MEMBERS of Hexham’s Queen Elizabeth Rowing Club had to wait patiently for their latest outing, after planned activities for February 9 fell victim to high winds.

But they took nine crews to the Tyne Head at Newburn last Saturday which put on a good display of rowing against university crews from as far afield as Surrey and Aberdeen.

QEHS enjoyed a win in the men’s coxless quad Band A, with a new crew combination of students drawn from across three age groups.

Dan Jones, Tom Smith, Harry Andersen, and Ben Wilkinson, finished 27s ahead of their nearest competition.

Three of the crew have been competing in single sculls recently, and it was a refreshing change for them to be in a fast crew boat.

The men’s eight also had rowers from three year groups and achieved a creditable fourth position in their event, finishing just 0.7s behind host club Tyne.

The three QEHS J15 and one J16 girls crews finished just 32s apart, but they were entered in four different events to give them varied opposition.

There were wins on this occasion, but for the J15 girls, this was just their second event in a sweep boat, and they were happy with third place behind Durham University and Collingwood College crews.

For all crews, the 5km row provided an excellent training opportunity not possible on the 700m course at Hexham’s Tyne Green.

The J18 men’s coxless quad finished third in their category behind York City and Durham ARC.

The J15 boys four, all new to sweep rowing, were competing in their first race and showed greatly improved technique and should be pleased with their fourth place in this senior event beaten by two Durham University Crews, and a Lancaster University crew.

The J18 girls double of Holly Nixon and Aerin Harrison found the course a real challenge,

But as Aerin only took up rowing recently, and this was just her second race, it was a successful row to complete the 5km in a small boat on tidal water without incident.

The day was considered a success for all of the youngsters as they look forward to forthcoming fixtures.