Helen Austin and Gemma Bentham, of St Peter's School, York, broke the National Schools Regatta coxless pair record by five seconds to win the gold medal.

WINNING SMILES: St Peter's School rowers Helen Austin, left, and Gemma Bentham with their trophy coxless pair trophy

Leading from the start on Sunday, Austin, 18, of Clifton, York, and Bentham, 17, of Haxby, fought off late challenges from Lady Eleanor Holles School and Oundle School, themselves crewed by leading 9B junior squad rowers.

The championship coxless pair event is a prestigious race which was keenly observed by Mark Banks, 9B junior coach.

On Saturday Austin and Bentham took silver in the championship double sculls, one length behind GB scullers from Henley Rowing Club.

To some extent this was a greater achievement than Sunday's gold - Austin and Bentham only took up sculling in September and that because of a quirk in Fisa rules that puts them in different age categories for international rowing.

Austin recently represented the GB under 23 squad at the Cologne International Regatta and Bentham the GB junior squad at Munich Junior International Regatta.

Both face final trials in June for World Championship regattas in Germany and Bulgaria respectively.

Before that there are A level exams to contend with.

Tennis

This week there are no scheduled Midland Bank tennis league matches as the schools are on their half-term holiday, writes Peter Wilmott.

Next week's matches are as follows:

U13 Girls: Queen Ethelburga's v All Saints, Bootham v The Mount, Fulford v St Olave's, Joseph Rowntree v Pocklington. Queen Margaret's has a free week.

U15 Girls: Queen Ethelburga's v All Saints, Bootham v The Mount, Fulford v St Peter's, Joseph Rowntree v Pocklington. Queen Margaret's has a free week.

U13 Boys: St Olave's v Tadcaster, All Saints v Joseph Rowntree, Bootham v Fulford. Pocklington has a free week.

U15 Boys: All Saints v Pocklington, Joseph Rowntree v Bootham, Tadcaster v Fulford.The most recent results are as follows:

U13 Girls: Queen Margaret's 5, Bootham 1; Queen Ethelburga's 4, Fulford 2.

U15 Girls: St Peter's 5, J Rowntree 1; Queen Margaret's 5, Bootham 1; Queen Ethelburga's 4, Fulford 2.

U13 Boys: Pocklington 4, Fulford 2; Pocklington 4, St Olave's 2; Bootham 32 games, All Saints 30 games.

U15 Boys: Pocklington 29 games, Fulford 23 games; All Saints 27 games, Bootham 27 games.

U13 Girls: Pocklington 6, The Mount 0; Queen Ethelburga's 6, Bootham 0.

U15 Girls: Queen Ethelburga's 4, Bootham 2; Pocklington 5, The Mount 1.

U13 Boys: Bootham 32 games, All Saints 30 games; Pocklington 4, St Olave's 2; Pocklington 4, Fulford 2; Bootham 6, St Olave's 0; St Olave's 5, Fulford 1; Fulford 5, All Saints 1.

U15 Boys: Fulford 4, J Rowntree 2; Fulford 4, All Saints 2. Pocklington 29 games, Fulford 23 games.

There are no state schools tennis league matches this week due to the half-term holiday. The next set of league fixtures is to be played in the week commencing Monday, June 14. The matches are as follows:

Girls: Sherburn v Huntington, All Saints v Tadcaster, Millthorpe v J Rowntree. Manor School has a free week.

Boys: Huntington v Sherburn, Tadcaster v All Saints, J Rowntree v Millthorpe. Manor School has a free week.

Cricket

There are no cricket fixtures this week due to the half-term holiday. The next fixtures are scheduled for Thursday, June 10 and they are as follows:

U13 League 'A': Tadcaster v Fulford, Archbishop's v J Rowntree. All Saints and Burnholme both have a free week.

U15 League 'A': Fulford v Tadcaster, J Rowntree v Archbishop's. All Saints and Burnholme both have a free week.

U15 League 'B': Bootham v Huntington, Oaklands v Manor. Millthorpe and Sherburn both have a free week.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.