Eight entries from Durham ARC went to Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham for the 2024 British Rowing Masters Championships with racing taking place in changeable weather conditions over 1000 metres on June 15th and 16th.
An increase of 89 in overall entries since last year resulted in a new record entry for the competition of 910. Sculling was the dominant discipline as a total of 144 different events were contested.
On Saturday morning Andy Jaggard and Richard Court came through the eliminator for the MasG double sculls in 2nd place, taking them into the final later the same morning in which they placed 5th.
Michael Terry was in action later the same morning in a composite MasE 2x with Kevin Oates of Hexham and also came through the eliminator in 2nd place to qualify for the final as one of the 3 fastest runners-up. They went on to achieve 3rd place for a bronze medal in the final.
The next event for DARC saw Andy Jaggard take 3rd place in the eliminator for the Lightweight MasH/J single sculls, with 5 to qualify. He went on to win the final to take the first gold medal of the day.
The Women’s Intermediate 36+ 8+ (photo above) then took to the water after the first of several thundestorm interruptions. The Durham/Hexham composite eight including Rachel Terry, Debra Harland, Sarah Buist, Kate Sowden and cox Meghan McCarthy took another victory in a three horse race against Cambridge City and St Ives.
Helen McMillan, Anne Homa (York City), Gabrielle Moore and Angela Lund in a Durham/York composite finished 4th in the final of the Women’s MasF 4x-.
Delays because of the weather interruptions caused events towards the end of the Saturday timetable to be rescheduled to take place on Sunday morning, which left the Women’s Intermediate 36+ 4+ unable to race.
For the Intermediate (non-Championship) races on Sunday crews were assigned to tiers according to their number of ranking points. Meghan McCarthy and Fe Ashton were 3rd in the Women’s Intermediate 2x tier 2 final, before the final victory of the weekend was secured by Meghan McCarthy, Kate Sowden, Sarah Buist and Fe Ashton in the Women’s Intermediate 36+ 4x- tier 1 event.
Wins for Durham ARC over the two days were in –
- LwtMas H 1x (gold),
- Women’s Int 36+ 8+ (DUR/HEX)
- Women’s Int 36+ tier 1 4x-
with a bronze medal in MasE 2x (DUR/HEX)
London Rowing Club won the Victor Ludorum award for the best performing club over the weekend.
Results from all races can be found here.
Crew photos have been provided by AllMarkOne.