Castle Semple 2025 Race Report
Sunshine, tailwinds and medals – Castle Semple Regatta 2025 had it all.
Held at Lochwinnoch in glorious conditions, with blue skies and a helpful tailwind pushing crews along the 1km course, this popular side-by-side regatta delivered exciting racing all day long. As always, Clydesdale showed up with lots of crews from all squads and we left with a strong collection of standout performances.
Clydesdale crews brought home 16 wins and multiple podium finishes. Crews enjoyed not only the new and improved medals, but also the photo frame for celebrating the wins in style.
Juniors
Our juniors had a brilliant day:
- Thomas Lowrie won the O J18 1x and later teamed up with Tom Morrison to take 1st in the O 2- and again in the O 4x with Finlay Ward and Hamish Blair. The quad then took on the O Nov 4+ coxed by Fern Colclough to take 1st place.
- Isabel Soyinka, Jaime Stewart, Darcey Geddes and Anna Soyinka, coxed by Grace Lumsden, claimed 1st in the W J18 4+, and Isabel also won the W J18 2- in a composite crew with Zoe Cochrane (GUBC).
- Darcey Geddes, Fern Colclough, Blythe Robertson (SPRC) & Anna Soyinka, coxed by Jaime Stewart won the W J16 4x+
- In the younger age groups, Fern Colclough took a confident win in the W J14 1x, while Darcey Geddes and Anna Soyinka placed 2nd in the W J15 2x, then returned with teammates to win the W J15 4x+ alongside Grace Lumsden and Fern Colclough.
- Rounding out the day, a mixed junior 8+ featuring Darcey, Anna, Thomas, Tom, Finlay, Hamish, Fern and Isabel, coxed by Jaime, delivered a 1st place finish, beating the more experienced senior crews in the event.
Senior Squad
The senior women continued their strong form from previous regattas, led by Lauren Murray and Robyn Patrick, who won the W 2x and then joined forces with Elle Sutherland and Veronika Vohnikova to take 1st in the W 4x. Robyn Patrick also took the win in the W 1x, completing a full sweep of her events. Sophie McCall and Rachel Smillie placed 2nd in the W Mas 2x and 3rd in the W R2 2x. Jacqueline Irons raced in a composite W Mas 4x with Castle Semple to take 1st place, competing against the W Mas 4x of Kate Wigley, Margaret Maclean, Carole Barber and Ruwanthi Somatilaka who placed 3rd. In the W Nov 2x, Maclean & Healy and Smylie & Hogarth gained more side-by-side racing time – they then teamed up for the W Nov 4x+ coxed by Kelsey Collington for a strong 2nd place medal.
On the men’s side, Ryan Finnigan, Ben Marren, Evgeni Nikolov & Struan Stuart came 2nd in the O R2 4x, then Evgeni Nikolov went on to take a commanding win in the O Nov 1x.
Table of Results
| W R2 1x | Elle Sutherland | 3rd |
| W R2 1x | Lucy Ashton | |
| O J16 2x | Finlay Ward & Hamish Blair | 2nd |
| O R2 4x | Ryan Finnigan, Ben Marren, Evgeni Nikolov & Struan Stuart | 2nd |
| W 2x | Lauren Murray & Robyn Patrick | 1st |
| W 2x | Veronika Vohnikova & Rebecca Setford | 3rd |
| O J18 1x | Thomas Lowrie | 1st |
| O J18 1x | Tom Morrison | 5th |
| W Mas 4x | Kate Wigley, Margaret Maclean, Carole Barber & Ruwanthi Somatilaka | 3rd |
| W J16 4x+ | Darcey Geddes, Fern Colclough, Blythe Robertson (SPRC) & Anna Soyinka, coxed by Jaime Stewart | 1st |
| W Nov 2x | Margaret Maclean & Siobhan Healy | 5th |
| W Nov 2x | Jen Smylie & Megan Hogarth | |
| O Nov 4+ | Thomas Lowrie, Tom Morrison, Finlay Ward & Hamish Blair, coxed by Fern Colclough | 1st |
| W J18 4+ | Isabel Soyinka, Jaime Stewart, Darcey Geddes & Anna Soyinka, coxed by Grace Lumsden | 1st |
| W 1x | Robyn Patrick | 1st |
| W 1x | Veronika Vohnikova | 2nd |
| W 1x | Rebecca Setford | 4th |
| Mx R1 2x | Elle Sutherland & Ethan Sutherland (GUBC) | 2nd |
| O R2 2x | Ryan Finnigan & Ben Marren | |
| O R2 2x | Struan Stuart & Euan Foster (GRC) | 6th |
| W J14 1x | Grace Lumsden | |
| W J14 1x | Fern Colclough | 1st |
| W J15 2x | Darcey Geddes & Anna Soyinka | 2nd |
| O J16 1x | Hamish Blair | 3rd |
| O J16 1x | Finlay Ward | 1st |
| W Mas 2x | Sophie McCall & Rachel Smillie | 2nd |
| W 4x | Lauren Murray, Elle Sutherland, Veronika Vohnikova & Robyn Patrick | 1st |
| O 2- | Thomas Lowrie & Tom Morrison | 1st |
| O Nov 1x | Evgeni Nikolov | 1st |
| W R2 2x | Sophie McCall & Rachel Smillie | 3rd |
| W Nov 4x+ | Margaret Maclean, Siobhan Healy, Jen Smylie & Megan Hogarth, coxed by Kelsey Collington | 2nd |
| O 4x | Thomas Lowrie, Tom Morrison, Finlay Ward, Hamish Blair | 1st |
| W 2- | Elle Sutherland & Lucy Ashton | 2nd |
| W J18 2- | Isabel Soyinka & Zoe Cochrane (GUBC) | 1st |
| W J15 4x+ | Darcey Geddes, Fern Colclough, Grace Lumsden, Anna Soyinka | 1st |
| Mx 8+ | Darcey Geddes, Anna Soyinka, Thomas Lowrie, Tom Morrison, Finlay Ward, Hamish Blair, Fern Colclough, Isabel Soyinka, coxed by Jaime Stewart | 1st |
Congratulations to everyone who raced, whether it was your first event or one of many this season. Thank you to Castle Semple RC for running such a smooth and welcoming event!
Next up is Scottish Championships, we’ll see you at the start line.
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