Success Round The Rock For Eskmuthe!

Eskmuthe Rowing Club enjoyed a hugely successful North Berwick Regatta, posting the club’s best results over the tough open-water course.

The club’s rowers brought home four medals – including gold in the Women’s Open – as crews mastered the challenging conditions around Craigleith.

The regatta was also in the spotlight as Channel 4 cameras filmed the event for an upcoming documentary about Scotland’s Golden Coast.

Racing got underway after a delay caused by large swells which forced the Mixed Open race to be postponed until the end of the programme. 

But conditions settled for all races to be completed over the full course for the first time in several years.

Eskmuthe’s Women’s Open crew produced the standout performance, taking gold, 34 seconds ahead of second-placed St Ayles (Anstruther). Remarkably, this was the 4th consecutive regatta where Eskmuthe's women's open crew has taken gold medal (see more details at the bottom). It was also the 6th consecutive gold medal for Kim Wingate, a relatively new rower who has made incredible progress.

The club picked up silver medals in two races. The Mixed Open crew took silver in tough end-of-day conditions, just four seconds behind winners Coigach on 19:13.

The other silver was claimed by the Mixed Decades crew, where the club’s rowers were from four different decades, finishing behind St Ayles and ahead of Coigach.

The Men’s 45+ crew added a bronze, posting the club’s fastest time of the day (17.47) and third fastest time of the day. It’s also the first time an Eskmuthe crew completed the course of almost 3km in under 18 minutes.

There were plenty of other strong performances throughout the day. The Women’s 45+, Mixed 240+, and 45+ Mixed crews all came 5th in a regatta featuring 16 clubs. The 45+ mix crew narrowly missed out on a medal - finishing just two seconds behind Eastern and Troon, who tied for third place. The Mixed Novice crew were eighth in 21:18 while the Men’s Open crew finished 10th.

Fox Stuart, Eskmuthe’s Regatta Officer, said:

“It was a fantastic day for the club. The swell and surf gave some tricky beach launching conditions, but it was brilliant to see the full programme eventually run over the full course. 

“Four medals, including a really impressive Women’s Open win, is a fantastic return. The club is developing tremendous strength in depth.

“Having Channel 4 here filming the regatta was the icing on the cake – it was great to see coastal rowing getting that kind of attention.”

* The success of the Eskmuthe women's open crew in winning 4 consecutive regattas is all the more impressive as the crew has changed each time - featuring 7 different rowers and 3 different coxes over 4 different distances! At Eskmuthe's regatta in May, Michelle coxed Kari-Ann, Rebecca, Diane and Kim to victory over an 800m course, while David coxed Rebecca, Kim, Lily & Charly to first place in the double-turn sprint course at Boatie Blest in June. At Ullapool in July, David coxed Kari-Ann, Rebecca, Kim and Charly to success over 2k, while Stewart was in the cox's seat at North Berwick, with Kari-Ann, Kim, Diane and Alex rowing the loner near-3km distance. 

Kim's 6 consecutive gold medals came in a 3km time trial at Alnmouth late in 2025, the women's open races at Eskmuthe, Boate Blest and Ullapool, and the 40+ women at Ullapool - then the women's open again at North Berwick. She came close to 7 in a row as part of the North Berwick Mixed Open crew, narrowly beaten by Coigach.