Durham Amateur Rowing Club played host to the annual Small Boats Head on the river Wear at the weekend.

The race is run in four divisions, over a distance of 1800 meters, running from the Count's House, to just beyond the Band Stand on the race course section of the river.

After all four divisions are run, the fastest competitor of each category is declared winner, allowing competitors to enter up to four events.

The weather on the day was pretty poor, with snow flurries and blustery winds. However, the event ran very smoothly, with a total of 21 wins for the club, out of the 49 events on offer.

Winner of the day was Graeme Thorpe.

In his first ever race, he won the MJ11 single scull event. Ten year old Graeme is a recent starter with the club and showed that rowing can be taken up successfully at any age.

Multiple winners on the day were: MJ15 Quad (D.Howie, D.Moore R.Hartley, A. Turner, Cox C.Howie), MJ15 Double Scull (D.Howie, D.Moore), MJ15 Single Scull (D.Moore), MJ14 Single Scull (D.Howie), giving Daniel Moore and Daniel Howie three wins each on the day.

To win three 1800m races is one day is a fantastic achievement. These two won silver medal in a double scull at the National Championships of Great Britain last year and they just go from strength to strength.

Wins by the junior 13 girls, WJ134X (J. Ray, H. Preston, M. Pickering, P. Jones, Cox H. Lax), and WJ131X (H. Preston), gave the quad their first ever win and two wins on the day for Helen Preston. For a 12 year old girl to win two 1800m races in the day is a superb effort.

Further junior wins were, MXDNOV2X: (R.Oakenfall,J.Howie), WJ1X (H.Blevins), WJ161X (N.Bruce), MJ132X (S. Whitfield, T.Edwards, MJ131x (S.Whitfield) and MJ121X (C.Tully).

This again proved a very successful day for our junior squad. For most of our J13 girls, this is their first season of racing.

The veteran section of the club put in another fine performance with wins achieved by MV B/C 1x (Tyler), MVEFG4+ (Hole), MVD 1x (Jaggard), and WVCDE (Stainforth).

Further wins for MS41x (Lyons),WS42X (Belsey, West), WS4+ (Nelson, West, Belsey, Liipe, Cox Higgins) and WS21x (Terry) rouned off a successful day for Durham.

Next week sees the club attending regattas on the River Tyne and on the River Ouse.

* www.durham-arc.org.uk or telephone the club on 0191 386 6431.