ST NEOTS Rowing Club held their annual regatta at the weekend. Teams from more than 40 different clubs competed with places as far afield as Doncaster, Tyne and London represented. Thousands of people turned out to watch rowers compete in junior, senior,

ST NEOTS Rowing Club held their annual regatta at the weekend. Teams from more than 40 different clubs competed with places as far afield as Doncaster, Tyne and London represented.

Thousands of people turned out to watch rowers compete in junior, senior, veteran and mixed categories

On Saturday a total of 242 crews competed in just under 200 races. Racing began at 9am and a new event, each over 1000 metres, began every three minutes. A thunderstorm forced an hour's postponement in the afternoon but the races were later restarted.

On Sunday the events were 500 metre sprints with a race every two minutes from 8.30am. More than 300 crews competed in a total of just under 300 races.

St Neots fared particularly well, winning four events on Saturday and seven events on Sunday. Junior rower Bethany Astell starred for the home club, winning a total of three different events on Sunday.

St Neots Rowing Club Captain Martin Macfarlane, who also won an event, said: "It was a great weekend for the club and nice to see so many people out.

"I think we'll be cleaning up for quite a while but it's worth it!"

Meanwhile St Neots under 16 rowers Natalie Bream and Jo Fitzsimons were more than 300 miles away at a regatta in Scotland, competing for England.

The double sculls pair had last week secured silver in the National Championships and were hoping to go one better in this Home International meet at Strathclyde.

By the 250 metre mark in their race the St Neots pair had already left Wales trailing and by halfway were beginning to open up a gap on the Scottish crew.

Ireland began to pull away in the final stages but the English girls held off the challenge of Scotland to secure second place.

Coach Mathew Perkins said "Coming second in a high class international field is a fantastic achievement, especially given that the other competitors were two or three years their senior. Jo and Natalie should be very proud of themselves.