Choppy seas as rowing season begins

The first rowing regatta of the season got off to a good start at Collafirth in Northmavine on Saturday. Conditions were bright, if a little choppy at times, and 11 clubs were represented with around 300 rowers taking part in eight classes: veteran men, veteran women, open men, open women, under-21 men, under-21 women, under-16 boys and under-16 girls.

Burra, Lerwick and Aith dominated the winning positions, with Burra and Lerwick taking the top spot in three out of the eight races and Aith winning two.

Burra, Lerwick and Nesting were the only clubs with entries in all eight classes while Aith won two out of the four classes they entered, both by their women’s teams. A special mention and congratulations to the under-16 girls’ teams who were generally faster than both the under-16 boys and under-21 women.

During the day spectators were kept well fed at the barbecue and a number of visitors took advantage of the chance to have a dip in da Nort boys’ hot-tub.

After the prizegiving Scaldin Bragg took to the stage and rounded off the evening with some energetic tunes.

A spokesman said the organisers would like to thank all the comp­etitors, everyone who helped on the day and NorthLink for the star raffle prize.

Results – veteran men: 1 Burra 4.36.50; 2 Aith 4.41.46; 3 Bigton 4.43.89; 4 Lerwick 4.44.75; 5 Whiteness & Weisdale 4.53.04; 6 Trondra 4.54.16; 7 Nesting 5.03.74.

Veteran women: 1 Aith 4.55.53; 2 Burra 5.07.51; 3 Lerwick 5.12.01; 4 Nesting 5.16.53; 5; Whiteness & Weisdale 5.20.51; 6 Bigton 5.34.27; 7 Vidlin 5.36.89.

Open men: 1 Burra 4.45.03; 2 Yell 4.48.13; 3 Bigton 4.52.48; 4 Lerwick 4.55.16; 5 Aith 4.58.30; 6 (equal) Whiteness & Weisdale and Nesting 5.04.39; 8 Ollaberry 5.08.39; 9 Nort 5.22.81; 10 Vidlin 5.35.00; 11 Trondra 5.45.16.

Open women: 1 Aith 4.59.56; 2 Lerwick 5.03.26; 3 Burra 5.09.47; 4 Yell 5.22.86; 5 Bigton 5.25.51; 6 Vidlin 5.27.71; 7 Ollaberry 5.32.21; 8 Nesting 5.37.92; 9 Whiteness & Weisdale 5.45.32.

Under-21 men: 1 Burra 4.44.43; 2 Lerwick 4.49.70; 3 Bigton 5.04.14; 4 Nesting 5.05.71.

Under-21 women: 1 Lerwick 5.13.60; 2 Nesting 5.18.90; 3 Yell 5.27.32; 4 Burra 5.29.87; 5 Whiteness & Weisdale 6.14.64.

Under-16 boys: 1 Lerwick 5.12.73; 2 Nestin 5.24.13; 3 Burra 5.29.16; 4 Vidlin 6.23.22.

Under-16 girls: 1 Lerwick 5.02.37; 2 Nesting 5.04.07; 3 Yell 5.11.84; 4 Burra 5.32.03.