Home Page           Future Events         Results        Links       Search Site        Maps        Images        Contact CofD      Documents
Committee of the Dee          

Results from the North East Regatta  9^th & 10^th May 2009

Notes              Championship of the Dee                  Statistics page            Pictures

North East Regatta 2009  -  Notes

2009 wasn’t our busiest regatta, that award went to the 1990 event when we had a total of 181 races over the weekend.  However, 2009 featured the greatest number of races on a single day with 105 races on Saturday – at 4-minute intervals that equated to 7 solid hours of racing. 

Saturday started with a strong tailwind and lumpy water – this flattened nicely when the drenching rain came on during the middle hours of the regatta! 

If competitors felt that they had it bad, I hope they spared a thought for the SARA umpires who were testing their ‘Raymond Dixon’ jackets to the limit.  Thanks to Neil Macfarlane (senior umpire), Angus Campbell, Ian Duncan, Bob Reid, Carol Wallace, Douglas Cameron, Bryan Steel, Sandy Walker, Fiona Thomson, Hazel Smith, Gary Bain, Peter Morrison, Terry McNeill and Emma Fisher.

Watsons and Heriots came to support Saturday’s junior racing and Inverness entered various veteran events over both days.  Dundee UBC was our only other ‘foreign’ club.

There were large entries in a number of events;  11 in Mens Nov Fours on Saturday; 7 in Womens J-14 Sculls; 7 in Womens Novice Fours on Sunday and 5 entrants in generation Double Sculls on Sunday – this featured two father-son doublings (Hamlets and Wallaces) but the promise of Bryan and Jamie Steel sadly turned out to be only a rumour!  The event finished in spectacular style as the very last race on Sunday when the Wallaces managed to catch the Steel/McCue double on the line and cause a dead heat.  Ron complained that Jim and Lewis had cheated by actually having a training outing prior to the event!  I think this could be an interesting and well-contested event in 2010 !

Despite the huge entry, and various doubling-up issues,  we managed to finish 4 minutes ahead of time on Saturday and only 10 minutes late on Sunday.  Sunday was windless and sunny; a fine end to a memorable NER.

RMW 13/5/09

Championship of the Dee  2009

 The Championship of the Dee is the victor ludorum award for the main rowing event in Aberdeen.  It is calculated over both days of the North East Regatta.  Each winning finalist in an event earns his (or her) club two points.  Runners up (losing finalists) are awarded one point.

Our record entry on Saturday resulted in an unparalleled points tally for ASRA at the conclusion of the first day of racing.    This was supplemented by a large (and successful) ASRA entry in open events on Sunday, culminating in a total of 264 points at the conclusion of racing.  This was more than double the tally of ABC, the second-placed club

Although undoubtedly spectacular, this margin of victory cannot compare with ABC’s walk-over in 2000 when they won with 214 points.  The second-placed club (St Andrew Boat Club) had just over a third of ABC’s total with 75 points.  ABC was very consistent this year with scores in the 60s on both days, securing them a clear second place in 2009.

The Edinburgh clubs (Watsons and Heriots) gathered junior points on Saturday but did not stay up for Sunday’s competition.

Inverness travelled with a small, but multi-tasking, squad which (like AUBC) enjoyed more success on Sunday – perhaps they don’t like competing in the rain!  Or perhaps competitors had refreshed and  refuelled themselves at the fancy-dress party at ABC on Saturday night.