Beccles Rowing Club sent five strong crews to race at the nationally-recognised Peterborough Regatta.Beccles were given a great early boost with a superb performance from James Gilbert in his Novice single.

Beccles Rowing Club sent five strong crews to race at the nationally-recognised Peterborough Regatta.

Beccles were given a great early boost with a superb performance from James Gilbert in his Novice single.

He had a slow start in his heat but an incredible surge of controlled power saw him win his heat is spectacular fashion.

Captain Phil Marler and John Cowan were next to take to the water in their Intermediate 3 Double Scull. A powerful, but controlled race saw them finish in a comfortable second place.

In bad conditions Gilbert, racing well above his status at Intermediate 3, raced well to finish third.

He then returned to his actual status of Novice for his semi-final, though was still somewhat suffering the after-effects of getting extremely cold.

He rowed gamely to come in third in his semi-final, but over he course of the event showed bundles of exciting promise.

Marler and Cowan were then back in action in their Double Scull and were thoroughly impressive, with a comfortable win in their semi-final.

The men's Veteran Novice Double Scull then took to the water with Mark Adcock and Mark Taylor on board, in a big, powerful crew combination.

The crew were racing in a relatively unfamiliar boat, but performed solidly to claim a comfortable third place, which was what was required to see them into the final later in the day.

The two Marks then teamed up with Marler and Cowan to form a monstrous Men's quad, which has power to burn.

Also requiring a third place to reach the final, they achieved their goal in a very tight semi-final, coming home by a short head in second place.

Adcock and Taylor once again took centre stage in the Men's Double scull novice final. The powerhouse pair came home in third place against some high- class final opposition.

Captain Marler and Cowan were out next for their Intermediate 3 Double Scull final and despite an impressive row, they too found themselves crossing the line in third place.

The Men's quad completed and excellent run for Beccles, with three finals reached from five crews entered, though once again the Beccles four came in third after an extremely close, hard-fought final which was one of the very fastest races of the day.

Once again Beccles gave it everything they had on a day when margins were tight.