A successful weekend at Tyne, Tarn and elsewhere

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In what is sometimes seen as the close season for rowing an unusually busy first weekend in August provided a modicum of success on the Tyne and at Talkin Tarn.

To improve attendance levels Tyne ARC has for the past two years rescheduled Tyne Regatta for an August date rather than the traditional June. This year’s competition went ahead on Saturday, August 2nd with 75 entries contesting 52 races in two divisions over a 700-metre course. This was followed by a third division of racing in scratch crews drawn on the day.

Joyce Collett was the only competitor representing Durham ARC and won the Women’s Masters H single sculling race. Results of all races are available here.

This marks the end of the 2025 summer regatta season in the Northern Region before we move on to the Long Distance Sculling races in September to November.

Launching at Talkin Tarn Sunday League

The fifth round of the Northern Rowing Sunday League took place the following day at Talkin Tarn with DARC Humour again being Durham ARC’s only entry for what was to be the only sweep-oar round of this year’s series. Hexham and Talkin Tarn provided the coxed fours for the day’s racing, which was fortunate to enjoy ideal conditions for the 32 races between 16 crews from 8 clubs over a 300-metre course. The Durham crew of Paul Roberts, Liz Baker, Katherine Young, Colin Lawson and cox Dave Green was one of four to secure maximum points after winning their 4 races against Nithsdale, Berwick, Talkin Tarn and Hexham, to stay in 3rd position overall in the Open league with 27 points going into the penultimate round at Berwick on September 7th. This Tyne It’s Personal (Tyne ARC) also took the maximum 8 points to remain league leaders on 35 points, as did Hexagogo (Hexham RC) who go 4th in the Open table, and Oarganised Chaos (Cambois RC) who move up to 2nd in the Women’s table, closing the gap on The Sunday Tynes (Tyne ARC) who lead with 32 points.

DARC Humour at Talkin Tarn

Thanks to the host clubs for putting on enjoyable events.

The British Rowing Coastal Championships staged at Tynemouth over the weekend was less fortunate with the Saturday schedule having to be abandoned because of the rough sea off Longsands Beach, a huge disappointment for crews who had travelled from as far away as South Wales, Eastbourne, Plymouth, the Isle of Wight and Jersey. Sunday racing was however able to go ahead in a condensed format. Although no crews from Durham attended there were entries from Tynemouth, Hexham, City of Sunderland, Tyne ARC and Tees, as well as several from Whitby Coastal Rowing Club. More information about the event can be found here. Results are available here.

Further afield the Coupe de la Jeunesse was hosted by Austria at the Linz-Ottensheim Regatta Course between August 1st and 3rd. The annual competition brings together Under-19 athletes from 16 European Nations who are not participating in the World Rowing U19 Championships in the same year. British Rowing named its selection of 46 athletes and 19 coaches in July

Among those selected for the Junior Men’s 4x- was Jonathan Cleugh who rowed for Durham ARC at J16 level until July 2024 when he moved to Radley College. Jonny was in action on Saturday and Sunday with crewmates Isaac Thomas (Leeds RC), Thomas Pakulis (Lea RC) and Isaac Thornton (Windsor Boys) in the coxless quad coached by Pete Chambers of Marlow. The crew reached the A final on both days and went on to win the gold medal for both the Saturday and Sunday competitions, posting times of 6.08.33 on Saturday and 6.02.24 on Sunday. Video footage is available in the livestream from Saturday from 6h 07min and Sunday from 4h 12min, followed by medal presentations..

Results from Saturday and Sunday.

It was a very successful weekend for Great Britain who finished top of the 16 competing nations in the Men’s, Women’s and Overall points classifications, and therefore won the Coupe de la Jeunesse in each category. The scoring tables are here.

A variety of competitions and tours coming up over the next month or so include