Winter heads on the River Tyne are an important part of the rowing calendar, providing challenging tidal conditions for crews preparing for the Tideway Heads at the end of the season in March.
Rutherford Head opens the season for eights racing over the 5km Championship course in December and is followed by Tyne United New Years Head (co-hosted with Durham University Boat Club) in January, and Tyne Head in February. The Tyne based clubs, including Tyne Amateur Rowing Club, Tyne United Rowing Club and Newcastle University Boat Club have also been successful in bidding to stage the BUCS 4s and 8s Head on the Tyne in February, drawing even more focus to the Region and the Tyne Championship course.
After good times were set by the two Senior eights and the J18 eight, and wins were achieved in the Open Masters 4x- and Women’s Masters 8+ at Rutherford Head in December 2022, Durham ARC squads continued their campaign at TURC on January 21st, 2023 in which the J18 squad entered three Open J18 and one WJ18 singles, two J18 doubles, and J18 and WJ18 quads, and there were Senior and Masters squad entries from DARC. Event wins came in bands 1 and 2 of the J18 double, from Sam Terry in band 1 and Luke Davison in band 2 of the J18 single sculls, and from the Women’s Masters B quad and the Durham/Hexham composite Masters E coxless four.
Results from TURC New Years Head are available here.
Photos from TURC NYH are available from Bertie Shoots.
After their experience at the World Masters Regatta last year the Women’s Masters B quad (Fe Ashton, Becky Chilcott, Kate Sowden and Meghan McCarthy) is developing into a successful unit and followed up their win at TURC with another at Tyne Head on February 11th.
A second win at Tyne Head was secured by a Durham/Hexham/Tyne ARC composite Masters E 8+, and there were good performances from the two Senior Men’s eights who finished 3rd in band 2 and 2nd in band 3 of the Open 8+. Durham/Tyne ARC composites finished 2nd in the J15 4x+ and 3rd in the J16 girls 4x-.
Results from Tyne Head can be found here.
After the BUCS 4s and 8s Head on February 18th and 19th the next head racing opportunities are as follows –
- Yorkshire Head on February 25th
- Head of the Trent on February 26th
- Derwentwater Head on March 4th
- Women’s Eights Head of the River Race on March 4th
- Schools Head on March 17th
- Head of the River Race on March 18th
- Masters Head on March 19th
- Junior Sculling Head on March 20th
Tyne Amateur Rowig Club also hosts Ponteland Head on March 18th, a further opportunity after the Junior Trials at Cambois Rowing Club on March 11th for selectors to finalise the crews to represent the Northern Region in the 2023 Junior Inter Regional Regatta at Nottingham on April 22nd.