British Rowing Indoor Championships 2017

Durham ARCs Roger Stainforth returned with a gold medal from the British Rowing Indoor Championships after winning the Masters 70-74 Men’s 2000 metres race at the Lea Valley VeloPark on Saturday December 9th, his fourth victory in that age group since the Championships moved to the London Olympic Velodrome in February 2015. Although 10 seconds[…]

Rutherford Head 2017

Durham ARC entered 13 crews for Rutherford Head, raced over two divisions on November 25th, and came away with successes for the Women’s Masters E eight and the Masters C coxless quad, both winning in division 1 in entries of five and three respectively. Rutherford Head traditionally marks the finish of the autumn season before[…]

Head of the River Fours weekend

November 11th and 12th was a weekend to remember on the Tideway with competitors returning to action after the cancellation of the British Rowing Senior Championships in October. The Veteran Fours Head for Masters took place on November 11th and the Fuller’s Head of the River Fours for Senior crews took place on November 12th.[…]

Durham LDS and Autumn SBH 2017

Rowers from across the north of England converged on the River Wear last Saturday for the Durham round of the Northern Rowing Council’s Long Distance Sculling (LDS) Series, a time trial over 1800 metres with competitors taking on the course from Count’s House to the Bandstand in single, double and quadruple sculls, the key element[…]

Bernard Robertson (1936-2017)

We are saddened to learn of the death of Bernard Robertson, who was Club Captain between 1983 and 1989. The family has announced his passing, at the age of 81, on Monday 30th October, following a short illness. Bernard attended Durham Johnston Grammar School before going on to St. Cuthbert’s Society in 1954 to read[…]

Bishop wins in Boston

The first medal in this year’s Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts on October 21st went to GB’s Tom Bishop, competing for Quintin BC in the Veteran 70+ single sculls. Tom has connections with DARC dating from the 1970s. Formerly of Durham University he competed for DARC at the 1972 National Championships at[…]

Geoff Potts (1947-2017)

Quintin Boat Club has announced the death of Geoff Potts on October 28th following a heart attack while coaching in a launch at Mortlake Anglian and Alpha BC. His association with Quintin began in the 1970s and lasted until around 2 years ago when he moved to MAA. Geoff Potts started rowing at Durham School[…]

Coaching Award for Gordon

Plaudits have been flowing in for Gordon Beattie after he was given the accolade of Coach of the Year for the Durham and Chester-le-Street area in the annual County Durham Sport Awards on October 27th. Gordon has been coaching for over 40 years as well as carrying out many other duties around the Club on[…]

A Shot in the DARC win Explore Series

The final round of the 2017 Explore Series took place at Tyne United on October 1st. It was a successful day for DARC with the women’s crew ‘A Shot in the Darc’ (Alison Shepherd, Sue Lyons, Jane Auster, Kalpana Ganatra and Margaret Richardson) winning all four of their races to clinch top place with 50[…]

Allcomers Regatta 2017

Seventeen teams took part in Durham ARC’s Allcomers Regatta on September 24th, the best entry for several years. Numbers were boosted by 3 teams who had travelled from Whitby for the occasion. Five men’s teams, five mixed and 7 women’s teams contested a total of 34 races over a 300 metre course on a round[…]

World 100km indoor record

On Saturday 23 September 2017 Roger Stainforth of Durham ARC participated as captain, along with 16 others from around the UK, in a team of indoor rowers aged 70+ years who gathered in Newquay, Cornwall and set a world record in the large team (9 or more members) category, rowing in relay over a distance of[…]

Boston Marathon 2017

This year we sent three crews to the Boston Marathon, the mother of all long course events. They rowed 50.2 Km (and some cycled slightly more) and performed extremely well in one of the toughest events on the rowing calendar. First to set off were the J16 girls in the coxed quad, consisting of Catherine[…]

Senior Women’s Squad looking to expand

The DARC Senior Women’s Squad is looking to expand after a successful 2016-17 racing season, and we are happy to accept novice and experienced rowers- get in touch via email (women’s captain Alison Danforth – womens-vc@durham-arc.org.uk) if you are interested in joining us for the 2017-18 season. We accept rowers throughout the year, and people[…]

Great Tyne Row 2017

Three DARC crews took part in the seventh Great Tyne Row on September 2nd 2017, all mixed coxed quads. The event is a 25km row on the River Tyne in stable boats from Newburn to Tynemouth. Thirty-four crews took part in all. Thirteen DARC members were joined by Roger Bean, now of Stourport RC, who[…]

British Rowing UK Tour

Sixty-five rowers including Colin Lawson from Durham ARC took part in the 24th annual British Rowing UK Tour between August 24th and 27th 2017, thirteen stable coxed quads covering 40 miles of the Lancaster Canal from Preston to Tewitfield in three days. Unlike 2011 when the UK Tour last visited Lancaster, rowers were greeted by[…]

The Grape Escape

On August 23rd twenty members enjoyed a wine tasting evening at the club hosted by Chris Merchant. The convivial social gathering which involved sampling a selection of 6 wines from around the world proved to be a great success. Food was provided in the form of tapas style nibbles while Chris gave an insight into[…]

Rowing the Tyne for Stroke Association

Thirteen of DARC’s daytime members are combining with rowers from Tees and Stourport RC to enter three mixed quads for the Great Tyne Row on September 2nd while raising funds for a good cause. ‘We wanted to use the occasion to raise funds for a worthy cause, and as all of us has a family[…]

Gateshead visit

DARC rowers maintained links with neighbouring clubs by accepting an invitation to visit Gateshead Community Rowing Club for a social visit on August 17th. A group of 11 daytime rowers enjoyed a first outing rowing along the River Derwent in a selection of Gateshead’s expanding fleet of boats before a BBQ at the new clubhouse.[…]

Visit to Yarm

The summer months are an ideal opportunity for recreational rowing, with visits, tours and similar challenges offering the chance to share a common interest while developing links between clubs. For the third year a group of daytime rowers from DARC accepted an invitation from Tees RC to join them for the annual 25km row from[…]

DARC into the lead at Tynemouth

After the July round was cut short by windy conditions on the Tyne, the sixth round of the Explore Series was back on track for the sixth round at Tynemouth on August 6th. The Tynemouth round is always one of the most eagerly anticipated of the season, with challenging conditions guaranteed. After last year’s cancellation[…]

River Wear Tour 2017

On Sunday July 30th eight members from Durham ARC enjoyed a day out a few miles downstream on the tidal reach of the River Wear, taking part in the third annual tour of the City of Sunderland. This is arranged by City of Sunderland Rowing Club with the support of the Northern Rowing Council and[…]

Juniors roundup 2017

Now that we’ve reached the end of regatta season, it seems like an appropriate time to attempt to summarise the numerous achievements of our juniors throughout the year. First of all, a massive well done to all junior crews who have competed at any level this year. The section is larger than ever, and also[…]

BR Junior Championships 2017

The Club entered 2 crews for the British Rowing Junior Championships held at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham on July 14th to 16th, a J14 girls’ coxed quad (pictured) and a J15 girls’ coxed quad. This year’s Championships was the biggest ever with a record number of entries and over 1500 rowers representing 131 clubs from across[…]

River and path reopen

Contractors appointed by the Environment Agency were on site last weekend to effect a semi-permanent repair to the sluice gate at the Corn Mill which it is hoped means the weir will do its job as well as if not better than before. The river is therefore open for use again. More good news is[…]

Henley Masters Regatta 2017

Durham ARC returned with 3 gold medals from 10 events entered at Henley Masters Regatta, the regatta established in 1994 and hosted by Upper Thames Rowing Club held on July 7th and 8th 2017, the week after Henley Royal Regatta. Competitors travel from all over the world to compete over 1000 metres on the famous[…]