Scots Win Well at the Commonwealth Rowing Championships

August 3, 2010

Image of the Commonwealth Rowing Championships

Last weekend, crews representing Scottish Rowing secured a sizeable medal haul at the Commonwealth Rowing Championships in Welland, Ontario, Canada winning a total of six golds, four silvers and eight bronze medals over two days of intense competition.
On Saturday, Alan Sinclair from Belmaduthy in Ross-shire, along with Andy Holmes from Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire each won two golds. In the mens coxless pairs event, they had a ding-dong tussle all the way down the 2000 metre course with the Australian crew, securing their first gold by a margin of nine hundreds of a second. In the last race of the day in the mens double sculls event, they crossed the finish line over two seconds ahead of crews representing Wales and England to claim their second gold medal. Both athletes in company with Jonny Logan and his brother Chris (both Glasgow RC) won bronze in the mens coxless fours event, whilst Alan achieved his second bronze medal in the mens single sculls event. Other Scots golds were won by the Logan brothers in the mens lightweight coxless pairs event, with Jonny winning the mens lightweight single sculls in the second event of the day.

Also on Saturday, other Scots featured in the medals with Stephanie McDowall and Polly Swann (both Glasgow RC) winning silver in the womens coxless pairs and bronze in the womens double sculls, whilst Kelly Limond (Strathclyde Park RC) won bronze in the womens lightweight single sculls, but just missed out on a medal position in both the womens lightweight coxless pairs and womens lightweight double sculls in company with Alex Gemie (Aberdeen BC).

On Sunday, many close finishes resulted in another successful day for Scots crews. The Logan brothers had a fine win for gold in the mens lightweight coxless pairs whilst Chris Logan and Alex Gemie each claimed silvers in their respective mens and womens lightweights single sculls events. Alan Sinclair and Andy Holmes struck silver in the mens double sculls whilst Stephanie McDowall and Polly Swann won bronze in the womens double sculls and were joined by Kelly Limond and Alex Gemie to win another bronze in the womens quadruple sculls event. Other bronzes were won by Stephanie McDowall and Andy Holmes in their respective womens and mens single sculling events, whilst Kelly Limond and Alex Gemie just missed out on bronze medals in the womens lightweight coxless pairs.

In the closing event of a highly successful Commonwealth Rowing Championships, all eight Scots athletes combined well in a highly charged eights event against crews from the other competing nations to claim the final gold medals ahead of the Australian and Canadian crews which won silver and bronze medals respectively.

In the overall team result, Canada were first with 186 points, followed closely by Scotland in second place with 163 points, Australia were third with 134 points and England and Wales in fourth and fifth place respectively.

Following these successful championships, the four male members of the Scottish team plus Stephanie McDowall and Alex Gemie continue their quest for further success next weekend at the 128th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta at St Catherines, Ontario.