Eric won his second race in 60 years at the Peterborough City Summer Regatta! Home rowers performed superbly even though opponents travelled from as far as Barcelona

Eric Holt of Peterborough Coty on his way to a second race win in 60 years!

And City rowers did not disappoint, taking home 10 wins and 14 second places.

There were a few crews that took home two wins from the first day of racing.

James Garfield and James Ryder won their J15 double by an impressive 10 seconds against Leeds Rowing club and they later joined Joe Beesley, Sergio Reed Moreira Lima and cox Lucas Niklasson to win the J15 coxed quad by nine seconds ahead of Newark Rowing Club. Sergio Reed Moreira Lima also finished second in the open J14 singles event.

Celebrations from Gemma Singleton, Anna Robotham, Hayley Shipton and Keely Watson at Peterborough City's Summer Regatta. Photo: Sarah Watson.

Another super sculler to take home two wins was Bert Papworth. In his J15 single he finished 10 seconds ahead of Dart Totnes Rowing Club. Papworth also raced up an age category to compete alongside Tom Calver, Jack Wakefield-Lilley and Daniel Armstrong in the J16 coxless quad, and again beat their opposition by 10 seconds.

Calver, Wakefield-Lilley and Armstrong then joined forces with Tom Jackson to win the Open coxless quads event by one second in a nail biting final against a Leicester/Star Rowing Club composite crew.

The junior girls were also successful in the quad event. The J16 coxless quad of Grace Niklasson, Lydia Hilton, Esme McIntyre and Lily Mae Allen achieved an impressive time of 3:37 over the kilometre course, crossing the line 14 seconds ahead of their opposition. Niklasson and Hilton also raced their J16 double and just missed out on a win by four seconds.

In her first ever race, Hannah Fitzjohn coxed the womens J15 quad of Erin Ansell-Crook, Wiktoria Szubzda, Sophie Bicknell, Lottie Tasker to victory, crossing the line 13 seconds ahead of Globe rowing club.

Alex Hughes and Tom Handley enjoy their success at the Peterborough City Regatta. Photo: Sarah Watson.

On Sunday, Eric Holt (77) took home his first win in 60 years, after winning his single by seven seconds ahead of club mate Robert Brooks in the Masters G/I Singles event. Holt was racing in memory of his brother Nigel (in a boat named after him) who passed away recently.

Ericha Knowles-Pardoe coxed a Peterborough/RAF crew to victory in the Masters B/D eights, where she joined Steve Tuck, Rob Dennis, Chris Morrill (RAF), Jim Burt, Paul Gover, Jaish Mahan, Jack Ward, Keith Blackman to finish 12 seconds ahead of Oxford Academicals.

Knowles-Pardoe also coxed the women’s eight of Gemma Singleton, Lily-Rose Mace, Rhiannon Loutit, Lucy Gauntlett, Alice Broadbent, Keely Watson, Harriet White, and Sarah Watson to take second place in a nail-biting final.

The last win of the day came from Gemma Singleton, Keely Watson, Anna Rowbotham and Hayley Shipton in the Masters A/B coxless quads event, where they beat club mates Alexandra Paul, Laura Oliphant, Emma Rogers, Michelle Moulding into second place.

Peterborough City's Womens eight in Summer Regatta action at Thorpe Meadows. Photo: David Lowndes.

Other second places came from Lucy Ralfs (Women’s J18 singles); James Goodchild and Oliver Barber (Open J14 doubles); Emma Calver (Women’s J14 singles); Erin Ansell-Crook and Wiktoria Szubzda (Women’s J15 doubles); Damen Sanderson (RAF) and Chris Elder (Masters A/C pairs); Al Ryder (Masters D singles) Debbie Downes, Debbie Hunt-Pain, Nickie Livett, Clare Dobler and cox Wiktoria Szubzda (Masters D coxed four) Kate Read (Masters B/C singles); Roger Carlisle, Paul Scutts (Masters E doubles).

MORE PHOTOS IN THURSDAY’S PETERBOROUGH TELEGRAPH (August 19 edition).