A falling river level and unseasonally mild weather made conditions very tolerable for competitors, officials and spectators at Durham’s round of the Long Distance Sculling (LDS) Series and Durham Autumn Small Boats Head (ASBH), as Durham ARC hosted both competitions on Saturday, November 12th.
A combined entry of over 300 saw the suspension of entries for both competitions two weeks before the official closing date, welcome news following a lower than usual turnout at the previous LDS rounds at South Hylton and Berwick, and the first time since 2016 that all six rounds of the LDS Series have survived the weather.
Long Distance Sculling
The day’s proceedings got underway at 9.30am with the finale of the LDS Series in which DARC entered 9 coxless quads, 3 doubles and 6 singles, achieving 7 victories.
Tees Rowing Club’s J18 coxless quad was the fastest finisher overall in the LDS completing the 1800 metre course in 6.36.0.
LDS J17 4x-
DARC’s J17 boys 4x- (Finley Scott, Lucas Walker, Joe Morrison and Tom Pfetscher) outpaced Queen Elizabeth High School (QEHS) to win their event and take second place overall in 6.52.8.
Elliot Kay and David Beeby won the Open 2x with the fastest time of the day by a double in 7.01.3.
LDS Open 2x – David Beeby and Elliot Kay
The Senior Women’s 4x- (Katie McDaid, Gabby Maxfield, Fran Whitfield and Anna Golightly) finished without opposition in 8.01.8.
The Masters had two entries in the MasE 4x-, two in the MasG 4x- and three in the WMasBFG 4x- events, winning all three. John Lyons, Paul Rutter, David Heppell and Richard Court taking the MasE 4x- in 7.09.5, Mick Seed, David Oliver, George Adair and Barrry Hudson the MasG 4x- in 8.12.1 and Lynn Pain, Sam English, Carolyn Edwards and Caroline Scholl the WMasG 4x- in 8.49.4.
LDS WMasG 4x-
Andy Jaggard won the MasH 1x in 8.21.7
Tilly Stoddart won the WJ18 1x and was the fastest female single sculler of the day in 8.54.2.
The J17 2x was 3rd and the MasE 2x was 2nd in a MasCEH 2x race. Jeff Gugelmann was 2nd to Tyne ARC in the Open 1x in 7.54.2, and Izzy Maddison was 2nd to Sunderland in the WJ14 1x in 9.38.9.
Complete LDS results can be found here.
Autumn Small Boats Head
The ASBH provides an opportunity for pairs and fours to race in addition to singles, doubles and quad sculling boats. DARC boated 26 entries (4 coxless fours, 7 coxless quads, 3 coxed quads, 7 doubles, 1 pair and 4 singles) over two divisions starting at 12 noon and 2.30pm, and registered 10 victories in the combined results.
Elliot Kay and David Beeby achieved their second success of the day and posted the fastest time of the day, along with Matthew Harrison and Thomas Woods, completing the 1800 metres in 6.29.5 to win the Open 4x-.
The Senior Men raced as three coxless fours, all posting times under 7 minutes, victory in the Open 4- going to Roger Dunn, John Roxborough, William Standing and Darren Smith in 6.40.4.
ASBH Open 4-
The Senior Women’s crew of Lucy Beresford, Emily Chaytor, Rachel Wilson and Lee James won the Women’s 4- defeating QEHS in 7.54.3.
ASBH Women’s 4-
The J14 boys coxed quad (Quinn Mosley, Alex Lowes, Jason Wrack, Harrison Glasper and cox Izzy Maddison) won the J14 4x+ in 7.29.9 beating Yarm School and City of Sunderland.
ASBH J16 2x
Isaac Bolton and Will Terry won the J16 2x in 7.23.6, beating Yarm School, QEHS, Hexham and Sunderland.
ASBH Women’s 2-
Tilly Stoddart took her second victory of the day, this time in the Women’s pair with Gabrielle Suggett, overcoming St Leonard’s School in a time of 8.49.4. QEHS was unopposed in the Open pair.
With no opposition in the WMasF 1x Gabrielle Moore entered the Open Masters G 2x in a composite with Tony Stocking of Tees RC (who had already won the MasH 2x in the LDS) and won the event against Lakeland and Sunderland in 7.59.1.
ASBH MasG 2x
Three wins came in the single sculling events. Nick Baird won band 1 of the Open 1x in 7.43.9, Jonny Cleugh won against a field of 7 in the J15 1x in 7.47.9, and Will Terry came out on top against 4 opponents in the J16 1x in 7.52.1.
ASBH J15 1x Jonny Cleugh
Luke Davison finished second fastest of 7 in the J18 1x in 7.54.7, the J18 2x was second to Tees RC, and the WJ18 2x second to Sunderland.
The J17 boys placed 3rd in the J18 4x-, and a Durham/Tyne composite finished 2nd to Durham School in the J16 boys 4x-.
The J15 girls 4x+ was second to Hexham in a field of 6 in 8.33.4, and the J13 4x+ was unopposed in 10.01.9.
The MasE 4x- finished 3rd in a MasCDEG 4x- race, and with no opposition the WMasD 4x- rowed for time-only.
The coxed fours events in the ASBH included 36 entries from 11 Durham Colleges and 5 from schools, providing some intense competition. The Open 4+ was divided into four bands and the Women’s 4+ into three. Winners were as follows –
- Op 4+ band 1 Collingwood College Boat Club Hartshorn 6.34.7
- Op 4+ band 2 Grey College BC Jones 6.44.6
- Op 4+ band 3 Collingwood College BC Scott 7.21.8
- Op 4+ band 4 St Cuthberts Society BC Verdin 8.07.2
- W 4+ band 1 Collingwood College BC O’Connor 7.32.4
- W 4+ band 2 St Hild & Bede College BC Nicholls 8.09.9
- W 4+ band 3 St Leonards School BC Reed 8.37.3
ASBH results are available here.
Photos of the LDS and ASBH from Adam Lambert are here and from SI Events Photography are here.
The day was made possible by a small army of volunteers to whom we are most grateful.
LDS Series summary
Added to the successes at Durham LDS were the following wins in previous rounds –
- Wansbeck (October 1st) – Open 1x, WJ18 1x, MasD 1x, WMasF 1x, WMasH 4x-
- Tees (October 8th) – W 4x-, WMasH 4x-
- Tyne (October 15th) – J15 1x, WJ16 1x
- South Hylton (October 22nd) – Open 1x, J17 1x, WMasH 4x-
- Berwick (November 5th) – MasB 4x- composite, Open 1x
Durham ARC amassed 21 victories overall in the 2022 LDS Series. The leading contributors to the total were the WMasG/H 4x- (Lynn Pain, Hazel Stainforth/Sam English/Carolyn Edwards and Caroline Scholl) with wins in 4 rounds and Nick Baird with 3 victories in the Open 1x.
Victor Ludorum awards will be announced on the LDS website later.
Durham College Rowing hosts the Novice Cup on Saturday, November 19th and Sunday, November 20th. The next British Rowing affiliated competition in Durham is Durham Small Boats Head (in four divisions) on February 4th 2023.