James Scott and Gregor Hall (photo courtesy of Fiona Rennie)
Two Heriot-Watt students won gold medals at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Small Boats Championships.
James Scott, a 3rd year Civil Engineering student, and Scottish junior internationalist Gregor Hall, a 2nd year Actuarial Mathematics undergraduate, won gold in the lightweight men's double scull event. The students won by a margin of three seconds over the 5000 metre course in Boston, Lincolnshire, after a powerful second half to their race.
The Scottish duo headed a strong field of 17 student crews, pushing Imperial College London into silver and Loughborough University into bronze, with city rivals Edinburgh settling for 6th place behind Durham and Reading.
The BUCS Small Boats Championships has been staged on the River Witham since 2008, where it is run in conjunction with the first set of trials for the GB Rowing Team. 20-year-old Scott and Hall, 19, had earlier trialled in single sculls in the men's lightweight division; finishing in 29th and 46th position respectively.
Over 200 athletes from across Great Britain came to the two day event in Boston, either hoping to make a last ditch push for one of the final Olympic spots in the London 2012 team or for the younger athletes, looking to make an impression on the GB selectors ahead of the World Rowing Under 23 Championships and the World University Championships in 2012.