Sunday League opener on the Tyne

Durham ARC had an entry in the Open division for the first round of the 2025 Sunday League on the Tyne on April 6^th when Dave, Colin, Kira, Liz and Gillian were joined in DARC Humour by Katherine from last year’s DARC Angels crew, giving scope for crew changes between races.

A healthy turnout of 9 Open and 6 Women’s teams from 8 different clubs took part in a thrilling afternoon of side by side racing in stable coxed quads over 350 metres while those not involved enjoyed the sunshine and view from the balcony of Tyne Amateur Rowing Club. Among the Women’s entries were Nithsdale Doonhamers from Dumfries making their first appearance in the competition.

Bright but breezy conditions and an outgoing tide meant slow progress boating and getting boats lined up in the waves at the start and as a result it was decided to draw proceedings to a close after 3 races each rather than a more ambitious 4.

The first race of the day saw DARC Humour involved in a close race with Talkin Tarn which they lost narrowly.

Following a lengthy wait the next race for DARC brought their only victory of the day, this time against Tyne United, while the third race was against a strong Tyne ARC quad who took the victory.

Talkin Tarn arrived with 3 teams and no coxes but were able to borrow them from other clubs, with Dave coxing a Tarn crew to victory in one of their races.

Winners of the Tyne round were Quadrowphenia from Cambois RC and This Tyne It’s Personal from Tyne ARC in the Open division and The Sunday Tynes from Tyne ARC in the Women’s division, all of whom won 3 races.

Race results from the day are shown below and more details of the round are available here.

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Thanks go to our hosts at Tyne ARC for organization and hospitality. It was pleasing to see new and returning crews enjoying the conviviality.

This year’s league includes 7 rounds, the last of which takes place at Durham ARC on October 5^th. The full schedule can be found on the Northern Rowing website here.

The team is looking forward to the next round and some are considering stepping up their game with loones at Cambois on May 4^th.