Dundee rowing enthusiasts are celebrating after they scooped a gold medal from a world championship in a boat they built themselves.
The Broughty Ferry Boating club took part in the SkiffieWorlds 2019 at Stranraer, where the over-40s women team picked up the top prize in their category.
The Open Mixed B crew were also successful, taking a silver medal.
To top off the competition, the Dundee-based outfit increased their ranking to become the 10th best team in the world, moving up from 11th place.
Skiffing is a traditional style of boating, where the rower’s feet are fixed in place and team members use one oar each. It has become increasingly popular in competitive rowing in the last decade.
Teams had to build their own skiff boat ahead of the competition before taking it to Loch Ryan for the two kilometre races.
Kate Lorimer, Broughty Ferry Boating captain, said: “We’re really pleased with how we did this year.
“To come out of it with some medals and better our world placing is really good. It was an overall brilliant effort by our whole team.”
More than 50 clubs from all over the world — including Tasmania, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, USA and Northern Ireland — travelled to the Dumfries and Galloway town to race.
Kate added: “Skiff rowing is the fastest growing water sport hobby in the world.
“It’s a prestigious event in the rowing world and as the years are going on, the clubs are getting more and more competitive.
“We took 31 people with us, but the top ranked team, from Dundrum, had a team of more than 60 rowers. While we were by no means the smallest team, that does make a difference.
“There’s a lot of training involved and we still have a way to go, but we’re really encouraged by this performance.”
The club is always looking for new members. Anyone interested should email rowing@royaltay.org.”
This year’s tournament was the first time the Broughty Ferry team were able to field an under-17 team, whose members rowed one kilometre rather than two.
