EVESHAM Rowing Club members were rewarded for braving freezing conditions with nine wins at the return of the Head of the Avon event.

The race, held in Evesham, was held over 4,500 metres, starting at Chadbury Wier and finishing just past Evesham Rowing Club.

Despite the wintry weather, Evesham managed to finish the day with a grand total of nine wins and five of those set new records.

The win of the day was the master ‘E’ double of Norman Baldwin and Bryan Hay. The duo won their category by just over a minute and set a new record of 18 minutes 17 seconds.

Another record was broken by the mixed master ‘D’ double of husband and wife duo Steve and Karen Baldwin in a time of 19.39. Three crews set records as there was no previous record in place.

These were the women’s intermediate single sculler Sadie Bryan, aged 15, who won this category, racing against adults, the women’s novice coxed quad of Kat Stranks, Hannah Montegue, Holly Baskerville and Holly Longley.

They were expertly coxed down the course by Dave Pollard and the women’s intermediate two coxless quad of Emily Waters, Alice Morrey, Hayley Pawlowski and Laura Attwood. Again, this quad were all juniors racing against seniors.

The junior 16 boys’ double of Zac Leavesley and Ross McIldowie completed the course in 17.23, this time also beat all of the junior 18 boys’ doubles as well.

Other winners included the women’s junior 18 single sculler Aimee Rutherford beating her opponents from Cheltenham Ladies College, the women’s junior 14 coxed quad of Iona Foister, Georgii Walklett, Izzy Bridges, Lydia House, and coxed by Liv Walklett, and the junior 14 boys’ double of Luke Towers and Alex Bartram.