LYME Regis Gig Club hosted the first ever junior rowing regatta on the Jurassic Coast.

Mainly involving under-14s crews, the regatta took place in cool autumn sunshine from the main beach then headed east towards Charmouth.

The format followed a ‘Barbarians’ style where rowers from different clubs were mixed up.

This gives the youth rowers a chance to meet and row with others from outside their own club.

It also requires great concentration as they need to adjust to stroke type and timing with different rowers.

Sixty competitors came from all the Jurassic coast gig clubs including Bridport, Weymouth, Portland, Swanage, Lyme plus rowers from Langstone Cutters in Portsmouth.

Crews rowed in Lyme’s own gigs of Black Ven, Tempest and Rebel.

The morning was made up of three heats of three boats in each heat.

After a short lunch break, the morning’s third place boats raced, followed by the runners-up and the final was made up of the winners from each of the morning heats.

The final was a tight race for the first few minutes but slowly Rebel and Tempest pulled clear of Black Ven.

These two were neck and neck but gradually the Tempest crew showed better discipline in keeping perfect timing with each other to gradually pull away to cross the line in first place to become the first Jurassic juniors champions.

The winning crew were made up of Tallulah and Guy (from Weymouth), Oli and Josh (from Bridport) and Lyme’s own Seb and Gracie.

A club spokesman said: “A huge thanks must go to Kerry Maguire for organising the event along with Diana Dixon, Henry Barlow and many others who helped make the day a huge success.

“The club would also like to thank the Harbour Master, the club sponsors, Lyme Regis Town Council and all the clubs who took part.”