New partnership secures future of Olympic and Paralympic rowing pathway in Scotland

British Rowing and Scottish Rowing will jointly fund performance initiatives to help identify and develop the next generation of GB rowers

Ahead of this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, British Rowing and Scottish Rowing have joined forces to strengthen the performance pathway further in Scotland with the signing of a new partnership agreement, also supported by sportscotland, the national agency for sport in Scotland.

This agreement will support coach and athlete development focused on the GB Olympic Pathway in Scotland, along with a commitment from all partners to work together on the identification and development of talented athletes. Work will also be done to strengthen the Paralympic Pathway.

Rowing has been one of Scotland’s leading Olympic sports over several cycles, consistently succeeding both domestically and internationally.  At the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020, Scottish rowers made up 19.5% of the overall Olympic seats in the GB Rowing Team, building on London 2012 (8.5%) and Rio 2016 (13.9%). Scotland’s rowers have delivered medals at every Olympics going back to Sydney 2000, totalling nine gold and five silver medals.

The specific programmes to be established will include a GB Performance Development Academy based at Strathclyde Park (Glasgow), which will work predominantly to identify those new to the sport with the physical potential for future success; a GB High Performance Academy based at Edinburgh University, designed to support existing rowers on the GB Pathway; and a GB Coastal Sculling Academy based at St Andrews University, designed to support rowers engaged with the Beach Sprint format, a recent addition to the Olympic programme for the LA2028 Games. Scottish Rowing will also continue to run and support its own internal performance pathway programmes at U16 and U19 level, and within universities across Scotland.

Louise Kingsley, Director of Performance at British Rowing, said: “Scottish rowers are an integral part of the GB Rowing Team. We’re looking forward to seeing this new partnership continue to build on a solid foundation of Scottish representation in the Olympic team, supporting and developing talented athletes and coaches for future international representation”.

Amanda Cobb, COO of Scottish Rowing, said: “This new agreement takes the pathway for Scottish athletes to the next level and builds on many years of successful partnership working.  We look forward to working with British Rowing to provide more opportunities for Scottish athletes to play their part in the GB Rowing Team. We are grateful to sportscotland for their support.”

Forbes Dunlop, sportscotland Chief Executive, said: “We’re delighted to support this new partnership agreement which will improve on an already strong performance pathway for rowing in Scotland.

“It’s an exciting time for the sport with Paris 2024 on the horizon and the beach sprint format being added to the LA 2028 Games. Scottish rowers have had consistent success on the world stage for a number of years, and this partnership will help to ensure that can continue.”

Tom Pattichis, British Rowing Olympic Pathway Manager, said: “We’re excited to be able to build on our existing work with Scottish Rowing, and continue the excellent track record of developing talented Scottish rowers to represent GB at all levels, through to the Olympics and Paralympics.”

Lee Boucher, Scottish Rowing Head of Performance and Pathways, said: “I’d like to thank British Rowing and sportscotland for their support of our pathway ambitions.  All of our team are hugely excited and motivated as we build on existing successes in the pathway and seek to capitalise on new opportunities across all disciplines towards LA 2028 and beyond.