HEXHAM Rowing Club warmed up for their home regatta in fine style with one of their best ever outings.

The club’s nine wins at last Saturday’s Wansbeck Regatta was their best ever performance at the event.

The success was the ideal preparation for Hexham Regatta, which takes place on Saturday.

First up for Hexham were Graeme Wilson and Steve Ludman in the masters doubles, who overcame an older pairing from Talkin Tarn and a seven second handicap for a convincing victory.

A composite crew of Hexham’s Catherine Bowman and Hilary Cairns from Berwick ARC took on a Durham ARC double containing multi-world masters champion Jill Prescott. The Hexham/Berwick side raised some eyebrows when they quickly overhauled the Durham boat and won with ease.

In Division Two, Bowman joined up with club mates Kevin Oates, Graeme Wilson and Anna Johnson, up against Berwick in a straight final for the mixed quad event, which the HRC crew comfortably.

Bowman and Oates then won the mixed doubles final against Berwick in Division Three, although they were pushed all the way.

The Men’s Masters F 4x- quads event was a Hexham affair, with a crew of Bruce Howorth, John Young, Rob Patterson and Rob Aubrook up against Stuart Mullan, Ben Haywood Smith, Barney Hawkins and George Doody.

After a closely fought race, the Mulan crew managed to take the spoils.

The club’s juniors also performed well - Hayley Hannant and Lucy Thorpe won the WJ15 final by three lengths against Tyne United RC, while their male counterparts in Aidan Wright and Gabe Wells-Johnson performed a similar feat in the J15 doubles, also defeating a Tyne United duo.

The J15 4x+ crew of James Campbell, Matt Smith, Ben Watts and James Turnbull, coxed by Wells-Johnson, defeated a QEHS side in their final, but the J18 boys needed a stroke of luck to defeat St Leonards. The St Leonards crew looked set to power to victory, but were disqualified at the death for turning into the path of the Hexham boat, crewed by Justin Cronk, Max Golightly Archie Stewart and Joachim Dodd.

l See page 36 for Hexham Regatta preview.