Brilliant sunshine and sparkling water brought crowds flocking to Southampton's Weston Shore where over 100 entries contested the 15 Championship events for the fourth round of Hants and Dorset Rowing at Woolston Regatta.

Five out of six wins in fours racing saw BTC's incredible start to the season continue.

The junior ladies' team of Jo Hackwood, Kath Hyde, Rachell Downes, Clare Evans (stk) and Sarah Wardell (cox) earned the club their first championship point of the day with a resounding win over Christchurch.

That was followed by wins for the junior men, senior men and junior senior men, giving all crews the lead in their respective championships.

The novice men's team of Tony Taylor, Adrian Betteridge, Paul Taylor, John McDonagh (stk) and Catherine Hume (cox) won a race marred by a collision between Southsea and Coalporters which saw both boats badly holed but nobody injured.

Another BTC win in the mixed fours was enough to win their second Aggregate Trophy of the season, 'The Cambridge Bowl', as the regatta's most successful club two points ahead of Ryde.

Southampton's senior ladies continue to be unchallenged, with easy wins in both the senior ladies fours and the senior ladies pairs.

But their men slipped up when they couldn't match the challenge of Poole in the veteran fours and finished second in a race that saw Southsea's fancied crew pull out with a breakage in their boat just after the start and BTC, winners at Ryde, blow their chances with some erratic steering.

Christchurch's novice ladies team of L Becker, S Middle, J Williamson, Kim Prince (stk) and C Pead (cox) held off the challenge from Southampton's novice ladies to win by four lengths.

That followed the first defeat of the season for B Cresswell in the ladies junior sculls, when Kerrie Lane of Lymington held her firmly in her sights to win by three lengths.

Mike Gisborne of Southsea, however, made no mistake in the senior sculls winning his second point of the season from Tim O'Brien of Westover.

Ryde continue to dominate in the junior and novice sculls with both Mark Jenner and Ashley Maitland picking up the points.

In the senior pairs the Lymington club earned maximum points for the season with the closest finish of the day.

That saw Alistair Keir and Paul Lock beat off the late challenge of clubmates Tim Bull and Steve Phillips to win by just one foot with Southampton well beaten in third place.