DARTMOUTH was home to the last of the Gig rowing Winter “Frostbite” series on Sunday and the town was fortunate to enjoy bright sunshine and calm racing conditions, albeit tempered by a sharp easterly wind.

The series draws together a group of local communities all bonded by a love of rough water ocean rowing, crews travelling from Teign, Salcombe, Brixham and Paignton to take part in the lowkey friendly event.

The course for all competitors was short and sharp - a 1000-meter blast between the higher and lower ferries, an experience familiar to many as the course for the Summer Dartmouth Royal Regatta.

The racing encompassed ten races but as an overall sporting competition, vital to secure the series win it boiled down to a head-to-head between Dart and Salcombe. The locals secured four victories firstly in the Ladies Super Vets where they narrowly beat Teign, secondly the Open Vets took the fight successfully to Salcombe.

In the Open C category, Dart pipped the newly resurgent club Yealm to the finish line, and to complete the quartet the Super Vets beat Brixham.

Yealm entered the fray to win the U16s however and Teign also took victory in the Marquee confrontation the Open “A.”

As is always the case in these get-togethers, the real first prize was taken by the catering and the warm hospitality of the Hosts.

The Gig rowing circus now moves on towards the summer events, with the great challenge of the Scillies looming ever closer on the horizon.

About Dart Gig Club- founded in 1996, the club has grown over the years and is now made up of nearly 100 members including junior rowers aged 12-16, up to 'Super Vets' aged 50 upward, and everyone in between.