On Saturday 22. October at the Tyne Head Races - the Tyne Rowing Club Long Distance Sculling Head and the Tyne United Small Boats Head - crews from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association recorded 4 category wins against quality opposition from across the North East of England, but arguably the most impressive performance of the day came from ASRA's Junior 16 boys - Aidan Graham, Miles Beeson, Sam Kelso & Daniel Lynch - who unfortunately did not receive a pennant for their efforts as they raced up a category in the Junior 18 Coxless Quadruple Sculls event , but came a brilliant 3rd overall in a field of 112.
Category winners were...

Tyne Rowing Club LDS

Men's J15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Seth Turner, Chris Bardas, Xander Beeson & Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Harris MacDonald

Men's Junior 16 Single Sculls: Aidan Graham

Tyne United Small Boats

Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Ashley Geddes, Matthew Hughson, William Bricknell & Oscar Forbes, coxed by Eddie Grahamslaw

Women's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Megan Hewison

On Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd October at the Scottish Schools' Rowing Council Head Races over a 4.5 kilometre course on the Forth & Clyde Canal between Banknock and Auchinstarry, 32 members of the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association celebrated considerable success when on Saturday they won the Scottish Junior Club Champions' Fours Cup for the 7th year in succession and on Sunday came equal second behind the Glasgow Schools' Rowing Club in the Scottish Junior Club Champions' Sculling Cup.

Winners' Pennants went to the following crews...

Saturday (SSRC Fours Head)

• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell (all Albyn School) & Aidan Graham (Cults Academy) with cox William Bricknell (Albyn School)
• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Daniel Lynch (Harlaw Academy), Sam Kelso (Albyn School), Danny Skinner (Banchory Academy), Gregor Cooper (Cults Academy) with cox Leon McKenzie (Torry Academy)
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Seth Turner (Cults Academy), Chris Bardas ( Harlaw Academy), Alexander Beeson (Albyn School) and Jakub Zbikowski (Harlaw Academy) with cox Scott Lewis (Mearns Academy)
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Oscar Forbes (Albyn School), Matthew Hughson (Aberdeen Grammar), Archie Innes (Harlaw Academy) & Ashley Geddes ( Aberdeen Grammar) with cox Laura Barraclough (Cults Academy)
• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Abigail Topp (Kemnay Academy), Ellie Andrew ( Mackie Academy), Megan Lewis ( Mearns Academy) & Megan Hewison (Ellon Academy) with Skye Ballance (Cults Academy)

Sunday (SSRC Sculling Head)

• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Quads: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell (all Albyn School) & Daniel Lynch (Harlaw Academy)
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Quads: Seth Turner (Cults Academy), Chris Bardas (Harlaw Academy), Alexander Beeson (Albyn School) & Jakub Zbikowski (Harlaw Academy) with cox Oscar Forbes (Albyn School)
• Men's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Seth Turner (Cults Academy) & Jakub Zbikowski (Harlaw Academy)
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quads: Oscar Forbes (Albyn School), Matthew Hughson (Aberdeen Grammar), Archie Innes (Harlaw Academy) & Ashley Geddes (Aberdeen Grammar) with cox Laura Barraclough (Cults Academy)

Tantalisingly close second places in Men's J18,16 and 15 Single Sculls, Men's J16 and 14 Double Sculls and Women's J16 and J15 Coxed Quads indicate just how near we were to making it a complete shut-out. A great team effort and clearly all to play for in the season ahead!

This year's Home International Regatta was held in Cardiff on Saturday 23rd July and saw seven ASRA boys representing Scotland across multiple events.

First up was the development pairing of Robert Powell and Miles Beeson. Having recently been part of the successful J16 GB versus France winning eight, as well as the double gold medal winning performances at the British Junior Championships, on the day the less experienced pair struggled with the tricky conditions taking third place behind England - the British Junior pairs champions from Kings School Canterbury - and Ireland.

Next up for ASRA were Conrad Forbes, Gregor Pittendreigh, Theo Stott and Hamish Dunnett in the coxless four. All of them having been part of the gold medal winning ASRA eight from the British Junior Championship the previous week. Again the difficult conditions on the day appeared to prevent the crew from performing at their best, running in fourth behind the other home nations.

The final race of the day for Scotland's junior men was the boys' eight, comprising of cox Michael McCrory, stroke Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Gregor Pittendreigh, Fergus Mainland (George Watsons College) Theo Stott, Hamish Dunnett and Sam Abernathy (Glasgow Schools). Historically Scotland have struggled to be competitive in this event, but, given ASRA's recent success at British Junior Championship expectations were high for this crew. Unfortunately, on the day it was not to be and with fatigue doubtless playing a large part, the Scottish eight struggled home fourth in the rough conditions.

Despite finishing second to England in the Junior Men's Match, this was a strong performance from a squad which included a large number of development/J16 athletes. "Indeed this was the strongest result by the Junior Men in eight years", said Scotland Team Manager, Graeme Cunningham.

At the British Rowing Junior Championships on the 15th, 16th and 17th of July, held this year at the English National Watersports Centre, Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, ASRA crews won 2 gold medals, 1 silver and 2 bronze.

Pride of place must go to the ASRA boys' junior eight - Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Gregor Pittendreigh, Calum Bird,Theo Stott, Hamish Dunnett and Ross Napier, coxed by Michael McCrory - which in the last race of the meeting, after a thrilling ding-dong battle with the eights from Hampton School and Claire's Court, had the crowd on its feet as they pushed ahead in the final two hundred metres to win gold by a margin over Hampton of 1.7 seconds. A magnificent achievement and the first ever win for an ASRA eight outwith Scotland.

Gold also went to our Junior 16 four - Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell and Theo Stott, coxed by Michael McCrory - who, fresh from their victory in the GB Junior 16 eight in Valenciennes last week, saw off repeated spirited attacks from Tideway Scullers to win in the end by a convincing one and a half lengths in the open junior coxed fours event.

In the inaugural and highly competitive junior under fourteen "omnium" event on Friday, silver medals went to Seth Turner and Jakub Zbikowski in their double scull and bronze medals went to Abigail Topp and Seth Turner in their single sculls.

Our J15 crews - boys and girls - also did the club proud with Daniel Lynch, Aidan Graham, Danny Skinner and Sam Kelso, coxed by Oscar Forbes coming in 5th and Alyssa Egido, Megan Hewison, Ellie Andrew and Laura Barraclough, coxed by Emma Quinn coming in 6th in the "A" finals of the J16 coxed fours events.

Megan Hewison and her J14 partner Abigail Topp were winners of the "B" final of the WJ15 doubles event and our senior girls - Cara Leslie, Fern Harvey, Cecily Burnett-Stuart and Eilish Murphy - came a respectable 4th in the "B" final of WJ18 coxless fours.

Finally, many thanks to all our ASRA competitors, whose behaviour was at all times exemplary both on and off the water, to our drivers - Ian Duncan , Pete Turner and Jonny Muir - for getting us safely there and back and to the parents and friends who undertook the long journey south to support our cause.

As a result of their recent success at the GB under 16 Junior Trials at the National Watersports Centre, Nottingham, the following five ASRA boys - Michael McCrory, Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell and Theo Stott -along with four boys from Eton, were selected to row for Great Britain as part of the boys' eight at the prestigious GB v France Match on the 10th July, held this year in Valenciennes.

The boys all travelled down early to train with the Eton crew at Dorney lake, the 2012 Olympic Rowing venue, and it was clear from the offset that this would be a formidable eight. Both clubs combined well together to produce a strong, fast crew.

On the day, under the baking French sun there was a full programme of hotly contested events with the French running out eventual winners and ending GB's five year winning streak. Arguably, however, one of the best performances of the day was the boys eight where the ASRA/Eton composite crew led from the start to finish eventually winning by a margin of some 9 seconds over the 1400m course.

This weekend, the boys, along with 15 other ASRA crews, will again make the journey south to the National Watersports Centre to take part this time in the annual British Rowing Junior Championships.

On Sunday 19th June ASRA hosted the 8th Aberdeen Inter-Schools Regatta, in which annually members of ASRA's individual feeder schools are invited to form scratch crews to compete for two cups - the Aberdeen Inter-Schools Cup for beginners (the so-called "wet starts") and the Elliot Cup for more experienced rowers.

In the Elliot Cup competition, some 40 ASRA members from 10 different educational establishments across the region relished the opportunity to row against their club mates in their own school colours. The final, raced in coxed quads over 500 metres, saw an exciting race-off between pupils from Harlaw Academy and last year's runners-up, Albyn School, with the honours going this year to Harlaw. Congratulations to our Harlaw stalwarts: Theo Stott, Daniel Lynch, Chris Bardas, Jakub Zbikowski, Cara Leslie and Emma Quinn.

The Inter-Schools Cup went to three extremely promising young "wet starts" from Cults Academy, Dayna Ledingham, Skye Ballance and Michel Dearsley.

A great afternoon's racing watched by an impressive crowd of parents and supporters. Many thanks to the organisers - Iona Riley, Holly Reid and Catriona Bain - and to the parents who stocked and manned the cake stalls and barbecue.

On Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th June at the Scottish National Rowing Championships, Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, athletes from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association became Scottish Champions for 2016 in 15 different events and runners-up in three.

Saturday Gold
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Megan Hewison, Abigail Topp, Ellie Andrew & Alyssa Egido, coxed by Emma Quinn
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls; Seth Turner, Chris Bardas, Zander Beeson & Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Oscar Forbes
• Men's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Daniel Lynch & Aidan Graham
• Men's Junior 16 Sculls: Robert Powell
• Men's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Emmanuel Egido, Gregor Pittendreigh, Calum Bird & Ross Napier, coxed by Emma Quinn
• Men's Junior 18 Eights: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Gregor Pittendreigh, Calum Bird, Theo Stott, Emmanuel Egido & Ross Napier, coxed by Michael McCrory
• Men's Open Coxless Fours: Gregor Pittendreigh, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell & Hamish Dunnett
Saturday Silver
• Junior 13 Double Sculls: Matthew Hughson & Ashley Geddes

Sunday Gold
• Women's Novice Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Megan Hewison, Ellie Andrew, Laura Barraclough & Alyssa Egido, coxed by Emma Quinn
• Men's Junior 13 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Oscar Forbes, Harris Macdonald, Ashley Geddes & Matthew Hughson, coxed by Michael McCrory
• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Seth Turner & Jakub Zbikowski
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Daniel Lynch, Aidan Graham, Danny Skinner & Sam Kelso, coxed by Michael McCrory
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Daniel Lynch, Aidan Graham, Danny Skinner & Sam Kelso, coxed by Emma Quinn
• Men's Junior 16 Quadruple Sculls: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, & Theo Stott
• Men's Junior 16 Double Sculls: Robert Powell & Miles Beeson
• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Robert Powell & Miles Beeson
Sunday Silver
• Women's Junior 14 Sculls; Abigail Topp
• Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Abigail Topp & Alyssa Egido

At the National Schools Regatta, from the 27th to the 29th May, held this year for the first time on Eton's Dorney Lake, the 2012 Olympic venue, three of ASRA's crews fought their way through to the "A" Finals of their events and medalled in all three. Excellent results where our athletes were pitted against the best young rowers in the UK, but undoubted stars of the weekend were our J14 quadruple scullers pictured below, who performed brilliantly to dominate in a field of 34 quads from all over the UK and brought back the Canterbury Cup to Aberdeen for the first time.

Gold

• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Seth Turner, Chris Bardas, Alexander Beeson & Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Oscar Forbes

Silver

• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Daniel Lynch, Aidan Graham, Daniel Skinner & Sam Kelso, coxed by Oscar Forbes

Bronze

• Men's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell & Theo Stott, coxed by Michael McCrory

In the Scullery Small Boats Regatta at the same venue on Monday 30th May, ASRA athletes again battled their way to the "A" Finals of three highly competitive events and came away with two magnificent golds and one silver.

Gold

• Men's Junior 14 Double Sculls: Seth Turner & Jakub Zbikowski
  Men's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Miles Beeson & Robert Powell

Silver

• Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Megan Hewison & Abigail Topp.

Congratulations to all of our crews, winners and losers alike. They all did ASRA proud in these, the most fiercely contested regattas in the junior rowing year.

On Saturday 14th May at the Castle Semple Regatta, Lochwinnoch, an ASRA squad deprived of the services of our senior boys due to exam pressure, nevertheless did ASRA proud, putting in a series of outstanding performances to rack up a total of 8 gold medals and 5 silver. This is the last multilane event for ASRA before the prestigious National Schools Regatta which runs from the 27th to the 29th May where 8 of our crews will compete shoulder to shoulder with some 4,000 of Britain's best junior rowers on Eton's Dorney Lake.

Gold

• WR2 4+ - Cara Leslie, Fern Harvey, Cecily Burnett-Stuart & Eilish Murphy, coxed by Emma Quinn
• WNov 4+ - Cara Leslie, Fern Harvey, Cecily Burnett-Stuart & Eilish Murphy, coxed by Emma Quinn
• WJ16 2x - Megan Hewison & Abigail Topp
• OJ15 4x+ - Seth Turner, Chris Bardas, Alexander Beeson & Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Oscar Forbes
• WJ15 2x - Alyssa Egido & Ellie Andrew>
• OJ15 2x - Seth Turner & Jakub Zbikowski
• OJ14 4x+ - Seth Turner, Jan Barraclough, George Grahamslaw & Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Harris MacDonald
• OJ14 1x - Chris Bardas

Silver

• WR1 1x - Katherine Lawrie
• WNov 1x - Laura Barraclough
• WJ14 1x - Abigail Topp
• OJ13 2x - Oscar Forbes & Harris MacDonald
• OJ13 1x - Harris MacDonald

On Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th April at the Strathclyde Park Regatta, Motherwell, ASRA crews equalled last year's medal haul of 16 golds, only two behind 2009's all-time record of 18 at this event. A phenomenal achievement, given the larger than normal exodus of seniors at the beginning of the year and our present extensive injury list.

The 16 gold medals went to:

Saturday

• Open R2 Coxed Fours: Conrad Forbes, Miles Powell, Robert Powell & Theo Stott, coxed by Michael McCrory

• Open R2 Coxless Pairs: Calum Bird & Gregor Pittendreigh

• Women's Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Cara Leslie, Fern Harvey, Cecily Burnett-Stuart & Eilish Murphy, coxed by Steph Low

• Open Junior 18 Coxless Pairs: Robert Powell & Miles Beeson

• Open Junior 15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Daniel Lynch, Aidan Graham, Danny Skinner & Sam Kelso, coxed by Oscar Forbes

• Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Megan Hewison & Alyssa Egido
  Open Junior 13 Coxed Qudruple Sculls: Oscar Forbes, Harris MacDonald, Ashley Geddes & Matthew Hughson, coxed by Emma Quinn

• Sunday
  Open Novice Coxed Fours: Daniel Lynch, Aidan Graham, Danny Skinner &anp; Sam Kelso,coxed by Michael McCrory

• Open Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Theo Stott, coxed by Michael McCrory

• Women's Junior 16 Eights: Abigail Topp, Ellie Andrew, Cara Leslie, Fiona Emsley, Megan Hewison Alyssa Egido, Laura Barraclough, Steph Low, coxed by Emma Quinn

• Open Junior 16 Double Sculls: Robert Powell & Miles Beeson

• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Megan Hewison, Abigail Topp, Ellie Andrew, & Alyssa Egido, coxed by Emma Quinn

• Open Junior 15 Double Sculls: Daniel Lynch, & Aidan Graham

• Open Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Seth Turner, Chris Bardas, Alexander Beeson & Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Steph Low

• Open Junior 14 Double Sculls: Seth Turner & Jakub Zbikowski

• Open Junior 13 Double |Sculls: Oscar Forbes & Harris MacDonald

Notable silver medals went to:

• Open R1 Coxed Fours: Hamish Dunnett, Gregor Pittendreigh, Calum Bird & Ross Napier, coxed by Michael McCrory

• Open Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Emmanuel Egido, Gregor Pittendreigh, Calum Bird & Ross Napier, coxed by Emma Quinn

• Women's J14 Sculls: Abigail Topp

• Open J14 Sculls: Seth Turner

Congratulations to all who took part and our thanks as always to our drivers and the parents who undertook the long journey south to support us.

On Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th April, following on from our week-long Annual Training Camp in Belgium, ASRA athletes medalled as follows at the Gent International Spring Regatta.

Saturday
• J16 Coxless and Coxed Fours - Gold in both events: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Theo Stott with cox Michael McCrory
• J14 Coxless Quadruple Sculls - Gold: Jakub Zbikowski, Alex Beeson, Chris Bardas, Seth Turner
• J14 Single Sculls - Silver: Jakub Zbikowski
• J18 Coxed Fours - Bronze: Emmanuel Egido, Gregor Pittendreigh, Hamish Dunnett, Ross Napier with cox Jack Grahamslaw
• J18 Eights - Bronze: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Gregor Pittendreigh, Hamish Dunnett, Theo Stott, Emmanuel Egido, Ross Napier with cox Michael McCrory

Sunday
• J16 Coxless Fours - Gold: Conrad Forbes, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Theo Stott
• J14 Double Sculls - Gold: Chris Bardas, Jakub Zbikowski
• J14 Double Sculls - Silver: Alex Beeson, Seth Turner

Congratulations to them and also to the boys and girls who failed to medal, but showed steady improvemnet in the course of the week and who put in impressive performances frequently above their age group at the regatta. Our grateful thanks as always to our coaches - in particular to Henry Gieseler who yet again made the long journey from Freiburg to join our coaching team - and our indefatigable drivers who made the whole trip possible.

At the Aberdeen Eights and Small Boats Head on Saturday 26th March, ASRA's senior boys won both divisions of the Head outright, beating nearest rivals in the form of an Aberdeen University/Robert Gordon University composite by a thumping 17 seconds in the first division and 18 in the second. Not to be outdone, ASRA's Junior boys won the Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls division at a canter, beating local opposition from Albyn School by over 4 minutes.

• Men's Open Eights: Gregor Duncan, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Gregor Pittendreigh, Calum Bird, Theo Stott, Ross Napier & Emmanuel Egido, coxed by Michael McCrory
• Men's R2 Eights: Gregor Duncan, Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Gregor Pittendreigh, Calum Bird, Theo Stott, Conrad Forbes & Emmanuel Egido, coxed by Oscar Forbes
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Fours: Seth Turner, Chris Bardas. Jan Barraclough &: Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Fiona Emsley

On Thursday 17th March our senior boys eight, consisting of Michael McCrory (cox), Gregor Duncan (stroke), Miles Beeson, Robert Powell, Gregor Pittendreigh, Calum Bird, Theo Stott, Hamish Dunnett and Ross Napier (bow), took part in the prestigious Schools' Head of the River Race.This timed processional race takes place annually on the Thames over the 6.8 kilometre championship course from the University Stone in Mortlake to the Westminster School Boat Club in Putney.

The crew raced to a 13th place in Championship Eights (the Blue Riband event for the boys) and 30th overall; an improvement over our 2015 position of 37th and the time gap between the ASRA crew and first placed Westminster was also smaller than last year. This was an excellent result amongst the very best of British junior rowing with 378 crews taking part - well done to all involved!

At the Inverness Eights & Small Boats Head on Saturday 27th February, the ASRA Boys' Senior eight - superbly stroked by our boys' captain and 2015 Junior World's finalist in Rio, Gregor Duncan - came an impressive third overall and first out of five in the Men's Restricted 2 Eights category in Division 1 of the event. In the smaller boat categories, ASRA crews put in fine performances to medal in Men's Junior 18 Coxless Pairs, and both Open and Women's Novice Double Sculls.

On Sunday 31 January after two postponements due to weather, the Rutherford Head finally went ahead; two divisions over the 4500m Scotswood to Newburn stretch of the River Tyne with 50-60 crews in each division. ASRA crews acquitted themselves well against largely adult competition.

Division 1:

IM3 8+ - Gregor Duncan, Hamish Dunnett, Robert Powell, Miles Beeson, Calum Bird, Theo Stott, Daniel Lynch, Conrad Forbes and cox Michael McCrory came 2nd out of 6 in their category, losing to a very competent looking adult crew from Agecroft, and 9th overall, beating the only other school eight by over three minutes.

WJ18 4+ - Abigail Topp, Cara Leslie, Eilish Murphy, Cecily Burnett-Stuart and cox Steph Low came 2nd out of 3, between two Queen Elizabeth High School crews.

Division 2:

IM3 4+ - Daniel Lynch, Theo Stott, Calum Bird, Conrad Forbes and cox Michael McCrory came 3rd out of 4, to Agecroft and Edinburgh Uni. OJ18 4x - Gregor Duncan, Robert Powell, Miles Beeson and Hamish Dunnett came a close 2nd out of 3 crews, losing by 11 seconds to the local lads from Tyne ARC who were a little more canny with their steering.

WIM3 8+ - Abigail Topp, Ellie Andrew, Fiona Emsley, Cara Leslie, Eilish Murphy, Cecily Burnett-Stuart, Emma Quinn, Laura Barraclough and cox Steph Low- came 5th of 8 but had the consolation of beating the Queen Elizabeth High School girls' eight by almost a minute.

Well done to all the athletes, on and off the water, in what finally turned out to be a good day's racing in calm conditions. Many thanks to athletes, parents and coaches for coping with the changing circumstances and commiserations to those athletes who could not make the re-scheduled events.

At the Aberdeen Fours and Small Boats Head of the River Races on the Dee on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th November, ASRA athletes recorded an impressive series of category wins against good senior opposition from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriott-Watt and Dundee Universities as well as our own AU and RGU and against even feistier junior opposition from their own club mates.
Saturday

Division 1

• Open Coxless Quadruple Sculls (and fastest crew overall in Division 1 ): Hamish Dunnett, Calum Bird, Gregor Pittendreigh & Emmanuel Egido
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Sam Kelso, Chris Bardas, Danny Skinner & Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Connor Kennedy
• Women's 18 Coxed Fours: Sam Cassidy, Katherine Lawrie, Eilish Murphy & Cecily Burnett-Stuart, coxed by Gregor Duncan

Division 2

• Open Junior 18 Coxed Fours: Jacob Turner, Ross Napier, Calum Bird & Gregor Pittendreigh, coxed by Michael McCrory
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Seth Turner, Chris Bardas, Jakub Zbikowski & Jeremy Graham, coxed by Fiona Emsley
• Women's Restricted 2 Coxed Fours: Sam Cassidy, Katherine Lawrie. Eilish Murphy & Cecily Burnett-Stuart, coxed by Emma Quinn

Sunday

Division 1

• Men's Restricted 2 Pairs: Gregor Pittendreigh & Calum Bird
• Men's Open Double Sculls: Emmanuel Egido & Hamish Dunnett
• Men's J15 Double Sculls: Sam Kelso & Daniel Lynch
• Men's Novice Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Jakub Zbikowski, Jeremy Graham, Harris MacDonald & Oscar Forbes ,coxed by Fiona Emsley
• Women's Novice Double Sculls: Katherine Lawrie & Cara Leslie
• Men's J15 Octuple Sculls (and fastest crew overall in Division 2); Daniel Lynch, Chris Bardas, Miles Beeson, Jakub Zbikowski, Ellie Andrew, Abigail Topp, Jeremy Graham & Harris McDonald, coxed by William Bricknell
• Men's Junior 16 Single Sculls: Robert Powell

At the Tyne Head of the River Races on Saturday 24th October, in challenging conditions over the 5 kilometre course, crews from the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association set out their stall for the season with some strong performances.

Unfortunately, not all events were contested by other clubs but, where medals were on offer, they were well earned by the following crews:

Division 1 (Tyne Long Distance Sculling Head)
• Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Alyssa Egido & Megan Hewison
• Men's Junior 18 Quad Sculls: Jacob Turner, Gregor Pittendreigh, Emmanuel Egido & Ross Napier
• Men's Junior 15 Single Sculls: Aidan Graham
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quad Sculls: Seth Turner, Chris Bardas, Jakub Zbikowski & Oscar Forbes, coxed by Fiona Emsley. This crew's medal was for the fasted coxed quad in the division.

Division 2 (Tyne United Small Boats Head)
• Women's Junior 15 Quad Sculls: Abigail Topp, Ellie Andrew, Megan Hewison & Alyssa Egido, coxed by Emma Quinn
• Men's Junior 17 Double Sculls: Hamish Dunnett & Emmanuel Egido

Many thanks to Louise and Will Forbes for driving one of the minibuses and their help, along with Gillian Hewison, on the muddy steps.

On Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th September at the Scottish Schools' Rowing Council Head Races on the Forth & Clyde Canal between Banknock and Auchinstarry, 34 members of the Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association celebrated an outstanding double success when they won both the Scottish Junior Club Champions' Fours Cup for the 5th year in succession and the Scottish Junior Club Champions' Sculling Cup for the 2nd year in succession.

Winners' Pennants went to the following crews...

Saturday (SSRC Fours Head)

• Women's Junior 16 Coxed Fours: Sam Cassidy (Cults Academy), Cara Leslie (Harlaw Academy), Molly McAra (Harlaw Academy), Eilish Murphy (St. Margaret's School), coxed by Ellie Andrew (Mackie Academy)
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Abigail Topp (Kemnay Academy), Fiona Emsley (Albyn School), Laura Barraclough (Cults Academy), Emma Quinn (Harlaw Academy), coxed by Stephanie Low (Grammar School)
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Conrad Forbes ( Albyn School), Robert Powell (Albyn School), Theo Stott (Harlaw Academy), & Michael McCrory (Aberdeen Grammar), coxed by Vaibhav Chetty (Robert Gordon's College)
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Daniel Lynch (Harlaw Academy), Miles Beeson, (Albyn School), Aidan Graham (Cults Academy), Sam Kelso (Albyn School), coxed by Emmanuel Egido (St Machar Academy).

Sunday (SSRC Sculling Head)

• Women's Junior 18 Single Sculls: Katherine Lawrie (Northern College)
• Men's Junior 16 Coxless Quadruple Sculls: Conrad Forbes ( Albyn School), Robert Powell (Albyn School), Theo Stott (Harlaw Academy), & Michael McCrory (Aberdeen Grammar)
• Men's Junior 16 Double Sculls: Theo Stott (Harlaw Academy) & Conrad Forbes (Albyn School)
• Men's Junior 15 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Daniel Lynch (Harlaw Academy), Miles Beeson, (Albyn School) Aidan Graham (Cults Academy), Sam Kelso (Albyn School) coxed by Emma Quinn (Aberdeen Grammar)
• Women's Junior 15 Coxed Fours: Abigail Topp (Kemnay Academy), Ellie Andrew (Mackie Academy), Stephanie Low ( Grammar School), Alyssa Egido (St Machar Academy), coxed by Ross Napier (Robert Gordon's College)
• Women's Junior 15 Double Sculls: Abigail Topp (Kemnay Academy) & Alyssa Egido (St. Machar Academy)
• Men's Junior 15 Double Sculls : Daniel Lynch ( Harlaw Academy) & Aidan Graham (Cults Academy)
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Seth Turner (Cults Academy), Chris Bardas (Harlaw Academy), Jeremy Graham (Cults Academy), Jakub Zbikowski, coxed by Sam Kelso (Albyn School)

Congratulations to all who took part in what was a terrific team effort.

The photograph shows ASRA's Gregor Duncan (17) rowing at four in the GB Eight at the World Junior Rowing Championships in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday 8th August. The crew in the end came 5th in a closely fought final. It is an immense achievement to be selected to row at world level for the GB Junior Squad and Gregor is only the second boy in ASRA's history to have done so. The first was our Lewis "Nutter" McCue ,who just a week ago won silver at the World Under 23 Rowing Championships in Bulgaria. Both are eligible to row again at the same level next year.

At the British Rowing Junior Championships held on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July at the Scottish National Rowing Centre, Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, ASRA athletes medalled in a total of 5 categories and came an impressive third in the overall club rankings at the event.

Gold
• Women's Junior 16 Coxless Pairs: Sade Hudgell-Igweke & Sam Cassidy
Silver
• Men's Junior 18 Coxless Fours: Lawrence Jennings, Gregor Pittendreigh, Andrew Main & Alistair Frost
Bronze
• Men's Junior 18 Eight: Lawrence Jennings, Ollie Kinghorn, Alistair Frost, Gregor Pittendreigh, Andrew Main, Calum Bird, Jacob Turner & Ross Napier, coxed by Michael McRory
• Men's Junior 15 Single Sculls: Robert Powell
• Men's Junior 14 Coxed Quadruple Sculls: Daniel Lynch, Miles Beeson, Aidan Graham & Sam Kelso, coxed by Michael McRory

Following these results as well as outstanding performances at the Scottish Rowing Championships, 11 ASRA athletes in total have been chosen to row for Scotland at the Home Countries InternationaI Regatta at Strathclyde Park next weekend - Lawrence Jennings , Gregor Pittendreigh, Andrew Main, Alistair Frost, Ollie Kinghorn and Michael McRory feature in the junior men's squad and Sade Hudgell-Igweke and Sam Cassidy will be joined by Katherine Lawrie, Cara Napier, Cara Leslie, Amy Fraser and Molly McAra in the junior women's squad.

Meanwhile, as a result of a series of brilliant individual performances at GB Final Trials in Nottingham, ASRA's Gregor Duncan has been selected to stroke the GB Junior Eight at the World Junior Rowing Championships in Rio de Janeiro from the 5th to the 9th August.