BETH Willford-Dutton reached the final on her debut at the European Junior Championships on Sunday.

The Northwich Rowing Club star formed one half of a women’s double scull with Lucy Edmunds, and together they finished sixth at Krefeld in Germany.

They were greeted by perfect conditions, and a crowd estimated to be in five figures, for a busy finals day.

The British duo, second in their heat behind a crew from Denmark on Saturday, trailed rivals from Italy and the host nation to cross the line third in the semi-finals.

That classified them inside the top half-dozen combinations in a field that included 14 entries.

Willford-Dutton, a student at Sir John Deane’s College, had not rowed competitively with her teammate from York City Rowing Club before arriving for a regatta that attracted close to 600 athletes from 33 different countries.

They were though both part of a six-strong women’s sculling line-up that represented their country at the Munich International Regatta earlier this month.

In Sunday’s final, German tandem Tabea Kuhnert and Leonie Menzel took first prize by two lengths over Ireland’s Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen.

Italian pair Silvia Crosio and Greta Martinelli were third.