Scottish rowers dominate medals at the 2024 Swift British Rowing Beach Sprint Championships
37 medals were awarded after two days of racing in glorious weather on a Scottish beach, sponsored by Swift
A sweep for Scotland! Day one's Caledonian medallists pose with their coaches. Credit: British Rowing
Flat water and swift winds greeted competitors on the first day of competition on East Sands Beach, St Andrews, as five events lined up for their time trials.
In the Coastal open solos it was Sam Scrimgeour of Glasgow RC who came out on top in the time trial and took his first gold medal of the day in a tight fight against Iurii Suchak from Austria. Cam Buchan (Edinburgh University BC) secured bronze after finishing ahead of the second fastest time trialist (and 2024 Four Nations Beach Sprints Champion) Gregor Hall (Stirling RC) in the B final.
For the first time in the competition’s history we saw student categories race, beginning with the Coastal open student solos. Longtime coastal rower Hal Flowerdew took the gold for his home club Tynemouth RC, with Will Lawson of University of St Andrews BC in silver and Robbie Waddell of Glasgow University BC in bronze.
Fulham Reach on the beach: Athletes and coaches alike competed in the Coastal women’s doubles.
The Coastal women’s doubles event saw a coach versus athlete B Final, as Yewande Adesida and Tashi Spence (Fulham Reach BC) took to the water against Ellie Byrne (London RC) and C Quesada (Fulham Reach BC). It was the coaches who came out on top with the bronze medal, prompting the MC to suggest that maybe they hadn’t taught their students everything! Fulham Reach Boat Club became a GB Coastal Sculling Centre last year (bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘Tideway’) and a strong contingent of athletes competed in this year’s Championships with an equally strong team of supporters.
Laura McKenzie of Glasgow University BC took her first gold of the weekend racing alongside Heather Gordon from Inverness RC in the A Final, with Eva Barrellon-Kendall (Agecroft RC) and Natacha Searson (Jersey RC) in silver.
Turning to the Coastal mixed doubles, it was the 2023 GB Beach Sprint Team double of Laura McKenzie (Glasgow University BC) and Sam Scrimgeour (Glasgow RC) who took another gold each after a perfect, clean round of knockout racing. This time McKenzie was racing against her previous partner Heather Gordon, who in turn partnered up with Gregor Hall – the Inverness/Stirling composite took silver. Completing the podium was Collin Wallace (Deeside Scullers) and Natacha Searson (Jersey RC) in bronze.
Our final medals of day one went to our youngest competitors when the Coastal open U19 solos took to the course. Whitby RC’s Zack Hills raced to gold, with Bradford ARC’s Edwin Van Lopik in silver. The battle for bronze was Stirling RC vs Stirling RC, but Ollie Plank won the bout and claimed the medal over clubmate Max Brown.
Iurii Suchak (Austria) and Sam Scrimgeour (Glasgow RC) hit the beach during their time trial on Sunday.
Day two opened with the Coastal open doubles, with many of yesterday’s medalists doubling up in the racing once more. Sam Scrimgeour’s third gold medal came with teammate Austria’s Iurii Suchak, who afterwards expressed his desire to celebrate at a ceilidh. The double had previously bagged the only clean shot through to the A Final, whilst Cam Buchan (Edinburgh University BC) and Gregor Hall (Stirling RC) won their repechage over a University of St Andrews BC boat of Will Lawson and Aidan Graham. Buchan and Hall were tantalisingly close to gold, finishing just a few seconds behind the Austrian/Scottish composite to claim silver.
It was a double run for Whitby RC’s Sefi Ormston and Zack Hills as they charged up the beach together to take gold in the Coastal mixed U19 doubles, with Ormston hitting the buzzer seconds before receiving an enthusiastic hug from her teammate. Whitby RC also became a GB Coastal Sculling Academy in 2023, so it was fantastic to see young athletes winning medals domestically before looking for international representation. Isabel Soyinka and Tom Morrison of Clydesdale ARC took silver, with Zoe Cochrane (St Andrew BC) and Finlay Morton (Strathclyde Park RC) in bronze.
In the Coastal women’s U19 solos, Zara Gray of Lymington ARC came out victorious after three steadily raced rounds of knock outs. Isabel Soyinka raced to silver moments behind in the closest race of the weekend, hitting her buzzer 0.7 seconds behind the Lymington sculler. The B final saw Sefi Ormston take her second medal of the day when she won bronze for Whitby RC.
Izzy Lancaster (Bradford ARC) joins the Coastal women’s solo medallists
The last race of the competition saw the tide pull in fast, resulting in the shortest run of the day for Laura McKenzie, racing against Heather Gordon for gold in the Coastal women’s solos. McKenzie won in style, with a big enough margin of victory to warrant a somersault over the line. Natasha Searson took bronze ahead of Izzy Lancaster (Bradford ARC), although at the same time Lancaster won the gold medal in the Coastal women’s student solos for Reading University, finishing ahead of E Hall of the University of St Andrews in the combined event.
Commenting on the weekend, event chair Sarah Gregory said: “It’s been a fantastic two days of racing in St Andrews. The coastal community is always a fun, welcoming place to be and it’s been fantastic to see the amount of respect our competitors have shown to each other before, during and after racing. Thank you to our volunteers, without whom we could never have put on this event, and thank you to everyone who travelled from near and far to support, whether as a coach, a boat handler or a spectator. We’ll see you next year!”
