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• Neil Wallace

Inverness rowers produced an excellent team performance at Castle Semple Regatta on Lochwinnoch on Saturday 14th May winning five events and placing second in eleven others. Conditions on the traditionally choppy loch were particularly good, making racing fair and fast.

Heather Gordon was a clear winner in the Girls J15 Single, and she followed up by stroking the Women's Novice Coxed Quad (Heather Gordon, Rhiannon Hopcroft, Carla Madigan, Laura Evans-Smith, Cox Jess Tebbutt) to victory with open water over George Watson's College.

Joseph Wright and Angus Thomson led the Boys J16 Doubles race from start to finish to medal over Sthrathclyde Park RC, Castle Semple RC and St Andrew BC. Wright and Thomson also fought stroke for stroke against each other in the J16 Singles Final, with Wright finishing a fraction of a second in front, but Ruaridh Smith of Castle Semple took first place with clear water.

In the Boys J15 Singles final, Wright took a commanding lead but at the 500m mark encountered a sculler rowing towards him in his lane and had to change course rapidly to avoid a collision! This isn't supposed to happen, and his opposition rapidly overtook him. Clydesdale ARC clinched the race from Wright who will now hope to reclaim his title at the Scottish Champs.

Mary Clouston won the Womens' Vet DF Single and Tom Baker won the Mens' Vet G Single. Emma Bidwell, competing in her first multi-lane regatta, took second place in the Women's Vet DF Single and stroked the Women's Vet Coxless Quad to second place behind Strathclyde Park RC.

Angus Thomson and Joe Tebbutt won their Men's Novice Double heat very convincingly but were pipped into second place in the final by Loch Lomond RC. Hannah Campbell and Shona Gilmour produced two strong second place finishes in their W J18 Doubles heat and final then teamed up with Holly Barnard and Maya Doughty for a fast and furious W J18 Quad final where they finished a very close fourth, just a quarter boat length from second place.

In the Novice Women's Doubles, both Inverness RC crews (Holly Barnard & Maya Doughty, Carla Madigan & Laura Evans-Smith) qualified strongly in the heats, and maintained their form in the final to finish a close second and third behind George Watson's College.

The Girls J15 Coxed Quad (Heather Gordon, Rhiannon Hopcroft, Jess Tebbutt, Megan Keith with Cox Holly Barnard) produced an excellent 2nd place in their elimination race, followed by 4th place in the final. The Boys J15 Double (Fraser Wallace & Alexander Todd) won their heat, but had to settle for 4th place in the final.

A brand new Inverness RC men's crew - Asbjorn Klomp, Robert Gordon, Kerne Toussaint, Rob Whitson and Cox Rosie Arthur - started strongly in their Men's Novice Quad final but caught two "boat-stopping crabs" in quick succession which dropped them back to third place. The Inverness RC junior Novice Quad was able to overtake the men and finish second! However, competing later in the Men's Vet B Coxed Quad the IRC men produced an excellent race, fighting side by side with Castle Semple RC all the way down the course to claim second place.

Report compiled by Susanne Standish-Hunter

Castle Semple 2016 Inverness RC Results