York City Rowing Club squad ended their competitive season on a high note by finishing fourth in the country at the National Rowing Championships.

The men's coxed four of Charlie Heise, Dan Beaumont, Tom Ransley, Andy Wilkinson and Helena Smalman-Smith (cox), and lightweight coxless four of George Scott, Dave Heffernan, Will Todd and Richard Smalman-Smith, progressed through the first round to the repechage.

The coxed four made it through to the final on Sunday, but the coxless four missed out on qualification to the final by 0.6 seconds, in a race which lasted just over seven minutes.

The men's eight of Charlie Heise, Dave Heffernan, Dan Beaumont, Tom Ransley, Andy Jason, Andy Wilkinson, George Scott, Will Todd and Helena Smalman-Smith (cox), qualified for the final in style by winning their heat by half a length from the Notts County Rowing Association crew.

The women's heavyweight double scull of Nollaig Browne and Helen Banks were forced to make a last- minute crew change due to illness. Hannah Thomas from St Peter's School replaced Banks in the stroke seat.

They progressed through to their final on Sunday, with definite prospects of winning a medal. But they suffered a setback when Thomas, having won a silver medal in the women's junior single sculls 20 minutes before the double sculls final, aggravated an old injury and the York ladies were forced to withdraw.

The coxed four had a hard and close-fought race on the Sunday. The York crew were in bronze medal position with 500 metres to go, but the more experienced crew from Leander pipped them to the finish line with a tremendous push in the closing stages of the race.

In their final race of the season, the men's eight missed the bronze in a thrilling final by 0.6 seconds. After a good start, the York City crew rowed through three of the six crews to be in contention for the bronze medal.

However, a strong push from the Notts County Crew in the final 200m of the race saw them take the bronze by the narrowest of margins in a race which lasted a little over six minutes.

The squads will now be competing at a series of summer events including the Boston Marathon 50km race, and the York Sprint Regatta on September 24, before starting the long winter training and aiming to stay competing at the highest level in club rowing next season.

Updated: 10:51 Friday, July 22, 2005