Across The Line: Big wins in Ayr and Shrek spotted in Oxford
Find out what’s been going on across the UK, including the action from Scottish Beach Sprint Championships and Oxford City Regatta
Credit: Christian Taylor
We’re Across The Line! Join us to look back on a great weekend of racing from across Scotland and England
Sun shines on Scotland at the Beach Sprint Championships.
Ayr beach played host to the 2025 Scottish Rowing Beach Sprint Championships. New for 2025, the two-day event also incorporated an Offshore Endurance event as part of the Championships. With the conclusion of the Scottish Championships, the results of the Four Nations Coastal Sculling Series are finalised and can be found here.
14 scullers took part in the time trial for the Open Single Sculls, with Performance Development Academy athlete James Cox topping the rankings. The 2022 World Rowing silver medallist continued to set the standard throughout the event, comfortably winning is quarter and semi-final. This set up a showdown with 2024 world champion Cam Buchan on the bonnie banks of Ayr. In a race that lasted less than two and half minutes, it was Cox, the Agecroft RC sculler who was victorious over Buchan by just under four seconds.
In the Women’s event, there were some familiar names at the the top of the table after their time trial. Jersey RC’s Natacha Searson was the best of the bunch and looked imperious throughout the competition. After beating Edinburgh University BC’s Isla McCallum in the quarter-final, last year’s world champion cruised past former University of Tennessee rower and current Molesey BC athlete Megan Hewison. This meant the stage was set for a mouth -watering encounter between Searson and Glasgow University BC’s Laura Mckenzie. The final came down to less than three seconds between the two scullers but it was the Scot who edged out the Jersey sculler in the final sprint to the buzzer. It was a great day for Jersey RC who also picked up the win in the Open Masters Single Scull.
The largest entry came from the Open Junior Single Sculls field. 22 athletes took to the waves and both Lymington ARC and Christchurch RC had two scullers in the quarter-finals. The former saw one of their scullers, Sol Chamberlain-Hyde, progress through the knockout rounds before facing Thomas Biddle of Portsmouth-based Southsea RC. The final saw a dominant performance from Chamberlain-Hyde, the 2024 world champion, winning by 15 seconds. Success continued for Lymington ARC as England’s Zara Gray won a silver medal in the Junior Women’s Single Scull behind her 2024 England teammate Olivia Hodgson, racing for RGS Worcester BC.
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Many of the single scullers were back in action for the Mixed Double Sculls. Searson and Cox teamed up to form a formidable partnership and eased through their respective quarter and semi-finals beating strong competition from Tees RC and then Tynmouth RC. It set up a corker of a final against the all-Scottish duo of Buchan and Mckenzie with the Agecroft RC and Jersey RC composite proving too strong for the Scots, winning by four seconds.
View all the results here.
A dozen wins for City of Oxford RC on home water
Across two days of racing, the Isis welcome dozens of clubs for this year’s edition of Oxford City Regatta. During Saturday’s Oxford City Royal Regatta, racing took place over 1000m and both Reading RC and City of Oxford RC came away with a five wins on the first day.
For the home club, dominant wins came from their women’s squad claiming victory in the Band 1 Pair and Single Sculls by five lengths. At the other end of the spectrum, their Women’s J14 squad easily won their Double Sculls race. The club were involved with some closer finals as ‘LeBlanc’ won the Open band 1 J18 Single Sculls by one length, but the one of the races of the day came from their Women’s Quad which narrowly won their barnburner of final by just one foot.
Similarly for Reading RC, who had 16 crews racing, their women’s squad led the way on Saturday. There were four wins for the women across the Band 1 Coxed Fours and Eight as well as victory in the Double Sculls and the Band 2 Single Sculls. The were victorious in the Open Band 2 Pairs.
It was the local club, Falcon BC who had the largest entry with 26 boats taking to water. The club also took two medals back to their boathouse after winning the Open Double Sculls and the Open band 3 Single Sculls by comfortable margins.
In the Eights, St Edward’s Martyrs Boat Club ‘Shrek’ raced Curlew RC in their opening heat, winning comfortably by two lengths to set up a final against their club mates, ‘Donkey’. Later that morning, it was the latter who prevailed by length. Not to be outdone, the Martyrs women were also in action. ‘Fiona’ won their semi-final against Oxford ARC to progress through to the final against Reading RC who beat Curlew RC by one length. In the final showdown, it wasn’t happily ever after for ‘Fiona’ who lost out to their opposition by one length.
Following the disco at the City of Oxford boat house, crews returned on Sunday for the 500m racing. While City of Oxford RC and Marlow both won seven finals, one of the notable events was the Band 1 Mixed Double Sculls. In the first of the semi finals. Paralympic Champion Frankie Allen teamed up with her brother Rudy in the red and blue of Wallingford RC and went head to head with Henley Women’s Regatta winner Maisie Gordon and U23 World Champion Toby Lassen. Come the finish line, it was the Marlow RC Balliol College BC composite crew who won, something they would repeat in the final where they beat a second combination from Wallingford RC.
Falcon BC managed to up their entry from the previous day and had 29 boats racing across the 156 races and this time their rewards were even more fruitful, picking up five wins throughout the day. This included the final race of the day, the Women’s J15 Single Scull just after City of Oxford RC won their 12th and final event of the weekend, the Women’s J14 Single Scull.
View the full results here.
Rate 11 2ks and sub 1:15 500s: How Chris Scott is preparing for the English Indoors
Credit: AllMarkOne
Fergus Mainland caught up with the former discus thrower to hear all about his preparation for the English Indoors and BRIC.
Social Spotlight: Life inside the the final PDA camp of the season
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That’s all from Across The Line this week!
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