An ever-hopeful and enthusiastic group of 31 North Berwick rowers, family and friends and the Skiff John B made their annual pilgrimage North to the Ullapool regatta on the 11 and 12 July. After the amazing success of last year's inaugural World Championships hosted by Ullapool we were keen to return and sample their highland hospitality and perhaps win a few medals. We were not disappointed.
Spectacular Loch Broom looked stunning and the sun shone for us on the first day of racing. On the shore 20 skiffs were lined-up and last minute preparations got under way. The participation this year of several new clubs at Ullapool is an indication of the speed at which Scottish Coastal rowing is growing. The wonderful Cornish gig Energy made its long journey from Falmouth to attend the regatta and some were lucky enough to experience a different type of rowing.
Racing commenced on the Friday and North Berwick's first medal of the day was won by a very slick women's over 50s crew. This was followed by a convincing win by last year's World Champions, a superbly-fit over 60s mixed crew, who retained their title leading from start to finish.
{youtube}keAmejNz7O8{/youtube}
Saturday saw another great day of racing. The sun had gone but conditions were still ideal for racing. Our first gold medal of the day came from the over 40s men's crew. This race was gallantly fought between North Berwick and Anstruther almost neck and neck to the finish, before North Berwick pipped it. What a race! We had high hopes for our 40+ mixed crew but a broken pin at the start meant that the race was over for us. This left our open ladies crew without a boat for the next race. While repairs were expertly carried-out by our father and son team of Phil and Findlay, the superb Coigach rowing club kindly offered their beautiful Lily Rose to enable us to continue. This was a tough race with the Anstruther girls winning gold, followed by Crail and North Berwick winning bronze - not bad really considering. Two of our young members, sisters Isla and Heather picked up another medal in the under 19 composite crew coming in second behind Coigach.
The final race of the day was the men’s open which turned out to be another really exciting event. Our young, strong and well-toned crew fought gallantly but were very narrowly beaten into 2nd place taking silver.
Ullapool won the honours of the weekend finishing first overall. In spite of our medal tally and gallant effort we finished in fourth place. However, any rower will agree that winning is a small part of our sport. Friendships forged, camaraderie and the joy of being out on the water make coastal rowing what it is - amazing!
This is all incidental for two NBRC members. Finlay surprised Elisa by proposing in the place where their relationship was kindled last year at the World Championships. The happy couple are now engaged and we are thrilled for them, and wish them all the luck in the world.
Our sincere thanks to Ullapool Coastal Rowing and community for another tremendous regatta and evening ceilidh. Thanks too to the Ullapool Pipe Band, to Craig and Robbie for towing our beloved skiff and to the captains Claire and Craig for keeping us all happy.