Inverness Rowing Club achieved Gold and Silver Medal success at the two day Scottish Championship Regatta at Strathclyde Park in Hamilton last weekend in changeable weather conditions. Gold medals were won in Womens Veteran Quadruple Sculls and Womens Veteran Double Sculls with silver and other medal positions being achieved in a wide variety of other events.

On Saturday, the two Womens Novice Double Sculls of Hazel Geddes/Carole Wells and Bea Wallace/Doreen Waterson qualified in third and first positions respectively in each of the semi-finals to later contest a keenly fought final in which a photo-finish was required to confirm the Wallace/Waterson crew as silver medallists with the fast finishing Geddes/Wells crew less than a length behind. The Womens Veteran Quad sculled as a composite crew with Ailie Ord (Clydesdale ARC), Susanne Standish-Hunter, Mandy Towrie and Alison Hulme (St Andrew BC) which won their Gold Medal by a margin of two lengths over another Inverness composite crew containing Maeve Lewis, Bea Wallace, Elaine Davidson (Strathclyde Park RC) and Hazel Smith.

On Sunday, the Inverness womens crews again took the limelight with Hazel Smith and Ailie Ord (Clydesdale ARC) winning Gold in the Veteran Double Sculls producing a fine lengths win over another Inverness/St Andrew crew comprising Susanne Standish-Hunter and Alison Hulme(St Andrew BC) and the Inverness Novice Coxed Quadruple Scull of Carole Wells, Hazel Geddes, Bea Wallace, Doreen Waterson and Susanne Standish-Hunter (cox) winning their Silver Medals a mere 1.4 second behind winners St Andrew BC, a magnificent achievement for a recently formed crew.

Inverness Mens crews also shone on Sunday with the Novice Coxed Four of Joe Wright, Duncan Alexander, Ken Sinclair, Neil Wallace and Lawrence Edwards (cox) qualifying from their semi-final in second place to then win their Silver Medals just half a length behind winners Heriot-Watt University. Alistair Duff won a fine Silver Medal in his Veteran C Single Sculling event whilst Tom Baker and Roy Sinclair sculled well in achieving third places in their respective Veteran E and F Single Sculling events.

Neil Wallace and Tom Baker also achieved a fine third place in their Veteran Double Sculls event and Colin Sinclair, competing in two Junior events as an Inverness member and two Schoolboy Championship events representing Fortrose Academy produced fine performances, particularly in the Schoolboy Single Sculls event on the Sunday in which he achieved a second place position.

Colin's elder brother Alan was strokeman of the Aberdeen Boat Club's Coxed and Coxless fours which won Gold in the Coxless event on the Sunday and Silver in the Coxed event on Saturday.