THE Southampton Novice Ladies team of Alison Walsh, Liza Hunter, Joe Laidler, Alison Jones (stk) and Richard Newman (cox) came from behind to win the most exciting race of the day at Southampton Town Regatta off Mayflower Park in a race that saw the lead change five times.

At the halfway mark, BTC battled it out with Poole before Coalporters took up the running.

But, as the crews approached Mayflower Park, it was Southampton who came bursting through to win their first race of the season by just a length.

Another win for the BTC mens Novice Four of Tony Taylor, Adrian Betteridge, Paul Taylor, John McDonagh (stk) and Catherine Hume (cox) will see them moving up to Junior status at Poole Regatta.

But that was only after coming through better as a large wash hit both them and Ryde as they sprinted for the line to win by length with Southsea third.

Fine individual performances in the Senior and Novice Sculls saw veteran Peter Mahoney of Southsea, now 54 years old, give an exhibition in the art of sculling as he won the Senior Event by six lengths from clubmate Paul Hollis with Tim O'Brien of Westover in third place.

The youngest sculler, 16-year-old James Foad, raced in the Novice Sculls and had the disappointment of losing a row-off after dead heating with Gary Seward of Coalporters in the Novice Sculls Final.

Mike Ryan and Mike Kelly (stk) of Christchurch kept their course straight for a comfortable win in the Junior Pairs with Ryde A the only other crew to finish.

Coalporters, Ryde B and BTC were disqualified for infringing the safety lane on the final run in to the finish and Sue Bagnell, also from Christchurch, got the better of Kaye Hume of BTC to take the Ladies Sculling Title.

With the main Fours Championship races being comprehensively shared by BTC and Southampton Crews, who are all rowing with polished rhythm, it is difficult to see where a challenge is to come from.

The Ryde Senior Four, who had such a good pre-season and won the first Championship race of the season, need to step up a gear to catch BTC.

And Poole Senior Ladies, although looking sharper, are still cruising, not yet having found the power that saw them race into the lead of the Ladies title race at this stage last season.

MENS RESULTS:

Senior Fours 1 BTC A, 2 Ryde A, 3 Itchen Imperial.

Veteran Fours 1 Southampton A, 2 Poole, BTC B.

Junior Senior Fours 1 BTC, 2 Westover, 3 Ryde.

Junior Fours 1 BTC, 2 Coalporters, 3 Christchurch.

Novice Fours 1 BTC, 2 Ryde, 3 Southsea.

Senior Pairs 1 Lymington B, 2 Southsea, 3 Lymington A

Junior Pairs 1 Christchurch, 2 Ryde A.

Senior Sculls 1 Southsea (Mahoney), 2 Southsea (Hollis), 3 Westover (O'Brien)

Junior Sculls 1 Ryde (Jenner), 2 Ryde (Maitland), 3 Coalporters (Seward).

Novice Sculls 1 Coalporters (Seward), 2 Itchen Imperial (Foad)

LADIES RESULTS:

Senior Fours 1 Southampton, 2 Poole, 3 Itchen Imperial.

Junior Fours 1 BTC, 2 Christchurch, 3 Lymington.

Novice Fours 1 Southampton, 2 Southsea, 3 Coalporters.

Senior Pairs 1 Southampton, 2 Itchen Imperial.

Ladies Sculls 1 Christchurch (Bagnell), 2 BTC (Hume), 3 Christchurch (Cresswell)

John Carter Memorial Race 1 Westover, 2 Coalporters, 3 Itchen Imperial.