Durham Amateur Rowing Club travelled up to Newburn on the river Tyne this weekend, to take part in the Ponteland Junior Head.

The event was run by Ponteland High School, with the aim of promoting rowing among the younger athletes. Three events were run over 2,400 meters.

Durham took a squad of 23 junior rowers, with both girls and boys ranging from 10 to 18 years of age.

After the recent high winds, race day provided perfect rowing conditions with little wind and calm waters, ideal for the younger rowers, some of who were racing for the first time.

Durham came away with a total of 7 wins out of the 14 events entered, with all the rowers producing excellent performances, helping Durham to be the second most successful club of the 12 entered.

Although it is difficult to pick out the row of the day, the effort of the WJ13 coxed quad (P. Jones, H. Preston, A. Scurfield, M. Pickering, and Cox V. Elder) stands out. The girls had no opposition of their own age, so they raced against crews a year older, winning the event by 0.3 of a second after over 11 minutes of racing!

Other winners on the day were, MJ15 Quad (D. Howie, J. Preston, R. Hartley, A. Turner, Cox C. Howie), MJ15 Double Scull (R. Hartley, A. Turner), (adding further to the reputation of our J15 boys squad), MJ181x (P. Walton), WJ161x (N. Bruce), MJ141x (D. Howie) and MJ131X (S. Whitfield).

This again proved a very successful day for the junior squad.