That other Boat Race....

Men's winning crew.

Yes, you all know that the race between Oxford and Cambridge men is the oldest ‘Boat Race’ in the world, first rowed in 1829. You are probably also aware that the second oldest student boat race is the one between the American universities Harvard and Yale, with its premier race in 1852. However, which boat race comes next? It is a little tricky, maybe…. It was rowed the first time in 1870. It is ……. Yes, well done, it is the Australian race between Melbourne and Sydney universities. Now, which student boat race is in fourth place (but pronounces itself as number 2 or 3)? Well, it is the Scottish boat race. The Scottish newspapers and both universities claim that the one between Edinburgh and Glasgow is either the second or third oldest, but being first rowed in 1877, the Australian race beats them by seven years.

Well, anyway, last Saturday on 24 May, not one but six races were rowed on the River Clyde in Glasgow between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The main races between the women’s A crews and men’s A crews, and the two races between the reserve crews, women and men, were rowed from Broomielaw Quay to the grandstand finish at the Riverside Museum, a distance of 2.6 km, while the two other eights races, between the alumni crews, were rowed on a shorter distance, a 500-metre sprint.

Hundreds of spectators, including Scottish Olympic gold medallist Katherine Grainger, who acted as starter, watched Edinburgh win five of the six races, Glasgow only taking the women’s A race.

The final event of the day was off-water, ‘a novice erg challenge, where Edinburgh’s Calum Irvine, David Duffy, Jill Scott-Dodd and Kathryn Corrie took turns rowing 250-metre on the erg until they had won the 2k race with a time of 5:58’, Charles Thompson, sponsorship secretary, writes in an e-mail.

Edinburgh’s men, who were an experienced crew and were favourites this year, managed to defend the title, which they won last year, after Glasgow had had a long victory run since 1999. Last year, Edinburgh’s women took the title, but on Saturday Glasgow’s women proved to be too strong. Rebecca Lightfoot, number 7 in the Glasgow women’s crew, told a Scottish newspaper: ‘We had a very good race and stuck to our race plan which was great. Unfortunately, Edinburgh had an issue, which held them up, but we had to carry on and worked really well to the end.’

On the University of Edinburgh’s sport website, Andy Barton, director of rowing at the University of Glasgow, said: ‘The Scottish Boat Race is a fantastic concept and is an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of the sport in this country. One of the best things as well, is that it’s not just a group of students getting together for a laugh, it is a very intense day of high-level competition with some brilliant athletes on show.’

Women's winning crew.

About the regatta, Katherine Grainger said: ‘It’s been brilliant. It was pretty dominant by Edinburgh University this time round, which is a bit of a shame as it’s nice when it’s close racing all round, but it’s always a great event and it’s lovely to see so many people coming down to support it and cheer on the rowers’.

Women’s Crews

University of Glasgow: Bow Steph Tinney, 2 Heather Walker, 3 Zoe Wilson, 4 Alison Kells, 5 Hannah Duncan, 6 Claire Aitken, 7 Rebecca Lightfoot, Stroke Emma McDonald and Cox Emma Baxter.

University of Edinburgh: Bow Kathryn Corrie, 2 Jill Scott-Dodd, 3 Lucy White, 4 Lydia Stuart-Kregor, 5 Beth Simmonds, 6 Claire Harland, 7 Maddie Arlett, Stroke Robyn Hart-Winks and Cox Louisa Skevington.

Men’s Crews

University of Glasgow: Bow Luke Cerexhe, 2 Alasdair Lennie, 3 Duncan McCoy, 4 Jonny Cheyne, 5 Andrew Burchell, 6 Patrick Murray, 7 Julian Sprossmann, Stroke Leo Glass and Cox Rhona Findlay.

University of Edinburg: Bow Tom Claxton,2 Kieran Brown, 3 James Stirling, 4 Rufus Scholefield, 5 Rob Hall, 6 Graham Ord, 7 Henry Millar, Stroke Colin Barrett and Cox Eleanor Hall.

Read more about the races and the crews on the universities’ websites: Edinburgh and Glasgow.

This article was corrected and updated on 27 May, at 12:00.

Thomas Keller Medal 2014 Short List Is Announced

In a press release FISA has announced the short list for the 2014 Thomas Keller Medal. The finalists are: Iztok Cop, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, Drew Ginn and Katherine Grainger.

Iztok Cop (Slovenia)
Slovenian sporting legend, Iztok Cop had a career that spanned more than two decades and included six Olympic Games. Cop’s success began as a junior when he rowed for Yugoslavia. Cop medalled as a 19-year-old at the World Rowing Championships.

A year later Cop became the first Olympic medallist for the newly-independent Slovenia in the men’s pair. At the next Olympics, in 1996, Cop raced the men’s single sculls finishing fourth. He then teamed up with Luka Spik and together they became Olympic Champions in the men’s double sculls at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. This partnership continued through the next three Olympic Games with Cop adding silver and bronze to his Olympic collection. Cop has been described as the glue amongst his fellow athletes from around the world and also as a great role model for young Slovenian rowers.

Caroline (Meyer) and Georgina Evers-Swindell (Earl) (New Zealand)
The identical twins, Caroline and Georgina retired in 2008 as two-time Olympic Champions after 15 years in the sport. At Beijing they successfully defended their title in the women’s double sculls in the closest finish of the Olympic regatta. This was the first time in the history of Olympic rowing that the women’s double sculls title had been successfully defended.

Their success began in 2002 with a World Champion title and, as the Evers-Swindell’s success continued to grow, they inspired a generation of New Zealand high school girls to take up rowing. They added two more World Champion titles along the way making them the dominant force in the women’s double. The twins’ impact on sport in New Zealand was recognised when they were awarded the Athlete of the Decade in 2010 at New Zealand’s sports awards.

Drew Ginn (Australia)
Ginn shot to fame as part of Australia’s celebrated Oarsome Foursome when they won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Following this Ginn went on to help Australia win medals in the eight, coxed four and pair. At the 1999 World Rowing Championships Ginn, along with partner James Tomkins, became World Champions in the pair setting themselves up as favourites for the 2000 Olympics. A back injury forced Ginn out of the boat and out of rowing at the eleventh hour. But Ginn’s tenacity and perseverance saw him back on form two years later and in 2003 he was again a World Champion. Ginn followed this up with Olympic gold in Athens.

After a post-Olympic break, Ginn returned with new partner, Duncan Free, and together they won the 2006 and 2007 World Rowing Championships. Leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games Ginn again suffered back problems. That didn’t stop him and he won another Olympic Champion title. A back operation and a break followed the Beijing Olympics with Ginn declaring he would make a comeback in the men’s four. The four took on the mighty British four to finish with silver at the London Olympic Games.

Ginn is well-known for his willingness to share his rowing ‘secrets’ as well as his outstanding rowing technique. Ginn is regularly used as an example of the ‘right way to row’.

Katherine Grainger (Great Britain)
The recent success of women’s rowing in Great Britain goes hand-in-hand with Katherine Grainger – the nation’s most successful female rower of all time. Grainger came into the sport as a university student and it was not long before success came her way.

In 1997 she was part of the first British women’s eight to win a World Championship medal. Moving into the women’s quadruple sculls Grainger’s crew picked up silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Thus began a string of Olympic silvers that served as motivation for Grainger to pursue the elusive Olympic gold. In Athens the silver was in the women’s pair, followed by silver in the quad at the Beijing Olympics.

Grainger’s determination paid off, and at the 2012 London Olympic Games, Grainger struck gold in the women’s double sculls (with Anna Watkins). This gold came on the back of an unbroken winning streak that began in 2010.

Through her rowing career Grainger has demonstrated her ability to swap successfully between different disciplines, including stints in the single, with a World Championship medal in this discipline.

The winner of the Thomas Keller Medal will be announced in early July and will receive an 18-carat gold medal. This year’s medal will be presented at the 2014 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland in July. It will be bestowed by Dominik Keller, the son of FISA’s former president Thomas Keller.

The Thomas Keller Medal is the most prestigious award in rowing and is in recognition of an exceptional international rowing career, the ‘type’ of career, technical mastery of the sport, sportsmanship and the ‘legendary’ aspect of the athlete.

A full list of former winners can be found here.

Katherine Grainger Godmother to Avalon Poetry II

Avalon Waterways recently announced that World Champion and Olympic gold medallist, Dr. Katherine Grainger CBE, has become godmother to Avalon Poetry II, one of three new state-of- the-art river cruise suite ships, which was launched on 22 March.

Katherine Grainger, who won gold in the double sculls together with Anna Watkins at the 2012 Olympic Games and continues to promote the legacy of London 2012, acted as official godmother at the ship christening ceremony in Dordrecht, Holland, on 22 March. Part of a ‘twin christening’ ceremony with sister ship, Avalon Impression, the event took place as the two vessels were moored up alongside each other. The christening formed part of a special four-day inaugural river cruise for both ships sailing from Cologne to Amsterdam.

With VIP guests from the worldwide travel industry and members of the media present, the ceremony was followed by a celebratory champagne reception, dinner and live entertainment with a finale of a fireworks display.

Katherine Grainger, Olympic gold medallist in the double sculls at the London Games, acted as godmother to the Avalon Poetry II when the ship was launched in March.

Before the ceremony, Grainger commented: “I am both honoured and delighted to become godmother to the Avalon Poetry II. It is clear that Avalon Waterways share my passion in creating a winning formula on the water and I am very much looking forward to the christening”.

Alan MacLean, Avalon Waterways’ UK managing director commented: “We are delighted that Katherine is godmother to our latest suite ship Avalon Poetry II and joined us in our celebrations with travel industry partners. Being a world class athlete and having achieved so much in her sport of rowing, Katherine continues to be an athlete ambassador to show others what can be achieved by drawing inspiration from London 2012”.

“We hope that Katherine will enjoy being part of the Avalon experience and experiencing firsthand the high standards we set ourselves in achieving our own excellence on water. We strive to provide our guests with the best river cruise experience possible on board our modern fleet of ships”, MacLean said.

In a press release Avalon Waterways writes that the company will continuing to revolutionise river cruising, and that the new ships will bring the total of suite ships in the fleet to eight, all offering the same state-of-the-art sleek design, spacious suites and high level of service. Each ship features two full decks of ‘Panorama suites’ sized from 200-300 square feet with wall-to-wall panoramic windows that open to create unique ‘open air balconies’, the most spacious river cruising on European rivers – 30% larger than the industry standard. Passengers can look forward to contemporary décor with hand crafted finishes, innovative technologies and well-appointed hotel-style accommodation with the highest level of personal service.

Q&A with Katherine Grainger

The London Evening Standard might not be your daily read – for certain it is not anything we read first thing in the morning here at HTBS – but we are willing to do an exception as the paper has interviewed famous Katherine Grainger, who recently published her book Dreams Do Come True. In this Q&A, Grainger for example answers the questions: ‘Have you finally completed your PhD in homicide? And which gave you greater satisfaction, that or the gold?’ (As we didn’t know the answer already…!) Read the Q&A here.

Katherine Grainger will be speaking at the London Sports Writing Festival at Lord’s between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 19. For more information and tickets log on to londonsportswritingfestival.com and @lswf2013

Shortlist for 2013 Thomas Keller Medal

FISA has just announced the five finalists for the 2013 Thomas Keller Medal. They are:

Iztok Cop (Slovenia)
Drew Ginn (Australia)
Ekaterina Karsten (Belarus)
Katherine Grainger (Great Britain)
Eskild Ebbesen (Denmark)

Read more about the finalists here.

I have to say that this year’s field is a tough one, because how are you going to be able to pick out only one of these incredible athletes? It seems to be an impossible task… The list does raise a question, though: Is not the Thomas Keller Medal for those rowers who have retired from active competing? Or has this rule being changed? I cannot remember reading about such a change; and if it has not altered, have Grainer and Ebbesen retired from top elite rowing?

The winner of the Thomas Keller Medal will receive an 18-carat gold medal. This year’s medal will be presented at the Nation’s Dinner of the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. It will be bestowed by Dominik Keller, the son of FISA’s former president Thomas Keller, and Denis Oswald, president of FISA.

Grainger After Receiving Her CBE: 'Living the Dream'

The other day Katherine Grainger received her CBE from the hands of Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace. 'I thought that the gold medal meant everything but this is the icing on the cake', she told reporters. 'The Olympic medal is something you train for and it is realistic that you can get it but something like this is bestowed on you and it is a great honour to get it. It's living the dream.' Above is a short clip from the Daily Telegraph.

The Rowers on the Queen's New Year's Honours List

HTBS is happy to present the rowers on the Queen's New Year's Honours List of 2013.*

CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire):

Katherine Grainger, Double Sculls

MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire):

Anna Watkins, Double Sculls

Alex Gregory, Four

Sophie Hosking

Katherine Copeland

 Sophie Hosking and Katherine Copeland, Lightweight Double Sculls

Heather Stanning

Helen Glover

Heather Stanning and Helen Glover, Pair

Pamela Relph, Naomi Riches, James Roe, David Smith and cox Lily Van Den Broecke, Mixed Coxed Four

Paul Thompson, Coach

Robin Williams, Coach

Gordon John Day – For voluntary services to Rowing and charitable services through the Allen Glen’s School Club (sorry, no picture).

*Please see also Tim Koch entry Arise, Sir David... also posted today, 29 December, 2012.

Photographs: British Rowing (except of the Four)

Katherine Grainger - Sport Personality of the Year?

Today, Sunday, Katherine Grainger is going to be appointed 'Sports Personality of the Year', or at least many rowers in the U.K., and I, for sure, hope so. She has proven that 'dreams do come true' - which is actually what Gary Herbert yelled when Grainger and her sculling partner, Anna Watkins, crossed the finish line to take the Olympic gold in the London Games this summer. The Scottish rower has shown a tremendous fighting spirit for years, and kept on rowing to be able to get that Olympic gold medal that she was lacking in her collection. The Guardian's Rob Bagchi gives us some strong arguments in this video why Grainger should be 'Sports Personality of the Year'.

And while I am at it, please, Your Majesty, give Grainger a damehood this New Year's.

Update: Sunday evening, 6:30 p.m.: winner of the BBC Sport Personality of the Year award is cyclist Bradley Wiggins - however, I still stand by my damehood for Grainger!

Katherine Grainger is Olympic Athlete of the Year

British Rowing website writes that Katherine Grainer has been named Olympic Athlete of the Year, an award which is handed out by the British Olympic Association. The organisation’s CEO, Andy Hunt, presented Grainer with the trophy at a dinner in Windsor on 1 December front of her GB Rowing Team team-mates and support staff. Read more on British Rowing’s website here.


Photo: British Rowing

Leander Rowers Shake Their Stuff for a Good Cause

Photo: The Henley Standard

Here is a fun fund-raising event that happened in Henley-on-Thames the other day. The local newspaper the Henley Standard writes:

The Olympic gold-medal winning four of Pete Reed, Alex Gregory, Andy Triggs Hodge and Tom James performed to Beyonce’s Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) during the BBC telethon on Friday night. They then joined fellow gold medallists Anna Watkins, Katherine Grainger, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in “rowing” on office chairs.

The routine helped boost the total raised on the night to a record £26,757,446. Many fund-raising events took place in the Henley area, especially in schools. Reed, a Leander Club athlete, said: “I am not a dancer at all. It’s actually a fear of mine but ‘Children in Need’ is a great charity so I just had to man up and give it my best shot. We had a lot of fun as a crew that day. It turns out that we are all trainable and it’s good not to take yourself too seriously.”

Watkins, a Leander sculler, said: “It was great fun to take part. We’re not natural dancers but they found something even we could do, although we’re not quite ready for Strictly yet! I think the boys enjoyed doing Single Ladies way too much.”

Read the whole article in the Henley Standard here. (Where you will also find a funny video!)

Read Grainger’s “out-takes”

This month I am really looking forward to receive my copy of the Rowing & Regatta. On his blog Martin Gough, who on occasions has graced HTBS with his well-written articles, writes that he has a long, 1,600-word piece about Katherine Grainger in British Rowing’s magazine. Martin was first commissioned to write an 800-word long piece, but he had to ask for an extension to be able to fit some of Katherine’s stories. He still did not manage to get them all in the magazine. On his blog he offers the readers the “out-takes”. Read his brilliant blog here.