ITCHEN Rowing Club won both men’s and ladies races in the inaugural Foad Memorial event.

The Itchen ladies crew led the majority of the first race and went on to beat BTC by 9.3 seconds.

That left their BTC men’s crew with the task of winning by more than ten seconds in the second race if their club were to be crowned overall champions.

However, Itchen stormed away from BTC on the first bend to win.

James Foad, who won a bronze medal competing for GB in the London 2012 Olympics, was among the victorious Itchen crew.

Alongside his brother Tom, he was competing in an event held in memory of his grandparents who were involved with both clubs.

Les and Marie Foad – parents of James and Tom’s father, Chris – both passed away last summer after many years of being involved in the local rowing scene with both BTC and Itchen.

Itchen secretary Gary Joyce said: “The event was very well supported.

“Hopefully it will become an annual event and I would imagine it would be held again around the same time next year.”