HUSBAND and wife rowers Nick and Kate Hooton helped their club make a big splash at the World Rowing Masters Championships in Brandenburg, Germany.
The Abergavenny couple were part of an 18-strong Monmouth Rowing Club squad racing alongside more than 4,800 other competitors, with the Wye outfit earning the accolade of third best men's team in the world.
The club secured two golds and numerous second and third places in the 57 races they entered, taking on 725 other clubs from 51 countries, including from as far afield as the US, New Zealand and Brazil.
The annual event for rowers aged 27 and over attracted several former Olympians and internationals, including Athens singles silver medallist Jueri Jaanson from Estonia.
Racing over five days, boats in each age category were drawn in eight-strong 1000m races on the multi-lane Brandenburg course, with gold for the fastest home in each heat.
Abergavenny vet Nick and Ian Townsend won their Masters E (over-55) pairs race, surging into an early lead to go through half-way 1.5L up, and finishing fully 4L ahead of an Austrian pair, followed by one from Estonia.
Clubmates Tim Earnshaw and David Byrnes also stormed to MF (over-60) doubles gold by a similar margin ahead of Singapore, Swedish, Brazilian and German boats,
In the second race of the whole regatta, Nick also took second in the over-55 coxed fours 1L behind a German boat, before wife Kate – who manages the Abergavenny Food Bank – raced alongside former town GP Louise Allison to take third in women's over-60 coxless fours, just holding off a Dutch boat.
Louise was soon out again in a women's MC (over-42) composite four with Bristol rowers placing third.
Day two saw the two golds, with Kate's over-60 coxed four also taking third just a canvas off second, matched by Nick's over-60 coxless men’s four, while Louise and partner Liz Lewis took another good third in over-55 women’s pairs.
Day three saw Nick's over-55 coxless four place fourth, with Louise’s composite four with Bristol in the same position in the same boat class in the women's over-55s, and fifth with Kate just a canvas off fourth in the women’s over-50 8s.
And day four began with a second for Nick's over-55 8 a length behind a five-club German composite, followed by a third for his men's over-60 coxed four by a similar margin and another third for the over-50 coxless four before stormy weather saw the rest of the day’s racing cancelled.
It was mixed boats on day five, with the Aber trio taking second in the over-60 8s and third in over-55 8s.
Monmouth Rc were placed 18th best club overall, with the women's squad of just five rowers finishing 35th.