Clean sweep at Tees Explore Series

Round 4 of the Northern Explore Series took place at Tees Rowing club on June 4th. This was the annual sculling skills round, where competitors race against the clock on a circular course over 1km between the Princess of Wales Bridge and the Infinity Bridge, carrying out a series of tests along the way, including[…]

European Junior Championships

After 2 years of intensive training with the Great Britain Junior Squad Hope Cessford is making excellent progress, taking part recently in the European Junior Championships in Germany. This follows a successful 2016 during which Hope represented Durham ARC in the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race and at Henley Women’s Regatta, before Hope[…]

Berwick Explore Series

Round 3 of the Explore Series took place on May 7th at Berwick, one of the most scenic of the locations visited by the popular competition for novice, recreational and returning rowers. An excellent entry of 19 crews gathered at the Berwick clubhouse in the shadow of the Royal Border Bridge and competition got underway[…]

Victory for alumnus at BUCS

Former Durham ARC and St Leonards member James Snowball celebrated victory in the Open Intermediate Eight representing Oxford Brookes University, winning a gold medal at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Regatta at Nottingham on April 29th. The following week James returned with a  silver medal from the International Regatta in Ghent, Belgium again[…]

Juniors at Chester-le-Street

Chester-le-Street presents a great first regatta for our junior crews, especially the younger juniors, who were out in force. A total of 12 junior crews were entered, so for the sake of brevity and interest they’ve been reported on by age group rather than specific crew. The J13 Girls entered two quads and a double,[…]

Chester-le-Street Regatta 2017

Durham ARC had 22 entries (12 Juniors, 4 in Senior events and 6 Masters) racing over 900m at Chester-le-Street Regatta in bright but breezy conditions on April 30th, the regatta being held this year on Sunday to avoid a clash with York Spring Regatta, which took place on Saturday. With some 320 entries overall it[…]

Strathclyde Park Regatta

The Regatta season got off to a flying start on April 22nd with the DARC Juniors going to the Junior Inter Regional Regatta at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham on Saturday while the Masters attended the 2-day Strathclyde Park Regatta, both multi-lane events. Strathclyde Park Regatta is organised by Scottish Rowing and incorporates the Scottish Universities[…]

Junior Inter-Regionals 2017

4 crews represented DARC at Junior Inter-Regionals 2017, with all of them performing very well in the first national regatta of the year. Even after a fairly eventful journey, and unusual conditions at Holme Pierrepoint (Sun? No wind?), the standard set by DARC crews was high, and bodes well for the upcoming regattas. First in[…]

Durham Explore Series falls on Boat Race day

By fortunate coincidence round 2 of the Explore Series fell this year on the same day as the Boat Races. April 2nd dawned sunny and warm, the day after DARC’s Boat Race Ball. The discovery of an unexploded World War 2 bomb near Putney Bridge cast doubt over whether the Boat Races could go ahead,[…]

Schools Head of the River

Schools Head 2017 was certainly eventful, if nothing else; extreme winds and choppy conditions meant the race was shortened to about 1700m, finishing at the bandstand after Barnes Bridge. 3 crews were sent, and considering the conditions, coming back with 3 was a fairly impressive achievement. All crews performed extremely well in what was definitely[…]

Successful day at Yorkshire Head

There were 5 wins for Durham ARC at the Yorkshire Head on Saturday March 11th, the Masters F eight taking the accolades in division 1, posting the 15th fastest time out of over 200 crews contesting the 2 divisions, and the 9th fastest time (17.28.9) after applying the masters age category handicap adjustment. Division 1[…]

Head of the Trent

With the Tideway Heads season fast approaching there was a good win for Durham’s Masters F Eight at the Head of the Trent in Nottingham on February 26th. The crew was 4th finisher of the 13 masters 8+s entered in division 3 over a 6km course shortened due to windy conditions. Taking into account masters[…]

Junior Inter Regional Trials

Despite very challenging conditions it was a successful day for the juniors on Saturday at the Junior Inter-Regional Trials at Cambois RC, with wins for the WJ16 8+, WJ15 4+, WJ15 4x+, and WJ14 4x+. Every girl from the club who raced was in a winning crew. Results of the trials determine crew selections to[…]

Durham Small Boats Head 2017

Durham Small Boats Head took place on February 4th 2017 in calm conditions with spells of winter sunshine, the rising river level after overnight rain making the afternoon divisions more challenging. A busy day ensued with a full entry in all 4 divisions and 370 crews and scullers completing the course, with no reported incidents.[…]

Victory for Roger in German Masters

Roger Stainforth continued his good form winning the 70-74 Heavyweight category gold medal at the Deutsche Rudern Meisterschaft (German Masters Indoor Rowing Championships) in Essen on Sunday January 29th in a time of 3.24.9 for 1000m, the fastest recorded by a GB athlete in the age group on the Concept2 records for 2017, a very[…]

Roger on winning form at BRIC16

Durham ARC’s only representative Roger Stainforth emerged from the British Rowing Indoor Championships on December 10th with a gold medal, the third time in 2 years that he has returned victorious since the national championships were relaunched in February 2015 and moved to their new home, the 2012 London Olympic velodrome at Lea Valley VeloPark.[…]

Record entry for Rutherford Head

This year’s 50th anniversary Rutherford Head proved to be the most popular to date with entries suspended 2 weeks before the official closing date. Named after its founding body Rutherford College (the forerunner of Northumbria University) the Head effectively marks the start of the winter racing season. Come November 26th a calm, sunny but cold[…]

York Small Boats Head 2016

Heavy rain during the week raised concerns about prospects for York Small Boats Head but come the day autumn sunshine prevailed allowing all 3 divisions to go ahead as planned over 3km on the River Ouse on Sunday, November 20th. Durham ARC had 20 entries from a range of squads and 6 wins were secured.[…]

Durham LDS and Autumn SBH 2016

Cold wet conditions failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the record entry for the Bonfire Night double header of the Northern Rowing Council’s Durham Long Distance Sculls (LDS) and Durham Autumn Small Boats Head (SBH) organised by Durham Amateur Rowing Club. With a field of 124 entries for the morning sculling race and 108 for[…]

Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships 2016

The 2016 Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships took place on Saturday, 29th October at Bellahouston Sports Centre, Glasgow, where Roger Stainforth competed in and won the age 70+ 1000m race in a time of 3m:28.2s. Later in the day he went on to race over 2k in the open heavyweight category in a time of 7m:26.6s.

Durham hosts Explore Series finale

The eighth and final round of the 2016 Explore Series took place at Durham ARC on October 2nd with 12 crews in competition for points in 24 side by side sweep-oar races over a 300 metre course. The weather stayed fine and three crews, two from Durham ARC and one from Tyne ARC, finished with[…]

Explore Series set for thrilling climax

After the cancellation of the Talkin Tarn round of the Explore Series in August because of a forecast of strong winds the penultimate of the 8 rounds went ahead at the sumptuously refurbished Tyne Amateur Rowing Club on Sunday September 4th. A late start saw crews waiting for the tide to come in and the[…]

World Rowing Junior Championships 2016

The World Rowing Championships took place on the recently opened 6 lane Willem-Alexander Baan course in Rotterdam between August 21st and 28th, with Hope Cessford of Durham ARC and Lauren Irwin of Chester-le-Street ARC selected for Great Britain in the Junior Women’s Pair (for athletes under 19), the only representatives from the Northern region in[…]

GB call up for Hope

Congratulations to Hope Cessford of Durham ARC on being selected for the Great Britain Junior squad to take part in the World Rowing Junior Championships in Rotterdam in August. Hope will be rowing in the Women’s Pair with Lauren Irwin of Chester-le-Street ARC, one of 9 Junior crews selected for the Championships. The 36 Junior[…]