 quads and Cara Napier, Lise Theron, Katherine Lawrie and Bethany Galley won the girls'event.
Thanks to all the parents who helped out with admin, boating and timing and without whose help the event could not have taken place.

At the GB Junior Long Distance Trials in Boston, Lincolnshire, on Sunday 19th February, three athletes from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Assocaiation put in outstanding performances to keep themselves in the running for selection to row in the World Junior Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in August.
Lewis McCue partnered by Ed Munno of Bedford Modern School came a brilliant 2nd out of 48 in the Men's Junior Coxless Pairs trial and in the Women's equivalent event, Emily Geddes and Christie Duff came 7th out of 18. At the same selection stage in 2002, Lucy Buglass and Jill Beck of ASRA came 5th in the Women's Junior Pairs event with Lucy eventually going on to row for Great Britain in the Women's Coxless Four at the World Junior Rowing Championships in Vilnius, Lithuania.

On Sunday 29th January at the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships held at the Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, athletes from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association put in outstanding performances - both individual and team - to win a total of 5 gold medals, 7 silver and 2 bronze.

Gold

• Women's Under 15: Cara Napier (Robert Gordon's College)
• Men's Under 19: Lewis McCue (Harlaw Academy)
• Women's Open Lightweight: Christie Duff (Harlaw Academy)
• Men's Under 19 Team Event: Lewis McCue (Harlaw Academy), Nick Read (Albyn School), Alasdair Crawford (Robert Gordon University) & Jacob Vyse (Aberdeen Grammar School)
• Women's Under 19 Team Event: Holly Reid (Aberdeen College), Emily Geddes (Harlaw Academy), Christie Duff (Harlaw Academy) & Morven Shaw (Portlethen Academy)

Silver

• Women's Under 13: Eilidh Matthew (Aberdeen Grammar School)
• Women's Under 14: Jessica Walker (Hazlehead Academy)
• Men's Under 16: Jacob Vyse (Aberdeen Grammar School)
• Men's Under 17: Nick Read (Albyn School)
• Women's Under 19: Emily Geddes (Harlaw Academy)
• Men's Under 15 Team Event: Adam Stelmaszyk (Harlaw Academy), Ollie Kinghorn (Albyn School), Michael Brown (Aberdeen Grammar School) & Leo McKeever (Albyn School)
• Women's Under 15 Team Event: Cara Napier (Robert Gordon's College), Jessica Walker (Hazlehead Academy), Katherine Lawrie (Mackie Academy) & Bethany Galley (Oldmachar Academy)

Bronze

• Men's Under 15: Adam Stelmaszyk (Harlaw Academy)
• Women's Under 19: Holly Reid (Aberdeen College)

At the GB Early Identification Trial held in Boston on Saturday the 19th of November Lewis McCue came an impressive 5th in a field of 152 athletes all competing for a place in the Junior Worlds Team for 2012 and in consequence he has been invited to the GB potential training camp to be held in Nantes, France, from 15th to the 22nd December. The next GB trial takes place in February and sees him partnered by Elliot Bruce in the coxless pair and also sees Emily Geddes and Christie Duff competing in the pair.

At the Aberdeen Head of the River Races on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th November, ASRA athletes recorded 13 category wins over the two days. In the Small Boats Heads on Sunday, special mention must be made of our intrepid club captain and GB hopeful, Lewis McCue, who trounced all comers in his single scull in Division 1 and who then joined up with his long-standing pairs partner, Elliot Bruce, to put up the fastest time overall in Division 2.

Fours Head - Division 1

• Open Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Tom Falconer, Nic Read, Jacob Vyse & Matt Carter, cox Rémi Théron
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness, Clodagh Stevenson & Amelia Donovan, cox Alex McGrath
• Women's Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Rhegan Main, Bethany Galley, Katherine Lawrie & Angelika Burzyk, cox Findlay Douglas

Fours Head - Division 2

• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Elliot Bruce, Calum Knowles, Alisdair Crawford & Lewis McCue, cox Marina Ostepova
• Women's Restricted 2 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes, cox Saskia Rots
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Gregor Duncan, Jack Ng, Adam Stelmaszyk & Alex McGrath, cox Bethany Galley
• Women's junior 16 Coxed Fours: Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness, Clodagh Stevenson & Amelia Donovan, cox Alex. McGrath
• Women's Novice Coxed Quads: Erynn Fraser, Joanna Cassidy, Charlotte Davie & Tanneth Parker, cox Jessie Peterson

Small Boats Head - Division 1

• Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Emily Geddes & Christie Duff Small Boats Head - Division 2
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless pairs: Nick Read & Jacob Vyse
• Women's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Emily Geddes
• Open Junior 15 Octuple Sculls: Rheagan Main, Ollie Kinghorn, Jack Ng, Jacob Turner, Cara Napier, Bethany Galley, Finn Truter & Sam Cassidy, cox Jessica Walker.

At the Tyne Head of the River Races on Saturday 5th November, crews from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association recorded wins in 5 racing categories over the two 5 kilometer races.

Tyne Long Distance Head

• Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 15 Quadruple Sculls: Michael Brown, Andrew Main, George Turner & Alistair Frost, coxed by Jacob Turner
• Women's J18 Double Sculls: Holly Reid & Morven Shaw Tyne Small Boats Head
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Elliot Bruce, Callum Knowles, Alisdair Crawford & Lewis McCue
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes, coxed by Bethany Galley
• Commiserations to Emily Geddes on losing by 2 seconds in Women's Junior 18 Sculls to the sculler from Cambois.

At the Tees Heads on Saturday 22nd October, ASRA crews opened their 2011/12 account with emphatic victories in 4 categories over the two 5 kilometre races:

Division 1 (Tees Long Distance Head)

• Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Women's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Christie Duff
• Women's Junior 18 Double Sculls: Morven Shaw & Holly Reid Division 2: (Tees Small Boats Head)
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Quads: Amelia Donovan, Morven Shaw, Christie Duff & Holly Reid. (+ the Pennant for the Fastest Junior Women's Crew)

At the Home Countries International Regatta on Saturday 23rd July held this year at Strathclyde Park, 11 ASRA rowers were awarded Scottish caps as a result of their outstanding performances at the Scottish Rowing Championships. Our J17 girls in the Women's Junior Coxed Fours event - Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes coxed by Alistair Frost - had the satisfaction of beating the LEH crew representing England who had robbed them of gold at the British Champs. but were unfortunately unable to mount a meaningful challenge to the supremacy of the brilliant Irish foursome who led from start to finish in their event.

Our J15/16 boys - Elliot Bruce, Cameron Gordon, Lewis McCue & Jacob Vyse - who had been selected to row the Junior Coxless Four were sadly unable to repeat the performance they had put up at the Scottish Champs. and could neither match the power nor the skill level of their older, more experienced opponents. Their time will come! Depressingly, our promising Scottish Junior Eight with Elliot and Lewis and our J18s Niall Rundle & Grant Ross shared the fate of so many Scottish Eights in the past and for the same reasons. The three outings during our training camp in what was basically a scratch boat were simply not sufficient preparation for a race against the practised units from the other home nations.

Thankfully our FPs fared rather better with Colin Wallace, Gary Wilson and Judith Herbert striking gold in Mens's Open Pairs, Men's Open Coxless Fours and Women's Lightweight Pairs respectively, and ASRA's 2010 HIR gold medallists - Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie Steel with Lucy Bonnamy - coming a creditable second a length behind England in Women's Under 23 Coxless Fours and 2 seconds behind the auld enemy in Women's Senior Eights.

At the British Rowing Championships held at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, from the 15th to the 17th July, ASRA won 3 golds and 2 silvers - a new record for the club at this level.

On Saturday Lewis "Nutter" McCue took ASRA's first ever British single sculling title when he romped home ahead of a powerful field in Men's Junior 16 Sculls and then went on with his partner - Elliot Bruce - to take gold in Men's Junior 16 Pairs just as they had done in 2010 as 15 year olds.

Not to be outdone, that same day our J16 girls four - Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness, Morven Shaw & Amelia Donovan coxed by Bethany Reece - put up a great performance in a hastily assembled scratch coxed four to take silver in Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours.

On Sunday, ASRA's J17 girls - Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes - demonstrated that their excellent showing at the Scottish Champs.had been no flash in the pan, and coxed by Alistair Frost first took silver in Women's J18 Coxed Fours and shortly afterwards a brilliant gold in Women's J18 Coxless Fours.

At the GB J16 Trials held at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, on Sunday 26th June, our three J16 Coxless Pairs entries performed outstandingly to come 2nd and 4th in the boys' competition and 2nd in the girls' one. Lewis McCue and Elliot Bruce were beaten by the boys from St. Edward's School as they had been at Nat. Schools, but since the latter were already selected for the Eight, our boys' performance was still good enough to secure their places in the GB Coxless Pair to face France on the 10th July at Docklands. No happy ending however for our Nat. Schools' champions - Morven Shaw & Amelia Donovan - who were beaten on the day by the Nat. Schools' silver medallists from Headington School.

At the Henley Women's Regatta on the 17th, 18th and 19th June, our newly crowned WJ18 Scottish Champions in Coxed and Coxless Fours - Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes, coxed by Alistair Frost - found the going predictably tough in an event populated by all the Nat. Schools' finalists as well as top ranked crews from Ireland and North America. Drawn against an excellent Thames RC/Globe RC composite, the ASRA quartet led to about half-way, but were then overtaken by a fitter, heavier crew which was more able to cope with the buffeting head-wind. Our comparatively lightweight girls fought back well in the last quarter and went down in the end by respectable one and a quarter lengths. It must be borne in mind that our girls are still J17 and will live to fight another day as far as the Groton Challenge Cup is concerned.

At the Scottish Championships on the 11th & 12th June, ASRA athletes won the following medals:

Saturday

Gold

• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Alistair Frost, Andrew Main, George Turner & Bruce Sorbie, coxed by Jessica Walker
• Men's Junior 13 Double Sculls: Adam Stelmaszyk & Bruce Sorbie
• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Elliot Bruce, Lewis McCue, Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse, coxed by Henry Tawse
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Elliot Bruce, Lewis McCue , Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes Silver
• Men's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse
• Men's Junior 14 Single Sculls: Bruce Sorbie

Sunday

Gold

• Women's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs; Morven Shaw & Amelia Donovan
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jamie Rees & Emily Geddes, coxed by Alistair Frost
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Erin Wyness, Kiera Paterson, Emily Duff & Amelia Donovan, coxed by Charlotte Davie
• Men's Junior 13 Single Sculls: Bruce Sorbie
• Men's Junior 16 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Lewis McCue & Elliot Bruce Silver
• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls: George Turner & Bruce Sorbie
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Lewis McCue & Elliot Bruce

At the National Schools' Regatta, Nottingham, on the 27th, 28th and 29th May, 5 ASRA crews joined the 4,287 rowers from 164 clubs from all over Britain to brave the fierce blustery headwinds which rarely slackened over the whole course of the weekend.

All 5 crews survived the preliminary processionals to enter the competition proper. Both our J15 Girls' Coxed Four and our J15 Girls' Eight were unfortunate enough to be drawn in the stronger of the two semi-finals and had to be content in the knowledge that their times would otherwise have assured them a place in the final. Our J18 girls - Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes and Christie Duff, coxed by Kyra Steel - found the going extremely tough and struggled to progress to the final of the James Mason Plate, ending up a creditable 5th in this event which the girls from ASRA had won in 2010.

Medals finally came on Sunday when the weather conditions had become so dangerous that side-by-side racing was replaced entirely by time trials. In the Men's J16 Coxless Pairs event , ASRA "A" - Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue - took a hard fought bronze, with ASRA "B" - Cameron Gordon (15) & Jacob Vyse (15) - coming in an impressive 7th in a field of 19, and gold came in the second last race of the day in Women's J16 Coxless Pairs, when Morven Shaw (16) and Amelia Donovan (15) put in a storming performance to bring home the Headington Cup to Aberdeen.

At the North East Regatta on the Dee on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th May, ASRA athletes recorded 19 wins to secure the overall Championship of the Dee by a narrow 10 point margin over their nearest rivals, Aberdeen Boat Club.

Welcome opposition in Junior events came from a large Edinburgh contingent from George Watson's College and George Heriot's School. Winning crews in event order were:

Saturday

• Men's Junior15 Coxed Fours: George Turner, Bruce Sorbie, Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse, cox Henry Tawse
• Men's Junior 18 Double Sculls: Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Imogen Appleton, Clodagh Stevenson, Bethany Reece & Amelia Donovan, cox Henry Tawse
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes & Christie Duff, cox Henry Tawse
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Ollie Kinghorn, Adam Stelmaszyk, Chris Welch & Alex McGrath, cox Henry Tawse
• Men's Junior 18 Pairs; Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 16 Double Sculls: Alistair Frost & George Turner
• Men's Junior 16 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: George Turner, Bruce Sorbie, Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse, cox Findlay Douglas
• Men's Junior 14 Single Sculls: George Turner
• Women's R2 Pairs: Morven Shaw & Amelia Donovan
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Kiera Paterson, Amanda Dedmon, Erin Wyness & Emily Duff, cox Jacob Turner
• Men's Novice Single Sculls: Niall Rundle
• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Alistair Frost & George Turner

Sunday

• Men's Novice Coxed Quadruple Sculls: George Turner, Henry Tawse, Jacob Turner & Bruce Sorbie, cox Jessica Walker
• Men's Novice Coxed Fours: Matt Carter, Nick Read, Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse, cox Tom Falconer
• Generation Double Sculls: Jim Steel (ABC) & Lewis McCue (ASRA)
• Women's R2 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes & Christie Duff, cox Kyra Steel
• Men's R2 Coxed Fours: Matt Carter, Nick Read, Elliot Bruce & Jacob Vyse, cox Tom Falconer

At the Strathclyde Park Regatta, Motherwell, on Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th April, it was the ASRA boys who accounted for 11 of the total of 13 gold medals won by the club over the course of the weekend. This notwithstanding, it was our J17 girls - Holly Reid, Morven Shaw (for injured Jaimie Rees), Emily Geddes & Christie Duff - who, having disappointingly lost out on Saturday in the Women's J18 Coxed Fours race to George Watson's College, then put up one of the most exciting displays of the regatta when on Sunday they missed out on gold in a photo-finish to Edinburgh University in the final of Women's Restricted 2 Coxed Fours in a time that would have won them the J18 title the previous day.

Saturday

• Men's Junior 15 8o: Jacob Vyse. Cameron Gordon, Bruce Sorbie, George Turner, Andrew Main, Alistair Frost, Alex McGrath, Andrew Birnie cox Samantha Cassidy
• Men's Junior 18 Pairs: Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 13 Quad Sculls: Chak Yuk Ng, Christian Chapman-Bird, Ollie Kinghorn & Alexander McGrath cox Samantha Cassidy
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness, Amanda Dedmon & Emily Duff cox Jessica Walker
• Men's Junior 13 Single Sculls: Bruce Sorbie
• Men's Junior 12 Double Sculls: Henry Tawse & Jacob Turner
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Fours: Alistair Frost, Andrew Main, George Turner & Bruce Sorbie cox Emily Duff
• Men's J16 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue

Sunday

• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Matt Carter, Nicholas Reid, Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse cox Charlotte Davie
• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Elliot Bruce, Lewis McCue, Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse cox Tom Falconer
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quad Sculls: Alistair Frost, Andrew Main, George Turner & Bruce Sorbie cox Sam Cassidy
• Men's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Christie Duff & Emily Geddes

At the annual Gent Spring International Regatta on the 9th & 10th April, an Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association squad decimated by a quite unparalleled number of injuries nevertheless rose to the challenge and brought home a new club record of 6 gold medals from this event.

Undoubted stars of the weekend were our J14 boys who won all three gold medals available in their age range - J14 Single Sculls: Bruce Sorbie (in a field of 39); J14 Double Sculls: Bruce Sorbie and Andrew Main (in a a field of 24) & J14 Quadruple Sculls: Bruce Sorbie, George Turner, Andrew Main & Alistair Frost, coxed by Bethany Reece.

Not to be outdone, our J14 Girls - Tanneth Parker, Erynn Fraser, Joanna Cassidy & Charlotte Davie, coxed by Bethany Reece - took an unopposed gold in the Women's J14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls event and finally a scratch ASRA Junior 18 girls crew - Amelia Donovan (15), Morven Shaw (16), Holly Reid(17) & Emily Geddes - took gold in Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours and later joined our FPs - Jamie Steel, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Lucy Bonnamy - to win the Women's Open Eights title on a row-over following no-shows by the French girls from Rouen CNA and the German squad from Bonn RG.

On Saturday 5th March at the Scottish Schools' Annual Head of the River Race on the Forth & Clyde Canal between Banknock and Auchinstarry, Aberdeen Schools' Rowing Association crews won 3 event categories outright and came second in a further 3 to win the Scottish Junior Team Championship Cup for the second year in succession.

Winners' pennants went to:

• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff (Harlaw Academy), Holly Reid (Cults Academy), Jamie Rees (Robert Gordon's College) & Emily Geddes (Harlaw Academy) coxed by Eilidh Mathew (Skene Square Primary)
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Kiera Paterson (Harlaw Academy), Amelia Donovan (Robert Gordon's College), Erin Wyness (Bridge of Don Academy) & Emily Duff (Harlaw Academy) coxed by Callum McKnight (Albyn School)
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Alistair Frost (Hazlehead Academy), George Turner (Cults Academy), Andrew Main (Cults Academy) & Bruce Sorbie (Robert Gordon's College) coxed by Jacob Turner (Cults Primary)

Congratulations to them and to our gallant runners-up in Women's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls, Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours & Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours, without whose points we would not have been able to bring home the Team Championship Trophy.

On Saturday 5th February at the Aberdeen 8's & Junior Quads Head of River our ASRA girls - Kiera Paterson, Amanda Dedmon, Emily Duff, Morven Shaw, Jamie Rees, Emily Geddes, Christie Duff & Holly Reid coxed by Lewis McCue - dominated their opposition from Aberdeen Boat Club, Aberdeen & Dundee Universities in the first division to win the Women's Restricted 2 Eights title by some 17 seconds.

Not to be outdone our ASRA boys - George Turner, Ying Huang, Cameron Gordon, Jacob Vyse, Niall Rundle, Grant Ross, Elliot Bruce, & Lewis McCue, coxed by Christie Duff won the men's equivalent in fine style and recorded in so doing the fastest time overall in the second division, having to deal with serious opposition from Aberdeen Boat Club and Aberdeen, Dundee and Heriot-Watt Universities.

The Open Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls event was won by Tanneth Parker, Erynn Fraser, Jessica Walker and Joanna Cassidy coxed by Charlotte Davie, who triumphed by a margin of 13 seconds over their unfortunate male counterparts.

At the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships held on 23rd January at Heriot-Watt University, ASRA athletes won the following medals:

Gold

• WJ 18 lwt - Christie Duff
• OJ 16 - Lewis McCue
• J 14 mixed team. Silver
• WJ 16 - Morven Shaw
• WJ 14 - Emily Duff
• WJ Team
• OJ 13 - Bruce Sorbie

Bronze

• WJ 18 - Holly Reid
• WJ 14 - Amelia Donovan
• WJ 13 - Tanneth Parker
• WJ 12 - Jessica Walker
• OJ 14 - Jacob Vyse
• OJ 13 - Adam Stelmastyk
• J 14 mixed team

At the Inverness Fours Head on the Caledonian Canal on Saturday 6th November, ASRA athletes recorded three category wins:

• Women's Junior 16 Fours: Amelia Donovan, Amanda Dedmon, Erin Wyness & Bethany Reece, coxed by Ollie Kinghorn
• Men's Junior 16 Fours: Lewis McCue, Jacob Vyse, Cameron Gordon & Elliot Bruce, coxed by Dan McNight
• Men's Junior 15 Fours: George Turner, Ying Huang, Jacob Vyse & Cameron Gordon, coxed by Jacob Turner

Congratulations to them and commiserations to our Men's J18 crew who snapped a blade on the way to the start and to our extremely promising J14 boys who were rammed halfway down the course by a novice crew from St.Andrew's University.

At the Tees Heads on Sunday 3rd October, ASRA crews endured miserably low temperatures and torrential rain to claim wins in 5 boat categories over the two divisions.

Division 1 (Tees Scullers Head)

• Women's J17 Quadruple Sculls: Christie Duff, Jaimie Rees, Morven Shaw & Emily Geddes
• Men's J16 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Women's J15 Quadruple Sculls: Kiera Paterson, Amanda Dedmon, Emily Duff & Amelia Donovan (with a faster time than all the Women's J16 Quadruple Sculls entries)

Division 2 (Tees Small Boats Head)

• Women's J18 Quadruple Sculls: Christie Duff, Jaimie Rees, Holly Reid & Emily Geddes also winners of the Pennant for the Fastest Junior Women's Crew overall.
• Women's J16 Double Sculls: Morven Shaw & Amanda Dedmon

Congratulations on one of the best and most encouraging performances of the day must go however to our valiant scratch J18 quad entry - Elliot Bruce (16), Lewis McCue (16), Cameron Gordon (15) & Jacob Vyse (15) - who did not win their J18 category but put in a brilliant row to come overall third out of 56 starters in the second division. Next time they should emulate our F.P.s , Iona, Jamie & Lucy - the "Fastest Senior Women's Crew" - and frighten off all their opposition before the race and thus secure a winners' pennant!

Many thanks to John Donovan for helping Colin out with transport down to the Tees.

On Saturday 24th July, at the annual Home Countries International Regatta on Lake Inniscara, Cork, only two Scottish crews were crowned Home Countries Champions for 2010 - both hailing from Aberdeen.

ASRA's Junior 18 Girls - Morven Shaw, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel recovered from their British Championship s' disappointment to record a brilliant victory in Women's Junior Coxless Fours, the event they had won with Rosie Morton for Morven Shaw in bow in the Cardiff HIR in 2008. After their keynote blistering start, they had established a clear lead after 200 metres and never really looked threatened for the rest of the race. Three lengths of clear water at the finish between them and the English select in second place and no sign of the dreaded Irish threat. In recognition of her nine consecutive Scottish caps as both cox and rower, Jamie was nominated Girls' Team Captain for the day, an honour last accorded to an ASRA girl in 1998. Sadly she was not able to lift the overall girls' trophy as her illustrious predecessor, Morag Emery, had done, since the Scottish Junior squad disappointingly failed to record a win in any of the other boat categories on offer.

In the only other gold medal winning performance of the day, ASRA coaches - Colin Wallace & Scott Purdie - were victorious in the Men's Coxless Pairs event. In arguably the most exciting contest of the regatta, Colin & Scott matched the Irish pair stroke for stroke for most of the 2k course and only overcame them with a last lung- bursting charge in the closing metres of the race.

Colin last lifted HIR gold as a Junior, when he stroked his ASRA Junior 18 Coxed Four to victory over the home nations at Strathclyde Park in 2002.

At the British Rowing Championships held at Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th July, ASRA crews rowing in fiercely competitive fields secured a total of 7 sets of medals.

Gold

• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Lewis McCue & Elliot Bruce

Silver

• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Morven Shaw, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel (Gold - City of Oxford Rowing Club)
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Daniel McSherry & Gary Wilson (Gold - Durham Schools Rowing Club)
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes, coxed by Bethany Reese (Gold - Trentham Boat Club)

Bronze

• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel, coxed by Patrick Tawns
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes
• Men's Junior Coxless Fours: Daniel McSherry, Gary Wilson, Grant Ross & Lewis McCue

ASRA's Men's and Women's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls both claimed fourth position in their respective finals, the girls missing out on bronze by 0.51 of a second.

Daniel McSherry, Gary Wilson, Grant Ross, Lewis McCue, Elliot Bruce, Patrick Tawns, Morven Shaw, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley, Jamie Steel, Christie Duff & Emily Geddes have all been selected to row for Scotland in next weekend's Home Countries International Regatta in Cork, Ireland.

As a result of outstanding performances at the Under 16 GB Trials at the English National Watersports Centre, Nottingham, on Sunday 27th June, ASRA's Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours Scottish Champio ns - Christie Duff, Holly Reid, Jaimie Rees & Emily Geddes - have been selected to row the Women's Coxless Four at the GB v France Match to be held this year in Nantes on the 11th July.

ASRA girls were previousl y capped for this prestigious event in 2008 at Valenciennes, where they rowed stroke four in the GB Eight.

At the Henley Women's Regatta from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th June, our senior girls and National Schools' Champions - Morven Shaw, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel, coxed by Patrick Tawns, reached the semi- final of the Groton School Challenge Cup for Girls' Junior Coxed Fours. In the quarter-finals on Saturday they had put in a brilliant performance to eliminate last year's Henley winners from the Lady Eleanor Holles School of Hampton, Middlesex and then had to face the toughest of the three American crews in the event on Sunday - the US Scholastic Champions 2010 from the Egg Harbor Township Rowing Club, New Jersey. EHT had won their quarter-final in a time of 5.38 and ASRA theirs in a time of 5.37. and a close attritional battle in the semi-final was inevitable. And so it turned out. Having led at the start, ASRA were forced to concede a length to the powerful American quartet during the middle 500 metres, and in a tremendous nail-biting push for the finish, our girls all but made up the deficit. The winning margin for EHT was 3 seconds. The Americans' efforts in the semi however almost certainly cost them victory in the final, where having led all the way from the start, they went down to a City of Oxford four by quarter of a length.

At the Scottish Rowing Championships at Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th June, our athletes amassed a total of 21 gold medals, a new record for the club at this event. For full details on the 16 silvers we also brought home, go to the results pages on the Scottish Rowing website.

Girls

• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Morven Shaw, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Catriona Bain & Iona Riley
• Women's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Iona Riley
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff, Jaimie Rees, Holly Reid & Emily Geddes, coxed by Emily Thomson
• Women's J16 Pairs: Christie Duff & Emily Geddes
• Women's Junior 14 Fours: Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness, Amelia Donovan & Emily Duff, coxed by Lewis Bruce
• Women's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Amelia Donovan & Emily Duff
• Women's Junior 14 Single Sculls: Emily Duff

Boys

• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Daniel McSherry, Grant Ross, Gary Wilson & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Daniel McSherry, Grant Ross, Gary Wilson & Lewis McCue, coxed by Jacob Turner
• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Elliot Bruce, Jacob Vyse, Cameron Gordon & Lewis McCue, coxed by Jacob Turner
• Men's Junior 15 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Fours: Jacob Vyse, George Turner, Cameron Gordon & Bruce Sorbie, coxed by Jacob Turner
• Men's Junior 14 Quadruple Sculls: Jacob Vyse, George Turner, Cameron Gordon &: Bruce Sorbie, coxed by Jacob Turner
• Men's Junior 13 Double Sculls: George Turner & Bruce Sorbie
• Open Junior 12 Double Sculls: Jessica Walker & Bruce Sorbie
• Men's Junior 12 Single Sculls: Bruce Sorbie
• Boyd Cup for Novice Coxed Fours: Tom Falconer, Dan McKnight, Andrew Birnie & Matt Carter, coxed by Jacob Turner
• Schools Lottery Project Coxed Quads:

Race 1: David Finlayson, Arpan Sincar, Fraser Craw-Harvey & Michael Brown, coxed by Kiera Paterson Race 2: David Finlayson, Owen Gray, Fraser Craw-Harvey & Michael Brown, coxed by Tom Falconer

To round off an unforgettable weekend and not to be outdone, Association coaches - Colin Wallace and Scott Purdie - won a superb gold in Men's Elite Coxless Pairs. Many thanks once again to our ASRA parent helpers, without whose sterling input these successes would not have been possible.

On Saturday 5th June the second ASRA Inter-Schools Fun Regatta took place on the Dee over a 250 metre course from the ABC Boathouse to the Queen Elizabeth Bridge. There were two race categories - "Wetstarts" and established "ASRAs". After 38 hard fought races, clear winners in the "Wetstart" category were the Albyn School "A" - Tom Falconer, Peter Haugh, Dan McNight & Matt Carter, coxed by Kris Anderson and in the established "ASRAs" category, the composite Aberdeen Grammar/Portlethen crew - Niall Rundle, Jacob Vyse, Catriona Bain & Morven Shaw.

Congratulations to our coaches Colin Wallace and AJ Geddes and our parent helpers on a thoroughly enjoyable and immaculately run mini-regatta.

At the National Schools' Regatta at the English National Watersports Centre, Nottingham from 28th - 30th May, six of the seven ASRA crews entered reached the semi-finals of their chosen events. In this blue riband regatta, where 3000 rowers from all over Great Britain and Ireland compete for titles, ASRA won the new record total for this regatta of 1 gold and 2 bronze medals over the course of the three days.

ASRA's senior girls - Morven Shaw, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel, coxed by Patrick Tawns - finally clinched the gold and the prestigious James Mason Plate in Girls' Junior 18 Coxed Fours, the event in which they had been robbed of the title by a heart-breaking 0.25 seconds last year at this time. This is the first win in ASRA's 50 year history in any fours event and only the second in any event at the National Schools' Regatta. The first ever win at Nat. Schools - some will recall - went perhaps not surprisingly to stroke pair - Jamie Steel & Iona Riley - in 2006 in Junior 14 Double Sculls.

Our hard fought bronzes went to Lewis ("Nutter") McCue in the KCS Wimbleton Centenary J15 Single Sculls event from a starting field of 34 and to Emily Geddes and Christie Duff in the inaugural Girls' Junior 16 Coxless Pairs event.

Our J15s - Lewis McCue and Elliot Bruce - competing a year above their age group, put up a magnificent performance to come fourth in the final of Boys' Junior 16 Pairs and our Junior 14 Girls' Coxed Quad - Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness, Amelia Donovan & Emily Duff (cox Emily Thomson) did well to end up 8th in a field of 28. Our J18 single sculler - Gary Wilson - found the going tough but was in no way outclassed in the fiercely competitive Championship Single Sculls event to end up 9th out of a starting entry of 24.

At the Castle Semple Regatta on Lochwinnoch on Saturday 22nd May, our Cadet squad (i.e.J14 crews and below) contested a wide range of events in their age group. Our team won the handsome total of 5 golds, the hero of the hour being our most promising J12 athlete, Bruce Sorbie, who secured 4 firsts on his own account.

• Open J12 Single Sculls: Bruce Sorbie
• Open J12 Double Sculls : Bruce Sorbie & Jessica Walker
• Open J13 Double Sculls: Bruce Sorbie & George Turner
• Open J14 Quadruple Sculls: George Turner, Jacob Vyse, Cameron Gordon & Bruce Sorbie
• Open J14 Double Sculls; Cameron Gordon & Jacob Vyse

On Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th May, at the annual North East Regatta, ASRA crews racked up a total of 37 wins over the two days and won the Championship of the Dee Trophy outright for the fourth year in succession. We had welcome, high quality opposition from George Heriot's on Saturday and from Aberdeen's Senior clubs on Saturday & Sunday.

Undoubtedly the outstanding ASRA athlete of the weekend was Gary Wilson (J18 Single Sculls victor at the Gent Spring International Regatta in April) who collected 9 sets of medals and beat all comers in Single Sculls including Aberdeen's best in Men's R1 and Elite.

Winners - Saturday

• MRes1 4+ Gary Wilson ,Colin Wallace, Daniel McSherry, Grant J. Ross, Matt Carter
• OJu15 4+ Yinghun Huang, Andrew White, Liam McCall, Cameron Stewart, Samuel Holden
• WJu18 4+ Iona Riley ,Morven G. Shaw, Catriona Bain, Jamie Steel, Patrick Tawns
• WJu16 4+ Christie Duff, Jaimie Rees, Holly Reid, Emily Geddes
• WNov 4x+ Erin G. Wyness, Amelia Donovan, Kiera Paterson, Emily Duff, Emily Thomson
• OJu13 4x+ Kris Anderson, George Turner, Alistair Frost, Lewis Bruce, Jessica Walker
• WJu14 4x+ Amelia Donovan, Erin G. Wyness, Emily Duff, Kiera Paterson, Emily Thomson
• MRes1 2- Gary Wilson, Daniel McSherry
• WRes2 2- Emily Geddes, Christie J. Duff
• OJu18 2- Lewis McCue, Elliot Bruce
• MRes2 2x Gary Wilson, Lewis McCue
• OJu16 2x Cameron Stewart, Cameron Gordon
• OJu14 2x George Turner, Bruce A. Sorbie
• WJu16 2x Holly W. Reid, Morven G. Shaw
• WJu14 2x Amelia Donovan, Emily Duff
• MOpen 1x Gary Wilson
• MNov 1x Grant J. Ross
• OJu18 1x Gary Wilson
• OJu16 1x Lewis McCue
• OJu14 1x Bruce A. Sorbie
• WJu18 1x Iona Riley
• WJu16 1x Morven G. Shaw
• WJu14 1x Emily Duff

Winners - Sunday

• WRes2 4+ Christie J. Duff, Holly W. Reid, Jamie Rees, Emily Geddes, Matt Carter
• WNov 4+ Erin G. Wyness, Amelia Donovan, Kiera Paterson, Emily Duff, Jessica Walker
• MNov 4x+ Jacob Vyse, George Turner, Cameron Gordon, Bruce A. Sorbie, Sarah Laing
• MRes2 2- Daniel McSherry, Gary Wilson
• WRes1 2- Iona Riley, Catriona Bain
• M Open 2x Gary Wilson, Lewis McCue
• MNov 2x Grant J. Ross, Patrick Tawns
• WRes2 2x Jamie Steel, Iona Riley
• Generation 2x Lewis McCue, Ronald M. Wallace
• MRes2 1x Gary Wilson
• WNov 1x Emily Duff
• WRes2 1x Iona Riley

· Invitation J-15 Quads:

(1) Dan McNight, Alex McGrath, Sam Holden, Matt Carter, Andrew White (cox)

(2) Andrew White, Andrew Birnie, Liam McCall, Christie Chapman-Bird, Callum McNight (cox)

At the annual Strathclyde Park Regatta on Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th April, ASRA athletes celebrated 50 years of Junior rowing on the Dee by setting up a new record of 16 Golds won at this event at Scotland's premier regatta venue. Last year the girls went down 9 - 4 in the overall medal tally, this year they came back to draw 8 - 8.

• · Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie Steel coxed by Bethany Reece
• · Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Catriona Bain & Iona Riley
• · Women's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Iona Riley
• · Women's Junior 16 Eights: Emily Duff, Erin Wyness, Bethan Roger, Amelia Donovan, Christie Duff, Kiera Paterson, Holly Reid & Emily Geddes coxed by Bethany Reece
• · Women's Junior 16 Fours: Jaimie Rees, Christie Duff, Holly Reid & Emily Geddes coxed by Bethany Reece
• · Women's Junior 14 Coxed Fours: Kiera Paterson, Emily Duff, Joanna Cassidy & Bethany Reece coxed by Emily Thomson
• · Women's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness, Amelia Donovan & Emily Duff coxed by Bruce Sorbie
• · Women's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Amelia Donovan & Emily Duff
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Daniel McSherry & Gary Wilson
• Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Gary Wilson
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Cameron Gordon, Ying Huang, Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue coxed by Patrick Tawns
• Men's Junior 15 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Fours: Jacob Vyse, George Turner, Cameron Gordon & Bruce Sorbie coxed by Emily Duff
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Jacob Vyse, George Turner, Cameron Gordon & Bruce Sorbie coxed by Lewis McCue
• Men's Junior 13 Double Sculls: George Turner & Bruce Sorbie
• Men's Junior 12 Single Sculls; Bruce Sorbie

Notable "Silvers" - Amelia Donovan in WJ14 1x beaten by 0.79 of a second, our J18 Girls' Quad who lost by 0.72 of a second and Bethan Roger & Morven Shaw in WJ15 2x who went down by a heart breaking 0.05.

On Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th April in Gent, Belgium, at the annual Gent Spring International Regatta, ASRA athletes won a total of 5 golds and 6 silvers - a new record for the club at this particular event.

Gold

• · Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours (on Saturday & Sunday): Morven Shaw, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel
• · Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Gary Wilson
• · Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: George Turner, Jacob Vyse, Cameron Gordon & Bruce Sorbie, coxed by Cameron Stewart
• · Women's Junior 14 Single Sculls: Amelia Donovan Silver
• · Women's Open Eights: Morven Coghill, Jaimie Rees, Christie Duff, Emily Geddes, Holly Reid, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel coxed by Bethany Reece
• · Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours (on Saturday & Sunday): Christie Duff, Jamie Rees, Holly Reid & Emily Geddes
• · Women's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Catriona Bain & Becky McGreevy
• · Men's Junior 16 Coxless Fours: Elliot Bruce, Robert Hamlet, Blair Sorbie & Lewis McCue
• · Women's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Emily Duff & Emily Thomson

On Saturday 20th March at the Scottish Schools' Annual Head of the River Race on the Clyde-Forth Canal betweeen Banknock and Auchinstarry, ASRA crews won 5 category events and the inaugural Junior Team Cup for the most successful club in the competition.

Winners' pennants went to:

• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Holly Reid (Cults Academy), Rachael Hadjitofi (Aberdeen Grammar School), Catriona Bain (Aberdeen Grammar School) & Jamie Steel (Aberdeen University) with cox Lily Taylor (Cults Academy)
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Morven Coghill (Cults Academy), Jaimie Rees ( Roberts Gordon's College), Christie Duff (Harlaw Academy) & Emily Geddes (Harlaw Academy) with cox Callum McKight (Albyn School)
• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Elliot Bruce (Harlaw Academy), Robert Hamlet (Robert Gordon's College), Blair Sorbie (Robert Gordon's College) & Lewis McCue (Harlaw Academy) with cox Alexander McGrath (Albyn School)
• Women's Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Kiera Paterson (Harlaw Academy), Bethany Reece (Cults Academy), Erin Wyness (Bridge of Don Academy) & Amelia Donovan (Robert Gordon's College) with cox Alexander Stokes
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Jacob Vyse (Aberdeen Grammar School), George Turner (Cults Academy), Cameron Gordon (Robert Gordon's College) & Bruce Sorbie (Robert Gordon's College) with cox Sam Holden (Albyn School)

Congratulations to all our competitors - in particular to those from Albyn School and St. Margaret's School for Girls, many of whom were tackling the rigours of Head racing against Scotland's best for the first time.

Our grateful thanks also to our many parents and helpers without whose input this extremely successful weekend would not have been possible.

In the Aberdeen Eights & Small Boats Head on Saturday 13th February, our ASRA entries put in creditable performances given the total lack of practice in eights and the largely scratch nature of the crews involved.

Our boys - Lewis McCue, Gary Wilson, Daniel McSherry, Grant Ross, Robert Hamlet, Blair Sorbie, Elliot Bruce & Patrick Tawns coxed by Bruce Sorbie - came third in Men's R2 to ABC and Strathclyde University and our girls - Jamie Steel, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley, Holly Reid, Morven Shaw, Emily Geddes, Erin Coghill & Bethan Roger coxed by Lily Taylor - came second in Women's R2 to Aberdeen Boat Club.

In the Small Boats section where unfortunately only ASRA crews were involved, victory in Open Junior 14 Quads went to Jacob Vyse, Alistair Frost, Bruce Sorbie & Liam McCall coxed by Emily Thomson, in Women's J18 Pairs to Iona Riley & Catriona Bain and in Men's Junior 18 Pairs to Gary Wilson and Daniel McSherry.

Our best wishes go with Iona Riley & Catriona Bain as they set off for the GB Long Distance Junior Trials in Boston, Lincs., next weekend. In the GB ergometer standings over the 5K distance, Iona currently holds overall 2nd position -the highest position ever achieved by an ASRA athlete - and Catriona 25th.

On Sunday 31st January at the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships held at the Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, athletes from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association in a squad decimated by injuries and late call-offs due to illness, bad weather and exam paranoia nevertheless rose to the challenge magnificently to bring back North a total of 3 gold medals, 5 silver and 3 bronze.

Gold

• Women's Junior 15 Team Event: Erin Wyness, Emily Duff, Keira Paterson & Sandy Wooley.
• Women's Junior 19 Heavyweight: Iona Riley.
• Women's Junior 19 Team Event: Iona Riley, Catriona Bain, Holly Reid & Jamie Steel.

Silver

• Men's Junior 11: Jacob Turner.
• Men's Junior 15 Team Event: George Turner, Cameron Gordon, Jacob Vyse & Elliot Bruce.
• Women's Junior 17: Holly Reid.
• Women's Junior 19 Lightweight: Jamie Steel.
• Men's Junior 19 Heavyweight: Gary Wilson.

Bronze

• Women's Junior 14: Emily Thomson.
• Men's Junior 15: Elliot Bruce.
• Women's Junior 19 Team Event: Emily Thomson, Christie Duff, Morven Shaw & Bethan Roger.

Congratulations also to Morven Shaw and Grant Ross who came within a second of bronze in the Women's Junior 16 and the Men's Junior 17 events respectively.

On Saturday 28th November at the Rutherford Head over a 5k course on the River Tyne, illness and injury caused many readjustments to the original crews as entered. Nevertheless the Men's Under 18 Coxed Fours medals went to ASRA's Niall Rundle (Aberdeen Grammar School) Daniel McSherry (Harlaw Academy),Gary Wilson (Aberdeen College), Lewis McCue (Harlaw Academy) & cox Emily Thomson (Cults Academy).

In the second division a scratch ASRA Intermediate 3 Eight then came 13th out of 18 in a highly competitive university-dominated field and in doing so managed to beat Aberdeen University's entry by 5 seconds.

Our J16 girls however - Emily Geddes, Christie Duff, Holly Reid & Morven Shaw coxed by Emily Thomson - went down rather disappointingly to their rapidly improving Heriot's opposite numbers for the first time. Holly had already sportingly rowed in our boys' second J18 four in the first division and may just have been a little tired! Battle will be rejoined at the Scottish Schools' Head in March next year.

On Saturday 14th November at the Inverness Fours Head on the Caledonian Canal, ASRA crews notched up four category wins:

Division 1

• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry, Gary Wilson & Atholl Wallace, coxed by Patrick Tawns
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff, Emily Geddes, Morven Shaw & Holly Reid, coxed by Lily Taylor

Division 2

• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Rachael Hadjitofi, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel, coxed by Lily Taylor
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Ben McColl, Jacob Vyse, Liam McCall & Mathew Snedden, coxed by Morven Shaw

Good and improving performances all round.

On Saturday 31st October at the Aberdeen Fours Head, crews from the Association won 6 category titles. In a record entry for the event welcome opposition at junior level came in the form of a large squad from George Heriot's School of Edinburgh.

Division 1

• Men's Junior18 Coxed Fours: Robert Hamlet, Daniel McSherry, Niall Rundle & Atholl Wallace with cox Mathew Snedden (picture below)
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff, Morven Shaw, Emily Geddes & Holly Reid with cox Ben McColl

Division 2

• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie Steel with cox Evie Donaldson
• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Elliot Bruce, Nic Riddoch, Robert Hamlet & Lewis McCue with cox Jacob Vyse
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Bethan Roger, Heather Clason, Erin Coghill & Morven Shaw with cox Linda McCann from ABC
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Quads: Ben McColl, Liam McCall, Mathew Snedden & Lewis Bruce with cox Yinglun Huan

On Sunday 1st November at the Aberdeen Small Boats Head, ASRA crews took 9 category titles with considerable style despite the persistent torrential rain.

Division 1

• Men's Junior16 Doubles : Robert Hamlet & Blair Sorbie
• Women's Restricted 2 Coxed Quads: Rachael Hadjitofi, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie Steel with cox Lily Taylor
• Men's J18 Single Sculls : Atholl Wallace
• Women's J14 Doubles : Emily Thomson & Amelia Donovan

Division 2

• Men's Restricted 2 Coxed Quads: Robert Hamlet, Daniel McSherry, Niall Rundle & Atholl Wallace with cox Evie Donaldson
• Men's J16 Single Sculls: Lewis McCue
• Women's Junior 16 Doubles : Christie Duff & Holly Reid
• Women's Restricted 2 Single Sculls: Iona Riley
• Women's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Catriona Bain

On Saturday 24th October, at the Tees Long Distance Sculling Head and the Tees Small Boats Head, athletes from ASRA won a record 7 category titles over the two 5k races against first class Northern English opposition.

Long Distance Head

• Womens J16 Coxless Fours: Erin Wyness, Christie Duff, Morven Shaw & Holly Reid
• Women's J15 Coxed Quad: Erin Coghill, Lily Taylor, Heather Clason & Bethan Roger
• Men's J15 Doubles: Elliot Bruce & Lewis McCue
• Women's J14 Doubles: Amelia Donovan & Emily Duff

Small Boats Head

• Women's Intermediate 1 Single Sculls: Catriona Bain
• Women's J18 Doubles: Iona Riley & Jamie Steel
• Women's J14 Doubles: Amelia Donovan & Emily Duff

Highly unfortunate to lose out on further medals were Iona Riley in Women's J18 Sculls by a second to hosts Tees Rowing Club and Elliot Bruce, Atholl Wallace, Robert Hamlet & Lewis McCue in Men's Junior 18 Coxless Fours by two seconds to Talkin Tarn.   

At the Home Countries International Regatta in Nottingham on the 25th of July, 11 ASRA athletes were capped for Scotland, the majority for the first time. Our boys Junior Coxless Four - Ollie Hamlet, Gary Wilson, Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace - predictably found their event tough going but put in a creditable performance in difficult conditions at this very high level.

Similarly our J16 girls - Rachael Hadjitofi & Holly Reid - who rowed stern pair in the scratch Women's Junior Eight - are young enough to do another two HIRs, and will have gained enormously from the experience of rowing at this level. Our J17 girls - Rosie Morton, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel - had rowed their coxless four to gold in Cardiff last year and were expected to medal again this year. Their performance in the 4- was in fact well below par and they were beaten in this race into third position by both the English and the Irish. Their 4+ performance was however much better and in any other year might have been good enough to take gold. As at Nat. Champs., they remained comfortably ahead of their English rivals from Stratford, but they were no match for the brilliant Irish foursome who incredibly sprinted the 2k course at ratings which never fell below 37 strokes per minute.

Overall our athletes showed signs of overtraining and general fatigue and in hindsight perhaps we should have brought them home for a rest before taking them upto the next level. Next year the HIR comes to Strathclyde Park and we will have run out of excuses!

At the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain held in Nottingham from the 17th - 19th July, 7 of the 8 ASRA crews entered reached the finals of their various events.

• the MJ 4- Ollie Hamlet, Gary Wilson, Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace and the MJ15 2x (Robert Hamlet & Blair Sorbie came 6th
• the MJ16 4- Blair Sorbie, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace came 5th
• the WJ14 2x- Morven Shaw & Amelia Donovan and the WJ16 4+ Christie Duff, Emily Geddes, Rachael Hadjitofi, Holly Reid & cox Bruce Sorbie came 4th intheir respective finals.

In WJ4+ event, Rosie Morton, Iona Riley, Catrona Bain, Jamie Steel & cox Lily Taylor put in an immaculate performance despite the challenging gusting headwindand rough water conditions, leading from first to last and thus turning the tables on the National Schools' gold medallists from Stratford, the winning margin being a thumping 3.47 seconds.

In the WJ 4- final, for which the girls had qualified by winning their semi-final by a convincing 7 seconds over the eventual silver medallists from the City of Oxford, misfortune struck in the form of a slipping rudder line and their consequent lane wandering led to an inevitable disqualification in the first 500 metres of the race.

On Saturday 20th June girls from ASRA took part for the first time ever in the Women's Henley Regatta and 21 crews from England, Scotland, Wales, Canada and the USA lined up to compete for the the Groton Challenge Cup. Our girls - fresh from their victories in coxed and coxless fours at the Scottish Championships - rowed comfortably enough through the time trials stage, despite a blustery head wind, to qualify for the competition proper, unofficially in 8th equal position out of 21. Too comfortably as it turned out, since they ended up in the bottom half of the draw where it was their misfortune to be pitched against top seeds and fastest qualifiers, the American girls from Peddie School, New Jersey, in the first knock-out round of the competition.

The self-styled Falcons had in fact been crowned North American Champions in Coxed Fours the previous week at the US Rowing Youth National Championships on Harsha Lake in Batavia, Ohio and now demonstrated in no mean fashion that their emphatic victory stateside by a full 10 seconds over the runners-up from Mercer Junior Rowing Club had been no accident. Our girls put up their usual blistering start - 47 strokes a minute - and by the end of Temple Island were still showing a slight lead over the American girls. From then on however the the Falcons put on a show of incredible power and disciplined rowing that left us floundering in their wake. Our girls did not give up easily and lifted the rating again and again to try to claw back some of the increasing lead being established by the Americans. By the last five hundred however it was clear that for the now perfect windless rowing conditions on the course we were chronically undergeared and that increased rating alone was not going to make up for our lack of leverage.

A great deal was learned however and the girls and accompanying coaches felt the experience to be extremely worthwhile. We now know the course and the challenges involved in competition on the Henley course and on a future occasion, amongst other things, would insist on hotel accommodation for our athletes and allow ourselves at least 2 days acclimatisation and fine tuning on the course prior to the regatta. One half hour outing the evening before was plainly not enough!

At the Scottish Rowing Championships at Strathclyde Park on 13th and 14th June, ASRA crews won gold in a total of 18 events over the two days of the regatta. The results are quoted in the order in which the events were won.

Saturday

• Men's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Robert Hamlet & Blair Sorbie
• Women's Junior 14 Coxed Fours: Bethan Roger, Katy Malone, Morven Shaw & Amelia Donovan coxed by Lily Taylor
• Schools' Project Coxed Quad Sculls - (Final 1): Callum Taylor, George Turner, Tom Cook & George Colleron coxed by Oliver
• Hamlet
• Men's Under 16 Coxed Fours: Blair Sorbie, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace coxed by Niall Ford
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Christie Duff, Morven Shaw, Rachael Hadjitofi,& Holly Reid coxed by Lily Taylor
• Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Rosemary Morton, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel
• Schools' Project Coxed Quad Sculls - (Final 2): Ailsa Swanney, Erin Coghill, Kirsty Wright, & Abbie Cartwell coxed by Patrick Tawns
• Men's Junior 12 Coxed Quads: Christian Lihou, Ben McCall, Jordan Roger & Bruce Sorbie coxed by Christie Duff
• Men's Junior 15 Single Sculls: Blair Sorbie

Sunday

• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace
• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Rosemary Morton, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel coxed by Lily Taylor
• Men's Junior 16 Eights: Nicolas Riddoch, Grant Ross, Christy Masson, Blair Sorbie, Robert Hamlet, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace coxed by Niall Ford
• Women's Junior 16 Quad Sculls: Christie Duff, Rachael Hadjitofi, Rosemary Morton & Holly Reid
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Morven Shaw, Christie Duff, Emily Geddes & Holly Reid coxed by Lily Taylor
• Women's Junior 13 Coxed Quads: Erin Wyness, Emily Duff, Kiera Paterson & Amelia Donovan coxed by Emily Thomson
• Men's Junior 12 Sculls: Bruce Sorbie
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed fours: Elliot Bruce, Cameron Gordon, Yinghuan Huang & Lewis McCue coxed by Lily Taylor
• Women's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Rosemary Morton & Rachael Hadjitofi

On Saturday 6th June under the auspices of the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association the first ever Aberdeen Inter-Schools Regatta took place on the Dee. Representatives from six participating schools - Albyn School, Bankhead Academy, Cults Academy, Harlaw Academy, Hazlehead Academy and Kincorth Academy - took part in the 39 knock-out races for the Aberdeen Inter-Schools Cup. Outright winners in the end were the boys from Cults Academy - Callum Taylor, George Colleron, George Turner and Tom Cook, coxed by Tom Reevel of AUBC.

The regatta was the culmination of months of work by the Lottery Funded ASRA Development Coach - Colin Wallace - and his supporting team recruited from AUBC, RGU and ASRA present and former pupils who together have been introducing the sport of rowing to schools across the city.

A big thank you to all the parents and helpers who helped to make a success of this event.

At the Castle Semple Regatta, Lochwinnoch, on Saturday 30th May, crews from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association, with two girls from the Inverness Rowing Club, won the inaugural Inter Regional Championship of Scotland for Team North. The most outstanding contribution to the team total was made by the ASRA Junior Under 15 boys qaud - Nic Riddoch, Lewis McCue, Robert Hamlet & Blair Sorbie coxed by Niall Ford. In the open events ASRA crews racked up a total of 7 wins.

• Men's R2 Pairs - Oliver Hamlet & Gary Wilson
• Women's J16 Fours - Christie Duff, Morven Shaw, Rachael Hadjitofi & Holly Reid coxed by Emily Geddes
• Men's J16 Fours - Robert Hamlet, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace coxed by Niall Ford.
• Men's J15 Doubles - Robert Hamlet & Blair Sorbie
• Women's J13 Quads - Emily Duff, Kiera Paterson, Erin Wyness &amo; Amelia Donovan coxed by Emily Geddes
• Women's J13 Doubles - Emily Duff & Amelia Donovan
• Women's J13 Single - Amelia Donovan

At the prestigious National Schools' Regatta, Nottingham, held from 22nd - 24th May at the English National Watersports Centre in Nottingham, all five Aberdeen Schools' Rowing Association crews successfully passed from the time trials into the semi-finals of their events. The Boys' Junior 14 Quad, Junior 15 Doubles and the Junior 16 Coxed Fours failed to progress at that stage, but the Girls' Junior 16 and Junior 18 Coxed fours both won their semi-finals in style to move on to their respective finals. The Girls' Junior 16 quartet - Christie Duff, Morven Shaw, Rachael Hadjitofi & Holly Reid coxed by Emily Geddes - after a horrendous start in their final, clawed their way back into contention and were unlucky to cross the line in fourth position in the wake of the St. George's College crew they had already beaten in the semi-final. Pride of place has to go again however to our 2008 Home Countries Champions- Rosie Morton, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie Steel coxed by Lily Taylor - who had to interrupt their Highers' preparations to make this trip at all. After a dream start where they took a length off the English Inter-Regional champions from Stratford-on-Avon, the ASRA girls dominated the 2K race until the last 10 metres where (à la Katherine Grainger) they succumbed to a tremendous push from the English girls to lose in a photo-finish by a heart-breaking 0.25 seconds. Silver this time around, but they will lock horns with the Stratford quartet again at Women's Henley in June (if they can raise a suitable sponsor!) and in any case at the National Championships of Great Britain in Nottingham in July.

At the Annual Scottish Amateur Rowing Association Awards ceremony at the National Rowing Academy, Motherwell on Sunday 23rd November, the award for the 2008 Crew of the Year went to the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association Women's Under 16 Quartet - Rosie Morton, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie Steel - who in June this year came second overall in the WJ16 GB trials and represented GB in Valenciennes, went on to win Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours at the National Championships of Great Britain and rounded off their summer programme by winning Women's Junior Coxless Fours for Scotland at the Home Countries International Match on Cardiff Bay. The trophy was presented by Scottish Olympian, Katherine Grainger.

At the Aberdeen Small Boats Head on Sunday 16th November, ASRA won all 9 of the Junior events on offer. There were exciting internal tussles at all age levels, but two results were particularly outstanding.

Gary Wilson came a brilliant first out of 14 in Men's Novice Sculls against opposition from Heriot Watt, Dundee, Robert Gordon's & Aberdeen Universities and Rosie Morton totally upset the form book in the Women's J18 category by beating all her ASRA HIR team-mates for the first time. In so doing she beat the time of First Division Open Winner and GB Under 23 International, Stephanie McDowell.

At the Aberdeen Fours Head of the River on Saturday 15th November, ASRA racked up a total of 7 category wins, four of them against welcome opposition from our old rivals from George Heriot's School of Edinburgh.

These were:

• Open Men's Junior 18 Fours: Lewis Masson, Jonnay Wright, Oliver Hamlet, Gary Wilson (cox Petar Spanovic)

• Women's Junior 18 Fours: Rosie Morton, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain, Jamie Steel (cox Erin Wyness)

• Open Men's Junior 15 Fours: Lewis McCue, Nicholas Riddoch, Blair Sorbie, Robert Hamlet (cox Lily Taylor)

• Women's Junior 15 Fours: Christie Duff, Emily Geddes, Holly Reid, Morven Shaw (cox Amelia Donovan)

At the Glasgow Rowing Club Head of the River Race on the Clyde on Saturday 1st November, crews from the Association won four divisional titles.

Our Home Countries Champions - Rosie Morton, Iona Riley, Catriona Bain & Jamie Steel coxed by Niall Ford - showed that they had lost little of their form since their triumph on Cardiff Bay in July as they won the Women's Junior 18 title by over a minute from their nearest rivals from Strathclyde Park.

Our promising J16 boys - Grant Ross, Niall Rundle, Daniel McSherry & Atholl Wallace coxed by Emily Geddes - were the fastest junior boys in the First Division.

Our minis too covered the 5 kilometre course in fine style with Morven Coghill, Emily Duff, Amelia Donovan & Erin Wyness coxed by Lily Taylor winning Women's Novice Coxed Quads and Niall Ford, Danny McCue, Yinglun Huang & Cameron Gordon coxed by Jamie Steel winning Open Under 13 Coxed Quad title.

ASRA was at the Durham Primary Sprint Regatta on 27th September for the first time with a result of 10 event wins. Held on the river Wear, all races were very close and showed the good level of competition to be found in North England. Everyone will hopefully take lessons away from the weekend and spur the club on to train hard through the winter to move forward.

The event wins are as follows:

• Women's Senior 3 coxed quads - Jamie, Catriona, Iona, Ruth, Niall

• Women's Senior 4 double scull - Rachel, Fiona;

• Women's Junior 18 double scull - Iona, Catriona

• Women's Junior 14 coxed quads - Morven, Erin, Emily D, Amelia, Lily

• Women's Junior 13 double scull - Emily D, Amelia

• Men's Senior 4 coxed four - Ollie, Gary, Jonnay, Lewis, Jamie

• Men's Novice coxed four - Ollie, Christy, Grant, Lewis, Keira

• Men's Junior 15 double scull - Robert, Nic

• Men's Junior 15 coxed quads - Robert, Nic, Lewis, Chris, Ying

• Men's New To Sport double scull - Peter, Chris Well done to everyone who travelled to Durham.

At the Aberdeen Sprint Regatta on the River Dee on the 13th of September, Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association crews won a total of 26 events at both Junior and Senior levels.

Almost a clean sweep at Junior level as might have been expected with the only competition being provided by Inverness Rowing Club and St. Andrew Boat Club of Edinburgh, but excellent performances overall by our beginners from the Aberdeen Schools Lottery Funded Dry Start programme and outstanding wins by our older boys and girls against adult opposition indicate strength in depth at all levels within the club and promise well for the season ahead.

At the Home Countries International Regatta in Cardiff on Saturday 26th July, the ASRA Women's Junior 16 Coxless Four - Rosie Morton, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley & Jamie Steel - recorded a resounding victory over the other home nations to win gold for Scotland in the opening race of the regatta. Having dropped the girls from England & Wales by the 1000 metre mark, our girls fought stroke for stroke with a determined Irish select for the remaining 500 metres of the race to run out in the end deserved winners by a length. This was the culmination of three weeks of intensive preparation and competition at the highest level for the girls from Aberdeen. On the 13th July, they were capped for Great Britain in the GB v France Match in Valenciennes and a week later on the 20th July they were winning gold in Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours & silver in Women's Junior 18 Coxless Fours in Nottingham at the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain. Two days at home in three weeks for arguably the most talented Women's Junior Under 16 quartet in the history of ASRA!

At the National Championships of Great Britain at the weekend Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association came back with a gold and silver medal. Jamie Steel, Catriona Bain, Iona Riley, Rosie Morton and coxed by Emily Geddes won the Women's Junior 16 coxed fours event comfortably in an outstanding row. They led from the start and were not challenged throughout. The same crew then raced in Women's Junior 18 coxless fours and came a solid second placed. The girls will now be travelling to Cardiff to represent Scotland at the Home International Regatta.

Other notable performances included the Men's Junior 14 double scull coming 5th in the final after being seeded a very poor lane due to the prevailing wind and our Junior 18 coxless four who came 6th in the final with a good row. Unfortunately, the two quads were both knocked out in the first round. Although they both had brilliant rows it shows the high standard of British junior rowing.