Club sweeps top three spots

WAITING TO WIN: Richard Brock, after completing his race, watches the other boats finish before confirmation he would have the best prognostic time to win the Tonks Small Boats Race on Sunday.

Aramoho Wanganui Rowing Club (AWRC) members had a monopoly on the podium at the Tonks Small Boats Race on the Whanganui River.

The October race of the disrupted 2015 Winter Series saw 21 boats taking part, representing AWRC, Union Boat Club, Collegiate and St Pats.

Wanganui Rowing Association were not able to run the July-August races because of the clean-up of the damage from the June floods.

However, good river and weather conditions on Sunday made for an exciting finish, with most of the boats of various classes crossing the line in close proximity.

The winner is decided on prognostic time - the rower with the best percentage of the world record for their age and boat class - which allows rowers and crews of various abilities to compete with each other.

Spokeswoman Jacs Rush said the age spread for the Tonks race was 14 to 68, and in some cases there were novice crews with their coach in the same boat.

"AWRC's Richard Brock finished off a spectacular season by taking out the event in the Masters F Grade Single, just ahead of clubmates Harry Lillington in the under-18 single and Luke Watts and Hugh Pawson in a mixed-grade premier/under-21 double.

"Racing was very tight and several entrants backed up [from] competing in the Porirua Goodwill Cup the day before."

Brock's 29min 4sec time was 78.44 per cent for the prognostic, while Lillington (27min 5sec) was 77.96 per cent and the doubles crew (24min 13sec) was close behind with 77.69 per cent.

The Collegiate under-17 girls' coxed four and the St Pat's under-17 men's pair rounded out the top five places.

The final Wanganui Winter Series Event is the Wanganui 10km on November 8.