2024 in review

Like its predecessor 2024 was a year in which competitions were interrupted significantly by the weather, although the North got off lightly compared with some other regions.

It has been an eventful year. The following is a monthly synopsis.

January

The year started in exciting fashion with the launch of George Clooney’s film version of Daniel James Brown’s bestseller The Boys in the Boat, released in the UK in January.

Also in January racing resumed on the Tyne after the winter break with the start of what was to be a successful year for the Women’s Masters B coxless quad, Michael Terry in the DARC/Hexham/Tyne composite Masters E eight, and Nick Baird in the Open single sculls (band 2) who each achieved victories at Tyne United New Years Head.

February

The river level dropped sufficiently to allow Durham Small Boats Head to go ahead on the Wear in February, in which Durham ARC was the most successful club with 14 event wins, ranging from the J13 coxed quad to Andy Jaggard in the Masters H single sculls. Quinn Mosley and Ethan Thompson won the J15 2x, and there were wins for the J16 girls 2x and WJ16 4x- as well as a novice success for the Masters Women in band 2 of the Women’s 4x+. Michael Terry won the MasD 1x and Nick Baird the Open 1x.

March

The Senior Men had an entry in the Head of the River Race (HoRR) on the Tideway for a third successive year. In a race that was eventually given clearance to go ahead after much doubt about the weather and river conditions, the DARC eight finished in 161^st position.

The Vesta International Masters Head was able to take place the day after HoRR with Michael Terry again representing DARC in a composite MasE eight with Hexham and Tyne ARC, finishing in 41^st place overall.

There was no DARC entry for the Women’s Head or Schools Head, both of which went ahead in a curtailed form after being the subject of much concern about river conditions.

Closer to home Derwentwater Head attracted 20 entries from DARC but was called off the day before it was due to take place because of the wind forecast.

More excitement was to follow in March as DARC alumni Matt Edge and Sam Taylor were selected in Cambridge Boat Race eights, a year after dedicating blades to the Club. Both went on to help Cambridge to take victory in their respective Lightweight and heavyweight events, Matt stroking the heavyweight crew home in dramatic style.

April

The regatta season got underway with 4 members of DARC Juniors representing the Northern Region at the Junior Inter Regional Regatta. The best performance came from Quinn Mosley who won a silver medal in the J15 1x. Izzy Maddison joined Olivia Tute from Durham School to take 5^th place in the A final of the J15 girls 2x, and there were appearances in B finals from Becca Burns and Patrick Lakey in the J16 girls and J16 boys 8+.

The following week DARC’s Senior Women and Masters Women were at the Scottish Spring Regatta at Strathclyde Park.

May

A large entry for Durham City Regatta brought 12 wins for DARC’s Juniors and Masters while the Senior Men had strong opposition from several Colleges and were runners-up to Collingwood in the final of the Open 8+.

Tees Regatta brough a further 10 wins, including Juniors and the first success of the season for the Masters D coxed four of Darren Wrack, Tom Dower, John Liddell, Peter Matthews + cox Matthew Watson, and the Women’s Masters F coxless quad of Sam English, Gabrielle Moore, Helen McMillan and Christine Heppell.

The Senior and Masters Women were at the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont the same weekend looking to gain multi-lane experience at Nottingham City and Masters Regatta, the WMasB four and WMasB quad gaining 2^nd places in finals, and there was a 3rd place finish for Michael Terry in the MasD 1x.

Will Terry (J17) and Jonny Cleugh (J16) entered the National Schools Regatta at Dorney Lake, contesting the Sculls Cup for Juniors of any age, so were up against many J18 competitors in a field of 56 and put in superb performances to both reach the A final and finish 7^th and 8^th against some of the best scullers in the country.

June

With exams completed June started off with seven trailers laden with 24 DARC entries and 99 College entries going to Hexham Regatta which produced 8 more wins.

The Senior Women went to Dorney Lake for more multi-lane competition the following day at the Metropolitan Regatta in which Lilly Muskett, Gabby Maxfield, Rachel Wilson and Anna Golightly reached the B final of the Women’s coxless quad.

Further excitement saw June’s 191^st Durham Regatta featured in the 3^rd series of Matt Baker’s Travels with Mum & Dad which took to the air on More4 in September, and featured the repainting of the numbers on the arches of Elvet Bridge for the first time in around 70 years.

The Regatta prizegiving took place for the first time at a new site in the Grand Marquee on DARC’s car park, which doubled as a RowShow venue and Athletes Village, with Matt Edge invited as the special guest presenter at the prizegiving.

Another innovation was the provision of a Volunteer Hub in DARC’s rear garden and an improved volunteer management system.

DARC achieved victory in 20 events (some in composite crews) over the two days of competition.

Disappointingly the proposed dredging of the river failed to materialize as ongoing negotiations with the Environment Agency stalled once more.

For once the British Rowing Masters Championships avoided a clash of dates and fell on the weekend after Durham Regatta and. despite competitors having to contend with thunderstorm interruptions at Nottingham, produced a gold medal success for Andy Jaggard in the Championship Lightweight Masters H single sculls, and medals in the Intermediate events for the Women’s age 36+ tier 1 coxless quad and the Durham/Hexham composite Women’s 36+ eight, DARC being represented by Rachel Terry, Debra Harland, Sarah Buist, Kate Sowden and Meghan McCarthy, who had also won at Durham Regatta the week before.

The Senior Women’s coxless quad entered the time trial for the Chairman’s Trophy at Henley Women’s Regatta but failed to qualify for the final stages.

The Senior Men’s coxless four tried to repeat last year’s Henley Royal Regatta success by entering the time trial for the Wyfold Challenge Cup but were unable to secure a place in the top 11 crews that would have given them qualification for the knockout stage.

July

The last of the Northern regattas at Talkin Tarn in July produced 9 wins for DARC.

DARC’s mixed crew entry DARC Humour stepped up their challenge in the Hexham round of the 2024 Sunday League by climbing up the table after useful showings at Tynemouth and Tyne in earlier rounds.

On a return to Holme Pierrepont in July for the inaugural British Rowing Junior and Senior Championships the star performance came from Quinn Mosley who won a gold medal in the J15 single sculls by heading a field of 56 and winning the A final in the last event on Sunday evening in a Championship record time of 3.37.44. Will Terry and Jonny Cleugh also reached A finals in J18 and J16 single sculls, while the J14 girls coxed quad and J18 girls coxless quad reached B finals.

Three weeks earlier Jonny and Quinn had been in action at Nottingham for the GB Rowing Team J16 Trials in which both reached the A final.

August

An informal scratch regatta in eights and quads took place on the Wear in August, with the daytime rowers being joined by counterparts from Hexham and Tees Rowing Clubs, followed by a social gathering in the clubhouse.

The Masters took part in 2 crews at the annual British Rowing Tour on the Upper Thames which followed European tours in Portugal and France.

September

A scaled down entry for the World Rowing Masters Regatta at Brandenburg, Germany in September saw DARC represented in the Women’s Masters B 4x-, 4+ and 2x, while Sarah Rutter coxed the Tees MasG 8+ to victory.

Another enjoyable informal Sunday scratch regatta involving club Juniors and Masters racing in eights and quads took place in September followed by a BBQ.

October

Durham staged the final round of the Sunday League in October with 16 crews from clubs across the Northern Region racing side by side over a short course along the racecourse. Trophies were presented to the Series winners after the racing. DARC Humour secured 2^nd place overall in the Open league.

Also in October the Long Distance Sculling Series got underway at Berwick. In the subsequent rounds DARC achieved wins in 7 events at Tees, 5 at Tyne, 4 at Wansbeck and 4 at South Hylton, including good performances from Andy Jaggard and Richard Court in the MasG 2x, Quinn Mosley in J16 1x, Rachel Terry in WMasD 1x and Nick Baird in Open 1x. Several other competitors gained their first experience of racing during the Series.

November

Durham hosted the final round of the LDS Series and Durham Autumn Small Boats Head in November after valiant efforts by Durham County Council and its contractors succeeded in removing the debris blocking Elvet Bridge.

A successful day produced 13 wins in a range of events with Michael Terry, Rachel Terry and Livvy Terry all picking up prizes. Well done to everyone taking part and thank you to all those volunteering.

The weekend rounded off with the annual fireworks display.

Racing continued over 3000 metres at York Small Boats Head in mid-November with the largest entry from DARC for several years and wins for the Senior Women in Women’s 4x+ and Women’s 2x.

Although without an entry from DARC the Fours Head on the Tideway was hugely oversubscribed and many entries had to be rejected. Like the previous year it was then cancelled because of the wind forecast. The Veteran Fours Head scheduled for the day before The Fours Head included an entry from Michael Terry’s composite MasE 4x-, but it too was cancelled.

The final competition of 2024 was Rutherford Head over 4.5km of the River Tyne. This year’s event enjoyed fine conditions and brought victories for the MasE 4x- composite with Hexham and Tyne, WMasC 8+ composite with Hexham, WMasC 4x- and WMasF 4x-.

December

Having reached the age of 80 in September Roger Stainforth set about rewriting the Indoor Rowing record books by establishing new British records for the 80-84 age category in several events, including 2km,10km, 30 minutes and 1 hour.

He also set a new World record of 8.28.0 for 2km on the SkiErg, and on December 7^th won two gold medals, in the 80-84 2000 metres and 500 metres at the British Rowing Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

Competition winners from 2024 are shown on the Results page.

2025

The racing season resumes in 2025 with two long distance events on the Tyne – Tyne United New Years Head on January 25^th and Tyne Head of the River on February 8^th. Entries for TURC NYH are now open. Durham Small Boats Head fills the weekend between the two on Saturday, February 1^st. The poster will be available soon and entries will open on January 10^th.

Learn to Row courses have continued throughout the year. If you would like to join a course please email learntorow@durham-arc.org.uk or if you have previous experience and would like to join the club email captain@durham-arc.org.uk

The club continues to support College Boat Clubs wherever possible through the loan and storage of boats and provision of trailering to events.

We look forward to developing a medium-term strategy to take the club forward in its new status as a charity.