News

Boat Race honours return to Durham

(8 May 2006)

Durham student rowers have recaptured the Northumbrian Water Universities Boat Race honours in their annual contest with Newcastle University on the River Tyne.

They beat their rivals 3-1 to re-take the title after sharing it last year with two trophies each. The Senior Men, beaten in 2005 for the first time by Newcastle, dramatically re-asserted their hold on the event in an exciting final race that saw the blues put in an early challenge. Unrelenting, the Durham purple crew pulled steadily ahead to win by a couple of lengths. The Senior Women won by the even greater margin of six lengths, and the Women Novices by one-and-a-half lengths. Newcastle’s Men Novices claimed their only victory with a two-length finish ahead of Durham. It was the 10th year of the races, which are the lead element in a series of river-based events including dragon boats, sailing and canoe water polo. An exhibition race between two schools crews from the two cities was won by St Leonard’s School in Durham. Director of Sport at Durham, Dr Peter Warburton, and the Vice-Chancellor, Sir Kenneth Calman, congratulated the crews and their coaches on a wonderful all-round performance. FilmNova Productions have been making a documentary film about the preparations for the Boat Race and the event itself, which will be shown on Tyne Tees TV in the next couple of weeks.