J is for Juniors
Glasgow Schools Four Trophy
Young people have been rowing competitively in Glasgow for over 170 years – Glasgow Regatta Club held races for 9-14 year-olds in 1854, and a cup for under-18s began in 1857. But in these early races, all the rowers were boys. Boys training to be skilled tradesmen could join the various sports clubs associated with their workplaces, and children of both sexes did watch the various colourful regattas. In the 1870s, apprentice printers competed for their own 'Four Oared Race for Boys' (prize £1). The Glasgow Rowing Club was a specifically working-class body that pioneered beginners' classes taught by experienced members. Smaller statured teenagers also acted as coxes - 'young Harry Geddes', of the Humane Society family, won the 'neatest dressed coxswain' prize in 1886, steering the winning crew, at the age of 14. Glasgow Trades Rowing Clubs formed a boy's section, the 'Clyde Youths' in 1894, with new, 23-ft clinker-built jollyboats for training.
Young people got their own, dedicated club in 1942. Glasgow Schools Rowing Club was founded by teachers who wanted to share their own passionate interest in the sport. Founder, Colin Murchison, received an MBE in 1964 for services to Scottish Rowing; another, Harry Wylie, lived to 103. Harry aimed to educate 'the whole child', both body and mind, for a life after school and exercised on his rowing machine until his final months.
In 1943, 50 boys from a third of eligible Glasgow schools participated in the programme, funded by the Corporation Education Department. Clydesdale ARC generously supplied boats, equipment, and a home for the new club at the West Boathouse for their first decade. Clyde ARC provided accommodation for the next fifteen years (by this point, numbers had risen to over 500 practising pupils). They moved into their current home at the East Boathouse in late 1960s/early 1970s.
From 1956 onwards, annual rowing camps were held at Irvine each summer. Groups of boys and teachers concentrated on training, using boats brought from Glasgow, with Ayrshire pupils as guests. Half the attendees were from Catholic schools and the camps represented a rare opportunity to break down sectarian barriers at a time when tensions ran high in the city.
A young Harry Leask (right) with coach Chris Phillips of Clydesdale ARC (left)
Schools regattas at Glasgow Green attracted huge crowds during the 1950s, 69 crews competed in the 1958 event, increasing to 139(!) by 1964. Girls joined the club in the late 1970s.
In 1992, the club celebrated its 50th anniversary with a regatta and dinner in the City Chambers. Funding from local government was reduced during this period, but sponsorship and promotional deals kept the club ticking over and introduced new equipment. The success of rowers such as Gillian Lindsay, the youngest member of the 1992 Olympic squad, further boosted the sport at youth level, and a combined SARA, City Council and Steve Redgrave Trust project donated indoor rowing machines to every secondary in Glasgow in 2006. In 2013 GSRC revived their Glasgow Schools Rowing Championship and in 2016 joined 'Project Rio', a national programme designed to encourage more youngsters into the sport before the Rio Olympics. Former alumni include two Junior World Champions, Josh Armstrong and Gavin Horsburgh.
Other initiatives aimed at getting youngsters out on the water include Firhill Youth Project and Community Sports Hub, founded in 2019 and based at the Forth and Clyde Canal’s Firhill Basin in Maryhill. Firhill provides local young people aged 11-25 with free, accessible, and sustainable opportunities to become active and stay active in their local community through rowing. Clydesdale ARC are also key to developing young talent on the Clyde, and have had an active juniors section for many years, introducing many kids to the sport through their ‘Learn to Row’ introductory program and working with local schools.
