Edinburgh row to victory

Edinburgh beat Glasgow in their annual head to head competition

10 years ago | UPDATED 10 years ago

Last Saturday, the Scottish Boat Race, also known as the Edinburgh vs. Glasgow Boat race, saw the University of Edinburgh compete against the University of Glasgow in an annual rowing race. And this year, Edinburgh stormed to victory.

Held on the River Clyde in Glasgow (no bias at all there, obviously), EUBC won the Men’s 1st VIII race, the Men’s and Women’s Reserve VIIIs race, the Men’s and Women’s Graduate VIIIs races and the Novice Ergometer Challenge (the indoor rowing machines, yeh for real). Leaving only the Women’s VIIIs for Glasgow to claim as a win.

Men’s 1st Team in action

The success of the Men’s 1st was particulary important to the Edinburgh crew, having lost the title to Glasgow every year since 1999.

Said to be the world’s third oldest boat race behind the Oxbridge race and Harvard-Yale Regatta, hundreds of spectators turned out to watch the student rowers go head to head, including Olympic gold medalist and rowing celebrity, Katherine Grainger.

Looks rather chilly!

The Tab caught up with one of the Men’s 1st rowers, Rob Hall and asked him how the day went:

Thanks for talking to us Rob. First of all, was it a tough race?

“As the conditions were fairly calm the race was not as difficult as it might have been, but it was still 2.6 kilometres of each crew giving it their all so I would say we all found it pretty tough.”

What was you training schedule?

“We usually train around 12 times per week, which consist of at least 5 sessions in the boats, 2 sessions of weights, 2-3 sessions on rowing machines and circuit/cardiovascular cross training.”

Wow, that’s intense! How did it feel to win? And how was the support on the day?

“It felt amazing as we crossed the finish line to know that we’d won, the crowd cheering on the banks really spurred on the crew morale in our sprint for the finish as well! The support volunteers were all an integral part of the smooth running of the event, as well as the Riverside museum for allowing the use of its facilities.”

What did you do to celebrate?

“All the crews went to the annual boat race dinner and ball, held this year at the Corinthian, afterwards to unwind and socialise over a couple of drinks, a good meal and a ceilidh!”

Celebratory bench coxswain lift.

Sounds like a laugh! What have you got to say to Glasgow?

To Glasgow, I’m sure I speak for all of us in saying that they raced well and that we look forward to racing them for the trophy again next year!

When is your next race?

Our next races are at the Scottish championships this weekend, where several of us are trialling to represent Scotland at HIR in Cork this July.

Good luck! Finally, does the team have any special pre-race routine or good luck charm?

We don’t really have any special routines or pre-race traditions. We just stick to our race plan, row well, row hard and go for the win, no matter who we’re facing, so in a way we make our own luck! Having said that, universally after winning a race it is customary to throw the coxswain into the water as a crew, however this year that practice was prohibited due to the current and water depth at the landing stage!

Smile!

The Men’s 1st team: Henry Millar, Graham Ord, Rob Hall, Rufus Scholefield, Colin Barrett, James Stirling, (Cox)Evi Hall, Kieran Brown, Tom Claxton.

The last word goes to Evi Hall, the Men’s 1st Cox, who added “I think this kind of side by side showdown racing is the most exciting. We knew we wanted to take them off the start, get ahead and wash them out which is just what did. As for winning, it is metaphorically and literally drinking from the keg of glory!”

Eleri Boyesen

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