A beautiful sunny stretch of the River Severn nestling under the imposing sandstone coloured cooling towers of the power station at Ironbridge provided the setting for the racing debut for a number of Loughborough Boat Club’s newer members last weekend. The Club were using this popular two-day regatta to give valuable race experience to their novice and junior rowers and, as Club Captain Keith Hudson commented, "They all show a great deal of promise, we have a really enthusiastic young squad who have showed that racing can be enjoyable as well as hard work. I’m sure it won’t be long before they start to gain wins for the club."

Nick Firth at stroke, Henry Yates, Nick Ratcliffe and Adam Fairbrother, coxed by Keith Hudson on Saturday and by Amanda Hibbell on Sunday put in a determined performance in the Men’s Novice Coxed Fours narrowly missing out on both days to crews from Star Club, who went on to win the event. They were joined for the Novice Eights by Duncan Harris, Amy Lane and brothers Stefan, Shaun and Corin Rennick-Egglestone, with Corin in the cox’s seat, where they were again just beaten by Star Club.

Amy Lane made a confident start to her solo sculling career in the Women’s Junior 15 Sculls. She steered a good line over the difficult 1000m course but lost out to Ealey from Royal Chester.

Four of the more seasoned club members competing in the Men’s Veteran B Coxed Four helped give 12 year old Danny Martin his first coxing win. Simon Hill at stroke, Andy Martin, Jerome Mason and Neil Martin took an early lead and edged away from opposition Huntingdon to cross the line three quarters of a length ahead.

Other crews winning through to finals over the weekend included Chris Logan and Jerome Mason in the Men’s Senior 1 Coxless Pairs who beat Bewdley in the semi-final but were just beaten in the final by Eton Excelsior. Mary Carswell also lost out to Eton Excelsior in the final of Women’s Senior 4 sculls having beaten Stackhouse from Stourport by just three feet in the semi-final.