Sunday League sculling skills at Hexham

A bumper entry of 17 crews from the North of England and South of Scotland made their way to Hexham on June 1st for the third round of the Sunday League, the best attendance for several years. Crews had spent the previous month practising for the the annual test of sculling skills but a forecast of breezy conditions, along with the large number of entries, forced organisers to omit some of the planned exercises to save time.

Teams in coxed quads had two attempts at completing the course on the River Tyne against the clock while executing a series of skills exercises, which included rowing with square blades, rigger dips, spinning, blade swapping and roll ups,.with the combined times over the two rounds determining the outcome.

Durham ARC entered 3 teams from the daytime, Improvers and Explorers groups, including DARC Ages, who were making their first appearance of the season, and DARC Angels in the Women’s category, and DARC Humour in the Open category.

Hexham Rowing Club provided two stable coxed quads, and good organisation ensured the event ran on time and was completed within the allotted four hours. After some closely contested racing the DARC crews were pleased with their performances and each improved their time on the second attempt to achieve the following results –

• DARC Angels 6th in the Women’s division with a combined time of 13.45.89
  
• DARC Ages 8th in the Women’s division in 15.58.57
  
• DARC Humour 2nd in the Open division in 12.36.97

This Tyne it’s Personal from Tyne ARC recorded the fastest time by an Open crew in 11.57.3, and Oarganised Chaos from Cambois RC recorded the fastest time by a Women’s crew, and fastest time overall, with 11.36.1. The results see This Tyne it’s Personal move into the lead in the Open category, and a 3-way tie for first place in the Women’s category between Cambois, Nithsdale and Tyne ARC.

Full results can be found on the Hexham round page here and other information on the Northern Rowing website here.

Everyone had an enjoyable day and can look forward with enthusiasm to the next round which will be a splash & dash sculling event at Tynemouth on July 6th.

Thanks to Hexham RC and the Northern Rowing Council for planning and organising the event and providing hospitality on the day.