WORLD championship glory has been grabbed by a crew from York City Rowing Club.

The crew of Karen Williams, Philippa Press, Liz Porte and Anne Homa, with their cox Rachel Cubitt, stormed to victory in the ‘C’ category coxed fours at the World Masters regatta in Varese, Italy.

In the event, for which teams have a minimum age of 43, York raced crews from USA, Holland, Germany, Ireland and Scotland.

The York women were in second place at half-way but all their hard training paid off when they overhauled the Australians to win gold.

The women were coached by Loretta Williams and Pat Evans through the winter and then by Andrew Cawood during the summer months.

It was a team effort all round and a fantastic addition to the British National Masters title they won in May.

The York women also raced in the ‘D’ class of coxed fours where they finished third, while Anne Homa raced in her single scull in the ‘C’ category and managed a fine third place in a high-class field.

The YRCC men’s Masters section was represented by Mike Porte, Dave Turley and Pete Rigby.

They competed in the coxless pairs and double sculls in the ‘D’ and ‘E’ categories. But despite training hard all summer for the championships they failed to win their events, despite many victories earlier in the year in the UK domestic regatta season.

All the York Masters crews will now start their winter training programmes geared towards the upcoming autumn time trials, known as Head Races, including the York Small Boats Head in late November and next year’s regatta season.

The World Masters Championships is an annual event and the highlight of the Masters rowing calendar.

More than 3,000 competitors – including dozens of ex-Olympians – from 40 countries took part at Varese in many different age ranges, the youngest being 27, and classes over four days.