A COUPLE of rowers from the North-East were part of teams setting new world records for their age groups.

Hazel and Roger Stainforth, who are members of Durham Amateur Rowing Club, were involved in setting new records at an indoor rowing competition in Newquay, Cornwall.

They were taking part in a challenge to cover 100km on rowing machines, with each team member rowing for 200 metres or 20 strokes at their maximum pace before passing the handle to the next team member.

Mrs Stainforth competed in a mixed over-60 team of six women and three men who, achieved a time of six hours, 13 minutes and 48 seconds.

Meanwhile Mr Stainforth’s eight man 70+ team set a record time of 5 hours, 49 minutes and 50.2 seconds.

He said: “We have been competitors for over 10 years so I knew the calibre and determination of my teammates, every man performed to his limit and I was proud to be part of this GB team to set a first-time world record. Our target was 6 hours so we think we have put down a challenging time for the next team to beat.”