Clyde strike Silver after bending defeat

Now that the dust has settled, the bruises have healed and the compenation claims have been to court, it can be declared that the races between Saint Andrew BC of Edinburgh and Clyde ARC of Glasgow at the Castle Semple Regatta at weekend were a great success.

The first race, the Bent Rigger, kicked off dead on time. Conditions were somewhat bumpy, although those who had already raced in small boats earlier in the day had cause to feel thankful they were in an eight. Perhaps as a measure of the relative composition of the clubs, the SABC crew were mostly experienced rowers, whereas the Clyde rowers not in the main crew were plucky novices. Saint Andrew put on a commanding performance, overwhelming their western rivals. Their lead was established early in the race, and extended down the course. Some mishaps befel the Weegies, one member being flattened to the bottom of the boat by a nasty crab. Nonethless, the race was fairly contested and justly won, to the delight of race commentator Ian ‘Chalky’ White. It was also sensationally revealled that Chalky himself had been considered for inclusion in the crew!

This loss left the Glasgow Green based club spoling for a win in the main event. Full stats are not available for the crews, but the Saints will certainly have outpointed Clyde in terms of weight, with all of their men and some of their women in the openweight category - all but 2 of the Weegie crew are lightweights. Again in a reflection of the demographics of the respective clubs, Clyde’s younger crew contained a brace of HIR and Commonwealth competitors/medallists against a mix of Internationalists of days gone by - the most notable being the 5-man in the Czech M8+ at the Junior Worlds in 1996 - and less experienced (or more accurately, younger!) rowers. The microphone was passed - foolishly - to your humble scribe, who was able to inflict his ill-informed opinions on the unfortunate patrons of the biggest one day regatta in Scotland.  After a slight delay, the race was set off. The SABC crew, though slick, were outclassed by their rivals who looked to be under-rating them, taking them to a famous victory to retain the Silver Rudder title.  

Pictures and video will appear on this site shortly.