A JUNIOR rowing crew has won gold at a national regatta.

The Durham Amateur Rowing Club girls junior 16s triumphed in the National Schools Regatta held in Nottingham at the weekend.

The eight of Charlotte Jackson, Ellen Bowey, Corinne Hatton, Alex McMullen, Hannah Ikbal, Sarah Coleman, Georgia Macmillan and Laura Phillips plus cox Rebecca Jackson beat off competition from crews across the country to lift the Steve Gunn Bowl.

The crew had already taken bronze at the inter-regional championships, also held in Nottingham, and a national contest staged on the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race route.

Last year, coach Fred Snowdon said the crew was the best he had seen since taking up rowing 50 years ago.