DURHAM Amateur Rowing Club are celebrating a treble of summer championship success.
Helen Preston became national champion in the women’s junior 16 single sculls at the National Championships in Nottingham.
Meanwhile, veterans double scullers Hazel Staniforth and Carolyn Edwards struck gold at the prestigious Henley Veteran Regatta, with Staniforth going on to claim top spot in the single sculls event.
Helen’s success is a tremendous achieve-ment for the 16-year-old, who has enjoyed a string of wins to go into the top10 in the national women's junior under-18 rankings.
Staniforth and Edwards raced against America's Avalon Rowing Club in their semi-final and then went on to win against Australia's Melbourne Rowing Club in the final.
In the single sculls, Staniforth won her heat against a sculler from London Rowing Club and went on to win the final against Maidenhead sculler Karen Phillips.
Club spokesman Jonathan Hamill said: “These wins are testament to the ladies’ tremendous dedication to their training.
“Training for them over the past year has been an additional challenge as the club have been like a building site during a £1m redevelopment – for most of the year members had very limited facilities.”
Durham ARC's junior squad entered the women’s junior 18 quadruple sculls at Henley and qualified for the final by time trial, finishing sixth.
The women’s junior 16 double sculls narrowly missed qualifying for the final in their event while the men's junior 15 coxed quadruple sculls were fourth in their qualifier.
In the senior categories, the women’s quadruple scull were fourth in their qualifier, narrowly missing a final place.
Durham also celebrated 12 wins at the annual Talkin Tarn Regatta – one of the country’s largest one-day regattas.
the winning squads were the men's veteran E four, the veteran C double sculls (Phill Tully/John Lyons), the veteran E single sculls (Andy Jaggard), the veteran G single sculls (John Bell), the senior three eight, the senior three four, the junior 15 coxed quadruple sculls, the junior 15 single sculls (Chris Tully), the junior 13 single sculls (Richard Oakenfull), the junior 13 double Sculls and the women's senior four eight and senior four coxless quadruple sculls.
