James Gilbert was the sole representative from Beccles Rowing Club to compete at last week's Peterborough Sprint regatta.James was drawn to race in the first race of the day in the men's novice single sculls.

James Gilbert was the sole representative from Beccles Rowing Club to compete at last week's Peterborough Sprint regatta.

James was drawn to race in the first race of the day in the men's novice single sculls. He completed the 500m course in a time of 1min 55sec in second place to qualify for the semi-finals later in the day.

James had only 45 minutes to recover before he raced again in the higher IM3 category.

After an excellent start James managed to hold off his rivals from Northampton, Oxford and Birmingham University to win the heat and qualify for the final.

In the semi-finals of the novice single scull, despite recording his fastest time of the day James could not qualify for the final as he finished in third place.

Later in the day in the final of the IMS single sculls once again James got ahead of his rivals off the start but was caught in the latter stages of the race to finish in a creditable third place.

James was pleased with his first competitive outing for 12 months due to an injury and will be training hard along with other members of the club to compete in regattas at Bedford and St Neots in July. He thanks his team of supporters and Jon for arranging the transportation of the boat and equipment.

Beccles Rowing always welcomes new members, with or without experience. For further details see the club's website becclesrowingclub.co.uk or call at the club at 10am on Sunday mornings or 5.30pm on Thursday evenings.