St Neots Rowing Club’s 150th Anniversary Regatta proved to be a roaring success – thanks to 1,500 rowers taking part in almost 500 races.

The Great River Ouse was the stage for a packed weekend of action which featured single, double and quad sculls racing for competitors of all ages and abilities in a knockout format.

The event is well-established as the largest two-day regatta in the east of England and this year there were two very different kinds of weather.

A a sun-baked Saturday, when races took place over a 900-metre course with a tricky bend to negotiate, was followed by a seriously soggy Sunday for the 500-metre sprint races.

There were a couple of successes for host club St Neots, both of which arrived over the shorter distance on the second day.

Kate Lyster and Molly Harper joined forces to take the honours in the Women’s Junior 16 double sculls event and clubmate Shaun Parren triumphed in the Men’s Junior 16 single scull bracket.

St Neots Rowing Club captain Ali Young said: “I must thank everyone who helped to make the regatta an absolutely brilliant event.

“A year of planning and thousands of hours of hard work by our regatta committee, other club members, their families and dozens of volunteers meant the event ran really smoothly.

“In terms of results it wasn’t our year with our rowers only managing to win two of the events, but I’m very proud of how everyone did.

“It was nice to have such a fantastic mix of winners from visiting clubs.”

The leading club over the two days were Maidstone Invicta, who won the top prize in 10 categories.

The Kent outfit were hotly pursued by Norwich (nine class wins) and Northampton, who scooped eight pieces of silverware.

All winners were presented with special commemorative goblets, an updated version of the trophies that were presented in 1965 at the 100th anniversary regatta.