Claire takes gold
Home International success in pairs for local athlete
Rower Aitken wins in Home Internationals
Four years ago Claire Aitken had no rowing experience.
But the Aberuthven-based talent has since encountered a meteoric rise in the sport, advancing from complete novice to national recognition.
And recently the 21- year- old was part of a Scottish duo who powered to gold in the coxless pairs at the Home International Regatta in Cardiff.
Claire, a former Auchterarder High School pupil, admits success in the sport never crossed her mind when first entering the water with Glasgow University. But competitive instinct took over.
“I hadn’t taken part in sport competitively before I started, so it was quite a new experience for me even to take part in a race,” she explained.
“I think I was very lucky to have been part of a really good novice squad, as that gave me my first taste of what it feels like to win, and that feeling definitely drove me to keep going.
“I think I am good at pushing myself hard in training and not giving up, which is probably the main reason I have done well in the sport.
“I started rowing at the beginning of my first year at Glasgow University. I didn’t actually know much about rowing when I started. I joined because I wanted to try a new sport and going to university gave me a great opportunity to do that.
“What I liked most about rowing in the beginning was that it was a challenge and something completely different to anything I’d ever done before. I started training in the novice squad, so none of us had rowed before, and it was a lot of fun for us to learn the sport together for the first time.
“I’m also pretty competitive, so I realised quickly that I wanted to keep training so I could get better.”
Securing top spot at the Home International with team-mate Rosanna Loy from North Berwick was a proud moment, Claire admits.
It was the latest addition to a growing trophy cabinet in the Aitken household.
“It was a real honour to be selected to row for Scotland, and I was delighted to have been chosen,” said Claire, who recently graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Physiology.
“Initially making it to this level was never the aim, but as I progressed in the sport and started winning more races, my competitiveness kicked in and I started aspiring to take rowing as far as I could.
“Myself and my pairs partner Rosanna had been training really hard for the event, so we were looking forward to racing and seeing what we could do.
“Luckily we got out in front of the competition early and managed to extend the lead throughout the race to cross the line first. It was a very proud moment to be able to win for my country, and definitely one of my biggest wins to date.
“My first big win was last year at the British University Championships, when I won gold in the Championship Women’s Pair. We were racing against some of the best university crews in Britain, so it was amazing to come away with the gold.
“Winning that meant that myself and my pairs partner were selected to represent the GB Universities Rowing Team at the European University Championships in Hannover, where we placed sixth.
“That has definitely been one of the highlights of my rowing career, as the standard was very high and it was really inspiring to race against crews of that level.”
It’s been a rigorous season of training in a bid to maintain performance, and, while the competitive action recently came to a close, there is little time to down tools and put the feet up.
Claire will soon be heading south to hook up with the prestigious Molesey Boat Club, based on the River Thames, and she has hopes that the move will benefit her development in the sport.
She told the Herald: “We train twice a day, six days a week, and do a mixture of land and water training. It can be tough at times, especially when balancing my university workload with that amount of training.
“But I’m part of a strong squad and we motivate each other. I do enjoy the training for the most part, but every training session is aimed at making us faster for competitions, and racing is definitely the best part of the sport.
“The Home International Regatta was my last race of the season, so it will be a while before I’m racing again. I will just be back into normal training for a while, and focusing on goals for the next season.
“I’m really excited to join Molesey, a club of such a high standard, and I think that being a part of a really high level training environment will allow me to develop my ability further.”
No long term goals are being set. But rowing could soon return to the Commonwealth Games set-up and that would be something to work towards.
“I would love to take part in that if I had the opportunity,” Claire said. “But I’m very much taking rowing one day at a time at the moment.
“I don’t have any long term aspirations. I just want to keep pushing myself as hard as I can and see how far I can progress as an individual, and if that leads to any further achievements then I will be very happy.”