Durham hosts the final round of the Sunday League

For a second consecutive year Durham ARC hosted the final round of the Northern Rowing Sunday League. The finale was delayed by a week to avoid the effects of Storm Amy, and therefore took place on October 12th. Since the first round in April this year’s league was able to avoid the worst of the weather with only the Berwick round in September having to be cancelled because of the strength of the wind.

Fourteen teams drawn from seven clubs were able to make the revised fixture which was held in glorious autumn sunshine and benign conditions on the River Wear, with racing taking place over the new course, downstream of the shallow part of the river, the longer turnaround meaning there was only time for 3 races per crew rather than the usual 4.

Renewed interest meant DARC was able to enter 4 teams, DARC Humour (Dave Green, Colin Lawson, Paul Roberts, Hannah Lindsay and Liz Baker) and DARC Mystery (Tom Billington, Robert Langham, Steven Rodgerson, Steven Pill, Etienne Suquet, Stacy Wilding, Caitlin Gobie and Hubert Desgranges) in the Open division, and DARC Angels (Kira Larno-Bayne, Gillian Gilbert, Jaqui Lynch, Samreena Diaz, Katherine Young and Paddy Fletcher) and DARC Ages (Leanne Rodgerson, Olivia Hannah George, Manush McConway, Sara Colclough, Rebecca Talbot, Caroline Fardoe and Stacey Bielick) in the Women’s.

The draw matched DARC Humour against DARC Mystery in the first race, with DARC Humour taking the honours. DARC Angels were also drawn to race DARC Ages with the latter coming out on top to take their second victory of the day, which followed their first success of the season in their opening race against Tyne United. DARC Angels achieved their only racing point of the day in a dead heat against Tyne United.

Tyne ARC took top spot in the final league tables with “This Tyne It’s Personal” winning the Open division and “The Sunday Tynes” winning the Women’s division. Cambois RC placed second in both Open and Women’s divisions. End of season trophies and prizes were presented by Helen McMillan on behalf of the Northern Rowing Council before crews and spectators returned to the club for the post event BBQ.

Results of the Durham round are shown below.

The final league table is on the series home page on the Northern Rowing website here.

Well done to everyone who took part and thank you to the volunteers and to Durham University who provided two of the four stable quads used.

The league is aimed predominantly at the less experienced end of the spectrum and is ideal for beginners who want to gain some experience of racing.

Preparations for next year’s Sunday League start almost immediately. Interested clubs can get in touch with Series Co-ordinator Colin Percy at colinwpercy@gmail.com