EVESHAM Rowing Club took six crews to represent the West Midlands at the British inter-regional rowing championships in Nottingham last weekend, coming home with two silver and two bronze medals, and helping the West Midlands to achieve third position overall from twelve regions.

The National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham has a reputation for strong winds and rough water but Sunday dawned bright and calm and for most of the day rowers enjoyed perfect conditions for racing

The 12 regions compete in two heats on the six-lane course, with the six fastest crews qualifying for the Grande Finale, and the remaining six qualifying for the Petite Finale.

First to race was the J16 quad of Marcus Hutchings, Tom Walker, Rob Davies and Sergui Phoursa, who finished second in their heat to go through to the final. Next were the J14 quad of Dan Sadler, Tom Parry, Declan Clarke and James Crumpton, who led from the start and fought to maintain their position, narrowly missing out on the Grande Finale.

The J14 women's double scull of Abi Penrose and Ruth Whyman had an excellent heat, winning comfortably in a high quality field, as did the J14 men's double of Will Tew and Dan Sadler. Will then jumped into a single scull and cruised through to victory in the heat, overpowering the opposition with a stunning burst at the finish.

The morning finished with an outstanding row by the women's J16 scull comprising Chloe Farrar, Emma Purfield, Sara Howe and Becky Wood who finished strongly, overpowering the winners in J15 from 2004.

The wind increased for the afternoon finals, and less experienced crews had difficulty getting aligned at the start, but Evesham had trained for these conditions and took it in their stride. The J16 quad had an outstanding row in one of the most exciting races of the day, and narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth, just two seconds behind the winner.

This performance caught the eye of the national coaches, and they have been invited to trial for the GB-France International in July.

The J14 men's quad showed tremendous team spirit in their Petite Finale, taking victory by more than two lengths. The J14 women's double showed great strength and determination to take silver medal, overpowering some powerful opposition.

After a strong start and showing impeccable technique from their hard winter training, the women's J16 quad fought to maintain their lead but were pipped for gold on the line by Runcorn from the North West, still taking a well deserved silver medal.

The men's J14 double found themselves in good company in the final, and had to use all their power and rhythm to take an excellent bronze medal. Will Tew then had to jump into a single scull and hurry to the start for his second final in 30 minutes. Instructed by his coach to save his effort for the finish, he sat in a comfortable fourth place for most of the course. Approaching the finish, he took the rating up and powered through to take an outstanding and well deserved silver medal.