York's women triumphed at an event dominated by southern clubs

York City Rowing Club women's eight have won the Challenge Cup at the Henley Women's Regatta.

It is the first time the York club has ever picked up a trophy at the women's event at Henley.

Women's captain Loretta Williams told BBC Radio York: "It's massive in terms of bringing such a prestigious trophy to the North.

"The event is dominated by southern clubs so it's massive for the region and our club."

Williams said the format of the competition had changed this year but that it had not made any difference to the result.

"Last year the event was for open clubs such as ours and the universities," she said. "This year they split them up so the academic eights were separate from the club eights.

"But we're really pleased that we would have won anyway if they'd stuck to the old system because the time we recorded was much quicker than any of the academic eights."

Williams praised the team ethic that had taken them to victory.

"There was immense teamwork throughout the crew and one of our tag lines was, rather cornily, teamwork makes the dream work - and it certainly did.

"We did it for each other, we had utmost belief in each other and I think that's really ultimately what got us the win."

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