DUBBED "The Henley of the Midlands", Evesham Rowing Club stages its annual Regatta and Sprint Regatta events on Saturday and Sunday when more than 500 crews will do battle on the River Avon.

Entries have been received from as far afield as Plymouth, Huntingdon, Maidenhead, Chester and Llandaff. The Oxford colleges of Balliol and St Johns will be represented as well as the Canadian Vancouver club.

There will invariably be much local interest with crews from Stratford-upon-Avon, Worcester, Hereford, Bewdley, Stourport, Gloucester and Cheltenham. Evesham has registered 40 crews over the two days.

Whereas the Head race in November sees a procession of boats along the River Avon, this weekend's races offer the opportunity to see the full explosive power of the crews racing side by side over the 1000m course between Corporation Meadow and Workman Bridge on the Saturday and the 500mcourse between Workman Bridge and the Boathouse the next day.

Racing starts at 9am on both days with the finish expected at 6.30pm. Presentations will take place outside the boathouse.

For a more in-depth explanation of the regatta or for details about all sports available at the host club visit the website at www.evesham-rowing-club.co.uk

Club member Philippa Turner, representing Worcester RC, qualified for the Inter-Regional Finals at Dorney Lake by winning the J14 double sculls at Northwich Head with her partner Faridah Newman of Hollingworth Lake RC.

Turner at bow and Newman at stroke steered a straight course throughout the atrocious weather in the final to win convincingly by two lengths. A tremendous achievement and another win for a famous boat. 'Nimrod', kindly loaned by Hollingworth Lake - a double scull used by Steve Redgrave in his earlier years.

Later in the day, Turner was in a J14 composite coxed quad with St.Neots and won convincingly by six lengths.

Another Evesham rowerAndrew Walker was part of an Evesham/Kings School Worcester composite crew which beat Winchester Boys by two feet to win the J15 quadruple coxed fours at the same junior event.

He then went on to win the J15 single sculls at an open junior regatta, while Katherine Scott, Claire Yates, Holly Carter and Rosie Buckley sculled an excellent race to win the J16 coxless quadruple event.