Crews show their steel in Ironbridge testers

City double and quad crews took on the best in the country when they competed in the national event at Peterborough.

Laura Androlia, Genny Hinchliffe, Tiz Shrimpton and Laura Garrod fought every inch of the course to take bronze in the quad while Androlia and Hinchliffe did it again by winning bronze in the double.

The girls were just behind St Neots and Headington, who dominated last year in both events. "They showed tremendous determination. It was an extremely good result for Worcester," said coach Louise Wilson.

Ironbridge Regatta saw even better results for Worcester.

Androlia and Hinchliffe won the J14 double, beating a Llandaff/Stratford composite crew over 1,000 metres. Then with Shrimpton and Garrod in the boat, and Cathy Jones coxing, they went on to win the quad, beating Pengwern easily.

The girls of the J15 quad also had city supporters cheering. They triumphed over Royal Chester - making up for their last meeting when Chester beat them in the re-row by just three feet.

Phil Vincent won the Junior single sculls by beating Bridgnorth over the 1,000m course. He then went on to win the 500m junior single sculls title.

After a nail-biting semi-final between Worcester A and B crews in the women's J15 coxed quad, the B crew of Emily Stenson, Tamara Hopkins, Laura Telfer and Nicki Freeman, coxed by Shrimpton, beat Pengwern by a length in the final.

The J14 quad beat Pengwern too, and Adam Ward and Tom Denleigh-Maxwell won the J16 boys' double scull.

Fiercely exciting racing was also provided by Worcester's novice men who went home with a trophy after a tussle through several very tough rounds.

Other crews also did the city proud were the club's Women's Senior 4 four. They won their way to the final but lost to Star of Bedford by half a length.

And Jane Fisher got to the semi -final in her single at Senior 3 - an impressive achievement, as she won her novice class just three weeks ago.