THE long wait for a national medal is over for a determined Hexham rower.

For Queen Elizabeth High School Rowing Club member Nick Ryan rowed his way to a bronze medal while representing the Northern team at the National Junior Inter Regional Regatta (JIRR).

Usually stroking in the QEHS J16 quadruple scull but qualified for the JIRR in a single scull following his performance at the Ponteland Junior Head three weeks ago.

Since that date, Nick has trained relentlessly in the unfamiliar discipline and his hard work was rewarded although he was just pipped to silver by the narrowest margin of 0.18, after a photo finish.

His bronze was one of just four medals won by Northern as they competed against the other 11 regions, the team finishing in sixth overall just two points behind West Midlands.

QEHS had a total of 20 rowers selected for the team, and the J14 boys quad of Andrew Howard, Tom Ludman, Abe Parkin, Ben Wilkinson and their cox Megan Ashford won the B final by a margin of nine seconds.

Similarly Harry Andersen, Tom Smith, Christian Chomse, Tom Archer and cox Andrew Watson in the J15 boys quad event went into an early lead in the B final to win by a clear 10 seconds.

The J16 girls, coming to grips with steering as they must go coxless at this age category, put in a great performance to finish fifth in the A final through great displays from Fran Harrison, at bow, Bethany Hickling, Sophie Speed and Lexie Howard.

Tilly Marples, Catherine Plaskitt, Hannah Nicholson, Hannah McGoldrick and cox Lucy Ryan in the J16 girl’s eight event formed a composite crew with four girls from St Leonard’s School, Durham, and came second by just three seconds to St Peter’s York in a close fought B final after leading for 1250m in the 1500m race.

The performances capped a great week for QEHS after it learned it had learned it has recorded more wins than any other school rowing club in the country for the sixth year in succession, topping the British Rowing School table with 80 wins.

The nearest club was Doncaster Schools Rowing Association with 54.