YORK City Rowing Club finished off the regatta season in style by winning seven events at their own Sprint Regatta.

Over 80 crews took part in 24 events over a 500m course on the Ouse between Scarborough and Lendal bridges.

York's Anne Homa, Rob Drever-Smith, Ian Hazel and Charlotte Richer put on an impressive performance to win Senior 3 Mixed Quad Sculls by one length.

In the Men's Veteran 'B' Coxed Fours, Rob Whitwell steered his crew to victory to take the Veteran 'B' title by of a length. The crew was Dave Turley, Mick Homa, Phil Press and Carl Abram. Homa and Abram then joined brothers Dan and Stuart Clarke with George Scott, cox, to win the Senior 1 Coxed Fours final by 1 lengths.

Junior sculler Jo Lyon gave a good account of himself to reach the Men's Junior 18 Single Sculls final. The race ended in a dead heat so the scullers had to re-row and Lyon lost by a length.

Ten minutes later Lyon returned to the start for the Men's Novice Single Sculls final which he won.

The Women's Senior 4 coxed Fours crew of Sarah Oram, Catherine Smith, Erica Newman, Jess Chard with cox Sean Stephenson won their event.

Women's captain Amanda Lockley stroked her crew to victory in Women's Senior 3 Coxed Fours, backed up by Karen Williams, Becky Redfern, Steph Gant and cox Sean Stephenson.

With no event in Women's Junior 8s, the York Juniors had to race in the Women's Senior event. In the final they gave a spirited performance with Freya Porteous (stroke) taking her crew off the start at 41 strokes per minute for the first 100m then holding the rate at 40 for the rest of the course gradually going into the lead to win by of a length.

Other members of her boat were Jenny Addison, Sarah Barker, Morven Porteous, Camilla Selby, Kelly Barker, Jessica Knowles, Gemma Fletcher and cox Ian Hazel.

It was a fitting end for Women's junior captain Morven Porteous as she is leaving the club to take up her place at Oxford University where she has been invited to take part in the Women's Blue Boat trials.

Also leaving York is the club's most successful Women's junior sculler, Caroline Jones, who has won a place at Durham University. She has clocked up many wins in singles, doubles and quads as well as picking up medals at national and international level.

Junior members Simon Woodfine and Matt Nobel just lost out on the

finals of double and single sculls. Madeline Taylor and Catherine Cambell (double sculls) and Anna Skilbeck (single sculls) were runners-up in their first taste of competitive rowing.

The J18 quad and J18 doubles races, which would have pitted ex-YCRC rower Sarah Whitwell, now of Newark RC, against her old club, were cancelled.

Training has started at York for the long distance winter races.

Updated: 11:13 Wednesday, October 02, 2002