A TOTAL of 16 records were broken at the Junior Head of the River event with Evesham Rowing Club claiming six of them. Many crews from around the country descended on Evesham for the annual 2km race.

The race of the day was the WJ18 single sculls which saw four of the country’s top athletes competing against each other.

Ruth Whyman collected the gold medal, closely followed by Aimee Rutherford (silver) and Colleen Penrose (bronze). All three of these girls broke the old record, setting the new one at eight minutes 36 seconds.

The WJ18 coxless quad of Chloe Bryan, Kat Stranks, Jorden Parsons and Holly Baskerville raced together for the first time and they too set a new record.

The J15 coxed quad of Ross McIldowie, Alex Russell, James Waterhouse, Jack Towers and cox Jacob Organ have started this season showing the opposition who is in charge.

The boys claimed gold and a new record beating the old one that had stood since 2003 by almost half-a-minute.

The J18 coxed four were up next and they were on top form as they glided to the finish.

The crew of Bunyan, Josh Sexton, Tom Swarbrick, Henry House and cox Zoe Thomas beat the previous record by over a minute to claim their gold medal in style.

House claimed another record as part of the J18 coxless four along with crew-mates Jack Lazenby, Jamie Sellick and Dom Murphy.

This crew had no opposition so were just looking to beat the time set by Stourport Boat Club in 2006. They did so in style by nearly 20 seconds.

The last new record to be taken by Evesham was in the WJ15 doubles.

The crew of Emily Waters and Tegan Parsons again broke the previous record which had been set in 2003 by half-a-minute.

Other gold medals for Evesham Rowing Club at their Junior Head of the River race went to the club’s WJ16 girls in their coxed four.

As they had no opposition they had to race up to years making them WJ18. Hayley Pawlowski, Natasha Bradley, Olivia Walklett and Laura Attwood, coxed by Holly Longley, rose to the challenge and looked fantastic as they paddled down the course in fine style to claim their prize.

Natasha’s sister Jasmine followed on in her sister’s footsteps claiming another gold with crew-mates Sadie Bryan, Emily Stranks and Bethan Tryner, coxed by Holly Giles, in the WJ14 quad.

They beat opposition from Gloucester, Dart Totnes and Stourport to take the crown.

The final gold medal of the day came from Luke Towers in the J13 single sculls.

Towers completed the shorter course for the youngsters in seven minutes 12 seconds, beating his nearest opposition by almost 10 seconds.