DOZENS of women and supporters from Weymouth Rowing Club descended on Newquay for their last competitive event of the season.

More than 80 ladies’ crews from Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall took part in a weekend of racing in Newquay Harbour.

Weymouth Rowing Club spokesman Lynn Reynolds said: “We had three crews from Weymouth attend and, with such great results achieved recently at the Scillies Championships and the Tribute events, we knew this was going to be an exciting event. “Land and sea training has been clearly evident this season with clear direction from our club coaches and a tough training programme designed by our specialist trainers Wendy Pearce and Rob McIlroy.”

Newquay’s event programme was in rounds of 16 heats with six crews per heat all rowing gigs that were loaned for the event to make the championships fairer.

Weymouth loaned their gig Penny for the weekend and Weymouth Ladies C were drawn to row the boat in their heat.

By heat 14 the high swells were rolling in and the tide dropped, which stopped crews from accessing the harbour safely.

Weymouth Ladies A just managed to get in but teams caught out had to feed one by one into the harbour with the assistance of the RNLI and umpires, while other crews had to ‘beach’ the boats in breaking waves.

The final crews from the last two races were forced to moor up to fishing vessels at sea for safety, where they were then transported in by the RNLI.

Weymouth Ladies C was safely brought in with the assistance of a RNLI rigid inflatable boat and the skills and quick reactions of Weymouth coxswain Dom Brown.

Due to safety reasons, organisers postponed races 15 and 16 until the following morning.

With an 8am start Sunday, heats were completed and both Weymouth A and B progressed to the next round.

With choppy conditions, race times were slower compared to Saturday.

Neither of the crews made it to the finals but Falmouth A won the championships, using Weymouth’s gig Penny.

Out of 87 crews, Weymouth Ladies A finished 27th, Bs 46th and Cs 72nd.

Weymouth men’s A and B crews will be competing at Newquay today and tomorrow.

Anyone interested in rowing can visit weymouthrowingclub.co.uk