TEENAGERS experienced a mix of emotion on a historic day for Northwich Rowing Club at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta.

Three crews graced the famous course in green and gold, with two junior men’s quad sculls racing against each other in the Fawley Challenge Cup.

George Lawton stroked a boat including Harry Taylor, Kevin Dudley and Greg Murphy to victory by a length over club-mates that had come through a qualifier on Friday to make the main draw.

George Crouchley, Rhys Coffey, Matt Radford and Lawrence Williams were on board, and together they halved a gap that had grown to two lengths in testing conditions.

Northwich A’s reward is a meeting with Leander Club, a selected crew given a bye to the last 16, in the second round on Thursday.

Later on Wednesday a junior women’s quad were involved in a dramatic encounter with Shiplake Vikings, racing on their home stretch of water, in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup.

The Northwich boat stopped dead when Anya George caught a crab during the early stages, but she recovered – along with crew-mates stroke Beth Willford-Dutton, Jess Swindells and Lucy Gillbanks – to challenge their rivals in the contest’s second half.

They eventually lost by a length after a heroic fight-back.

The quartet had secured a spot in the last 16 following a successful time trial before the weekend, meaning Northwich sent three boats to the event for the first time.

This year’s Henley Royal Regatta has a 629-strong entry, eclipsing the previous record by a total of 77.