Background
Haining was born at Dumbarton, Scotland, the son of Jackie and Betty Haining. His father and sister were rowers, and he learnt to row at Loch Lomond Rowing Club.
Haining was born at Dumbarton, Scotland, the son of Jackie and Betty Haining. His father and sister were rowers, and he learnt to row at Loch Lomond Rowing Club.
He attended Levenvale Primary School and Vale of Leven Academy and left school to start apprenticeship as painter and decorator, but as international level rowing in the United Kingdom at the time was centred on London he went south to join London Rowing Club.
In 1984 he went to Nottingham to the National lightweight squad after being impressed by a Nottinghamshire County Rowing Association four at Henley. In 1990 when he was persistently late for training in the eight, his coach pushed him into single sculling. Although a lightweight rower, Haining competed for Great Britain at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, in the unplaced quadruple scull.
His last international appearance before retiring was in the Great Britain lightweight eight at the World Rowing Championships in 2002.
In 2005 Haining joined Richard Spratley as coach at Oxford Brookes University Boat Club where he was responsible for training all crews including that winning The Temple Challenge Cup in 2006.