UPTON won four races at Bewdley Regatta despite again battling dreadful conditions.

After disappointing weather when competing at Llandaff previously, they shrugged off incessant rain although the river was still shallow, which affected the outcome of several races.

The men’s masters quad of Maurice Stanley, Stuart Edney, Keith Spencer and Jon Eaton hoped to repeat their victory at Llandaff.

In their first race against Sale Trafford, they established a healthy early lead but ran into difficulties in the shallow water, allowing their opponents to close on them.

However, Upton got going again and held on for victory by more than a length.

In the final, they put on a fine display of powerful rowing to move smoothly away and record a decisive success over Stourport.

The women’s masters quad of Linda Scott, Jo Hammett, Liz Elston and Maggie Jameson met another crew from Trafford in a straight final.

It looked a tall order as their opponents were more than 20 years younger but Upton rowed powerfully and held them off all the way down the course, winning by more than a length.

The crew also raced in a pair and double with each meeting Loughborough in a straight final.

In the pairs, Elston and Jameson were again given less of a handicap than their age group deserved but lost by only a length.

With the proper handicap, they could have won.

Meanwhile, Hammett and Scott won the masters ‘E’ double sculls by a large margin over the other Loughborough crew.Debbie Thompson and Sally Miles, fresh from their novice win at Llandaff, entered both the intermediate three and masters ‘B’ double sculls.

In the first against a crew from Abingdon, they took control early on but then hit a submerged rock with one of their blades, which brought them to a halt.

Although they got going again, the duo could not quite close the gap and lost by half-a-length.

In their masters race, they made no mistake and beat a Bewdley crew in a straight final by a length.

Andrew Scott started the masters ‘F’ single sculls by beating a Stourport sculler, who had defeated him at Evesham in their only previous encounter. He then met a Ross sculler, who had also beaten him at Llandaff, but lost by half-a-length.

In the masters ‘F’ double with Jeremy Harwood, he lost to a crew from the host club.

Two crews made their debuts in the novice double sculls.

The men’s Adam Checkley and Nick Clark struggled with the conditions and lost to City of Oxford.

Katie Betts and Becky Hammett took an early lead for the women against Avon County but ran into difficulties in the shallow water and lost by two lengths.

Upton entered the masters ‘C’ eights for the first time in some years and lost by two-and-a-half lengths to Bewdley.

The next regatta for the town rowers is at Stourport on Sunday.