Saints Rowing

Find out more

• Squads

  The club is divided into four squads, Senior Men and Women and Novice Men and Women, plus Coxes. The men’s and women’s squads at each level tend to train together, and the whole club travel to Lochore together each week for water sessions.

  Our senior squads consist of previous novices, ex-junior rowers and most years we have athletes undergoing GB Trials and/or representing Scotland. In Semester One, the Seniors race at Fours Head, and at GB Early ID Trials where applicable. In Semester Two, we race several Head Races in the Scottish region, BUCS Head and the Head of the River (HORR) and Women’s Head (WEHORR) in London. After our training camp we compete at SUCS and BUCS, where we have had record-breaking performances in recent years, including our first two gold medals in 2019. Some crews remain in St Andrews after exams to train for Henley Women’s Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta.

  Our novice squads are made up of students from all years of study who have never rowed before. They form close bonds very quickly, and compete at Scottish Indoors in their first semester, and are ready for BUCS Head by early in their second semester. Our novice programme is always very popular, and many move up to join the seniors after their novice year.

• Competitive rowing

  The club is aiming to be a highly competitive entity in both Scottish and British rowing. Results have seen a huge improvement in the last couple of years and continue to follow an upward curve. We are consistently the highest ranking non-GB funded programme in Scotland. We regularly send athletes to represent Scotland at HIR each summer. Outstanding performances resulted in our first gold medals at BUCS Regatta last season, as well as breaking the top 50 at WEHORR, winning the Medium Academic Club Pennant at HORR, being quarter finalists at Henley Women’s Regatta and semi-finalists and the furthest-progressing Scottish crew at Henley Royal Regatta.

  

  British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) championships

  Alongside Henley, British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Regatta is a pivotal event in the Saints Rowing calendar. Every year sees consistent and impressive improvement in the competitive performance of the Club at BUCS. The Club, in recent history, has had multiple medal finishes and A Finals in both Men’s and Women’s events, in pairs, fours and singles, including a win in both Men’s and Women’s Intermediate pairs in 2019. The club ranks consistently within the top non-funded programmes in the country, placing ninth in the medals table in 2019 beating some prestigious funded programmes, including Imperial College Boat Club and the University of London Boat Club.

  The club had never attended BUCS Head prior to 2016 but our showing at the event in the last few years has been up with the major UK university rowing programmes. In 2017 we won not only our first BUCS points but also medalled in the WChmp4+ event. 2017 and 2018 brought a series of 5th finishes in championship events, narrowing missing out on medalling. BUCS Head is also used as a racing opportunity for our novice squads in their development towards becoming senior athletes.

  Scottish Universities Championships

  Taking place at Strathclyde Park in April, SUCS Regatta gives the Club the opportunity to trial crew combinations and race plans before the central summer racing focuses, including BUCS Regatta and Henley regattas. In the past few years, the Club has secured multiple Scottish University Championship titles, including wins in Men’s and Women’s Championship Pairs, Interemdiate Eights, Fours, Doubles, Quads and Singles. We are consistently the top non-GB funded programme within Scotland and multiple VL accolades with Scottish Student Sport.

  Head of the River Race

  Two of the world’s largest Head Races in London feature on the Club’s annual racing calendar. Despite our comparatively small size, the Club has had tremendous success at Men’s and Women’s Tideway over recent history. Every year since 2015, the first VIIIs have broken Club records with the Senior Women breaking the top 50 in 2018 and the Men’s 1st VIII+ finishing 63rd in 2019, winning the Medium Academic Club Pennant.

• Facilities

  

  Loch Ore Meadows Country Park

  Following a move from Perth Sailing Club in 2016, where we had access to a stretch of the River Tay, the club relocated to Loch Ore Meadows Country Park offering more consistent weather and water conditions.

  Preparations are underway to make this our permanent home, with plans in place for a boathouse for our growing number of both training and competitive boats.

  Loch Ore allows us much more consistent and frequent training conditions. The small size of the loch allows for easier coaching yet is large enough that all our crews are able to train at once, with access to a 1.4km stretch of water. This is supplemented by training camps abroad and in Scotland to give access to larger expanses of water.

  

  Performance Centre

  Following a multi-million pound redevelopment of the Performance Centre, students at St Andrews have access to some of the best sports facilities in Scotland.

  Saints Sport offers a wide range of indoor and outdoor sports facilities, which are available all year round.

  Indoor facilities

  • dedicated performance suite
  • modern, spacious gym
  • exercise studio
  • four-court sports hall
  • new technical climbing wall
  • eight-court arena
  • four-court indoor tennis centre

  Outdoor facilities

  • 13 grass pitches
  • full-size floodlit 3G synthetic pitch
  • sand-dressed synthetic pitch
  • four tennis courts
  • athletics track
  • additional multi-sport grass pitches
  • multi-sport courts

  Performance Suite
  Saints Rowing scholars make use of the top class Performance Suite – a dedicated Strength and Conditioning gym that provides a private space for the performance squad to train undisturbed. Sessions are run by expert Strength and Conditioning accredited coaches who develop basketball specific programmes for our athletes.