Durham sisters Alexandra and Jessica Eddie achieved the perfect finale to an outstanding rowing season as they were selected for the Great Britain U16 rowing team.

This came after the Durham Amateur Rowing Club pair won the National Junior U16 trials in their double sculling event at Nottingham, beating opposition which included crews from Bedford, Gloucester, Henley and their own school, St Leonards.

They have also won the U15 gold medal at the National Rowing Championships recently, where they again beat crews from around the country such as Henley and Gloucester, Northwich and Oxford.

They represented the GB team Nantes where they competed against France. Although they lost their event over the 1500m river Loire course they were not disgraced as they were competing against strong international opposition a year older than themselves who had been selected three months prior to the match.

The pair rowed earlier in the season with the Durham ARC Senior Womens eight, both at the Thames Head of River Race in London and at the Durham Regatta, where they beat both Durham and Newcastle University crews in the Senior eight and Newcastle University in the Senior four events.

Alexandra and Jessica rowed in their preferred double scull at Henley Womens Regatta and had over twenty wins in other regattas and head of river races.

They say none of their achievements would have been possible without the support and guidance of their coach Gordon Beattie.

The sisters have not been the club's only successes this season with Chris Milsom winning selection to row for the Great Britain U18 team at the forthcoming European Cup in Switzerland.

While Tom Robson and Andrew Adams both won bronze medals in their respective U15 and U16 single sculling events at the National Championships.

These achievements have been aided by the support of the sponsor Helios Properties who made a major contribution towards the purchase of much-needed junior rowing boats. They also reflect the commitment to junior rowing shown by Durham ARC as a whole and in particular the coaches and Club Captain, Jim Dulling.