TWO rowers from north Durham will tonight be presented with sports achievements awards.

Chester-le-Street District Council chairman Councillor Allen Turner will make the awards to Victoria Bryant and Steven Thompson.

He will also present a £150 cheque to benefit Chester-le-Street Rowing Club's coach development.

Victoria and Steven, members of Chester-le-Street Rowing Club, have enjoyed a record-breaking year.

Victoria, 18, junior club captain, became the first member in more than 100 years to achieve international honours.

She was selected to row for Great Britain at the World Junior Rowing Championships, in Brandenburg, Germany, last month.

She was a member of a women's eight that won a bronze medal, the first medal won by a women's junior eight at world level.

The same crew won a gold medal at the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain, at Nottingham, in July, the first such medal won by a rower from Chester-le-Street.

Victoria has rowed at Chester-le-Street since age 14. For the past two years, she has been coached by Jon Williamson, master in charge of rowing at Durham School.

She is to study education and human development at Oxford Brookes University, where she intends to continue her rowing career.

Steven, 22, the current club captain and head coach, won the club's first adult medal at the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain. Rowing in the men's lightweight single scull, he won a bronze medal.

During the year, he reached the final trial for the Great Britain senior squad, where he was competing for a place at the Senior World Championships.

He is hoping to go one better next year, with the World Championships being held at Dorney Lake, Eton.