Photo credit: Dave Lee
Proudly advertised as ‘the cheapest entry fees for any Head of the River Race in Scotland,’ the River Dee once again played host to Aberdeen Fours and Small Boats Head.
Despite being at the mercy of the North Sea, the gods of the granite city granted relatively dry conditions for two days of racing in the northeast of Scotland. The 3000m course weaved its way from Aberdeen harbour through five of Aberdeen’s bridges, passing the boathouses and finishing in the shadows of Bridge of Dee.
2024 saw a well-attended event, especially from university clubs (Dundee, Heriot-Watt and St Andrews), and they welcomed a sculler from Avon County RC on Sunday in the form of David Atkin, an ex-Captain of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Saturday started well for ABC. Wins came in Open Masters Coxed Four, Women’s Masters Coxed Four, and the fastest time of the day came from their Open Coxless Four. Success also came for the University of St Andrews. The Loch Ore-based club was second in Open Coxless Fours and won silverware in R2 coxed fours and Women’s Open coxed fours.
In the afternoon, the two aforementioned clubs had to settle for the joint fastest time of the division with a deadhead declared in Open coxed fours. The ABC women replicated the success of the men when they won the Women’s Open coxless fours. After a timing correction, ASRA was declared victorious in Women’s Novice coxed quads, not Heriot-Watt University.
Sunday’s action saw crews switch from fours to small boats. Aberdeen’s Jakub Zbikowski, who’s well versed on the Dee, having rowed at ASRA and the University of Aberdeen, was not only the quickest sculler but topped the rankings in division one. The best of the pairs belonged to Zbikowski’s former club, ASRA, represented by Luke Renwick and Luke McMorris, who picked up first place in the R2 event.
A strong morning for the junior programme also saw them pick up wins in the Junior 18 Single, the Junior 15 Double, the Women’s Junior 16 Single, and the Women’s Junior 14 Double. The morning’s racing also saw Dundee University’s sole win of the weekend by Caroline Crabb in the Women’s R2 Single. After hosting a successful weekend of racing last weekend, Inverness Rowing Club, the most northern club in Scotland, was also successful. Steven Andrews sculled to victory in the Novice Single category by over two and a half minutes in one of the most impressive performances of the weekend
For the final division of the weekend, ABC continued to show their strength as their Open Double of Zbikowski and Calum McRoberts came out on top as the fastest crew of the day once again. It was a tough time for anyone not from the AB11 postcode as the Aberdeen clubs stormed to victory across all of the events on Sunday afternoon.
ABC would win four other events, including the Open Pair and Women’s Novice Single. Meanwhile, ASRA would be victorious in five additional events. It’s also worth noting that the junior programme also fielded two Octos in Sunday’s racing, emphasising the depth of one of the most robust junior programmes in Scotland.
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