Inverness Rowing Club oarsman Alan Sinclair was a member of the Aberdeen Boat Club along with his fellow scullers Peter Shannon (bow), Drew Hendry (No 2) and New Zealander Andrew Crosland (stroke) which took part in the Mens Quadruple Sculls event at Henley Royal Regatta last week.
Coached by the Inverness club's coach Ian Hunter and encouraged by the skirl of the pipes from the toe path, the Aberdeen club's first round race on the Thursday was against a crew from Rob Roy Boat Club from Cambridge in which the Aberdeen crew sculled well to record a fine win by a comfortable margin of almost two lengths.
In their quarter final, they held their opponents from Tideway Scullers Club and were neck and neck for the first part of the race. In the exceptionally blustery conditions with a strong headwind blowing, their heavier opponents gradually drew ahead and established a lead which the lighter Aberdeen crew fought hard to overcome but were unable to close the gap over the remainder of the 2112 metre course, their opponents progressing through to Sunday's final
This coming weekend sees another Inverness oarsperson competing at Henley when Hazel Smith is a member of Double Sculling and Quadruple Sculling crews at the Henley Masters Regatta with high hopes of achieving medal success.