It was a day of firsts for St Neots Rowing Club as they travelled to the Nottingham Regatta.

Emily McPherson, Olivia Marsh, Natalie Yanusauskas and Emily Anagnostos, plus cox Matt Wigmore, secured the club’s first win of the summer by overcoming opponents from City of Sheffield in a closely fought women’s coxed four final.

The crews were neck and neck for much of the 1,000m course but the St Neots ladies dug deep in the final stages to pull away and win by a length.

It was a particularly sweet win for McPherson, Marsh and Wigmore with this their first ever success in competitive rowing.

McPherson had earlier competed for the first time ever in a single, and almost made it a dream debut after finishing a close second.

Ben La Roche picked up a third place in his first time as as single while Andrew Lawrence used his experience to secure second in the men's open group.

The pair then teamed up with Wigmore and Rob Stirling to take third in the men's open four while Louise Shorten, Jade Hellett, Ellie Sadler and Hannah Towns had to settle for fourth in the women’s four.

Rob Offord and Russel McIntyre overcame Nottingham rowers on their home water to take second place in the men’s open masters doubles just behind a crew from the RAF.

St Neots lead coach and vice-chair, Jacqui Round, felt the event marked a successful return to regatta racing for the club and offered plenty of encouragement for the future.

She said: "We had a really great day with all our crews competing well. It’s always pleasing to see crews enjoy success after months of training and all the results have given our rowers plenty to build on as they head into the rest of this year’s regatta season."