Glory at British Championships for Strathclyde Rowing Club

Jul 18 2012 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

Strathclyde Park Rowing Club

STRATHCLYDE Park Rowing Club enjoyed success at the 40th British Rowing Championships, held at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham last weekend.

Junior athletes John Dunse, Calum Michael and Graham Ord, along with crew mate Tom Claxton (Loch Lomond Rowing Club) won silver in an exciting and closely fought open junior coxless four race, just missing out on gold by the narrowest of margins.

Club mate Jan Meinicke performed well through the time trials and semi-finals to reach the final of the open junior 15 single sculls, displaying great maturity against tough competition.

Club vice president Gillian Connal demonstrated tremendous skill, endurance and stamina by winning bronze in the women’s coxed four, with president Ailie Ord, Hannah Stone, Ruth Dunn (Clydesdale ARC) and Rhiannon Morgan (cox from Edinburgh University).

Gillian repeated her bronze medal exploits in the women’s coxless pairs alongside club captain Natalie Irvine.

Connal’s achievements were all secured within an hour on the final day of racing.

Meanwhile the Ord family duo of Ailie (who was first selected for Scotland back in 1983) and son Graham will join up with the Scottish Rowing team on Thursday and together with John, Calum, Gillian, Natalie and Pauline McGovern (junior U18 woman) will travel to Cardiff for the Home International Regatta on Saturday, where they will race against crews from England, Ireland and Wales.

Graham said: “I am excited by the prospect of representing Scotland for the first time and delighted to have reaped the rewards of an intense year’s training, having recovered from a broken wrist sustained during a skiing holiday.

“To be in the same team as mum is a real privilege and I hope we are both successful.”

Ailie added: “I’m very proud of all the athletes from the club who have earned selection for this year’s Scottish team.

“All the selected athletes from the club excelled themselves at the British Championships and this bodes well for Cardiff’.”