EVESHAM Rowing Club's head of the rIver faced challenging conditions, but all agreed that it was a great success.

The first division was delayed, first due to the strong winds, and then by a problem with the safety launch, and the race committee decided to run the event over 2000m instead of the traditional 4500m.

Warwick University provided the fastest crews of the day, winning Senior I and Senior II coxed fours, but the home club had a healthy haul of medals to celebrate.

The J16 boys' crew of Ali Gregory, Tom Most, Nick Symonds and Serguei Phoursa, coxed by Sam Churchill, had a storming row to finish fourth overall, and win Novice IV by 37 seconds, rowing in their first ever sweep oar event.

The J15 quad of Rob Davies, Tom Walker, Pete Bird and Marcus Hutchings, coxed by Sam Pric added to their excellent record for this season with a win over Stratford.

The girls' J16 double of Emma Woodedd and Cherrie Gayton had a convincing margin of 45 seconds over Pengwern and Warwick, while Anna Chilvers and Becky Wood had an equally impressive victory in a J15 double.

Evesham completed a hat-trick of wins in the doubles with the J14 B crew of Oli Jeacock and Cati Baird beating the A crew of Jorden Lane and Sophie Small.

Tor Messent, meanwhile, won the J14 singles in a time of 13.56.

Several of the girls crews raced and won in senior categories with Chloe Farrar and Emma Purfield winning the Senior IV doubles and Helen Gander and Abby Black completing the medal haul with a win in the novice category over Monmouth and Warwick.

The host club boasted the largest entry in senior events for some years due to a flourishing squad and for many it was their first event and all crews put in an excellent performance.

Ian Evans fought hard to gain a two-second victory over Wallis of Bridgnorth in Vet B single sculls.