BUOYANT York City Rowing Club juniors excelled against the best juniors from England and Wales at the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta (JIRR) at the National Water Sports Centre, Nottingham.

Team Yorkshire, managed by Phil Press, a member of the YCRC, sent a strong team of which York’s Sally Downing was outstanding.

The 15-year-old won the gold medal in the Junior 15 single sculls.

She demolished the opposition in her heat by a considerable distance and then did the same again in the final despite easing up over the last 200 metres of the 1,500m course.

The conditions were quick but the wind made the course challenging. One of the athletes alongside Downing capsized mid-race.

YCRC also secured a bronze medal for the region in the girls’ J14 coxed quad sculls.

The crew of Georgia Gourlay, Lucy Downing, Sophie Heldt, Bianca Dutton and Charlotte Holford (cox) put in a strong performance in their heat to qualify as the second fastest for the final.

They again performed exceptionally well in the final, securing the bronze medal in what proved to be a close finish.

Other YCRC junior girls contributed points to the Yorkshire team’s success in the ‘B’ finals of the women’s J15 coxed quadruple scull featuring Sophie Moseley, Louise Nicholas, Gabriella Butler, Becky O’Keefe and Emily Whittaker (cox).

The Yorkshire women’s J14 coxed quadruple scull crew, a largely City-composite crew, were third in their ‘B’ final.

All the City juniors representing the Yorkshire region benefited from the experience of the intense multi-lane competition.

The York club boys’ and girls’ J16 quadruple sculls crews were involved in blanket finishes in their ‘A’ finals.

Unfortunately they were both unsuccessful in their bids for medals.

But as the JIRR is a national event, this showed that they have the pace to be competitive at national events in the coming season.

In their first race, the boys’ J15 quad made the ‘A’ final, coming home very strongly in fourth.

The boys’ J14 quad had rotten luck in their heat.

A huge crab – when an oar gets stuck in the water – brought them to a standstill and damaged their boat.

In the ‘B’ final, following some quick repairs, they moved away from their opposition to win in a time good enough to secure a medal in the ‘A’ final.

Andrew Cawood, Yorkshire Rowing Council’s chairman, said: “This event is always a great experience for the juniors, and from the results the juniors of the Yorkshire region are going to have a very successful regatta season.”

At the end of a fierce day’s competition, Yorkshire came ninth overall, sixth in the boys’ and ninth in the girls’ competitions.