At one end of this legendary race lies Totnes, the comfortably alternative capital of scented candles and vegan breakfasts; at the other, the port of Dartmouth, stern nursery to the Royal Navy.

In between? A 13-kilometre challenge down the River Dart for every size of rowable boat, crewed by a small but determined army of bladespeople, from dozens of clubs as far afield as Hamburg, Chester, Berlin, Cambridge, and the River Thames.

They all flocked to South Devon to celebrate the local club’s 50th anniversary and amongst them, ever-hungry for line honours, were two crews from Exmouth Rowing Club.

The usual staggered start saw both Exmouth ‘A’ and ‘B’ crews stroke briskly down the first straight on top of a well-behaved neap tide. The ‘A’ crew were baptising the club’s brand new, ultra-sleek Liteboat quad, recently named Pat Murrin, and set a cracking pace through bend after bend, crossing the finish line in a spanking time of just 57 minutes 25 seconds.

Trailing in Pat Murrin’s wake came local rivals Jurassica, Exmouth ‘B’, Poole Rowing Club, and the two Mayflower quads from Plymouth.

The winning A boat cox, Vice Captain and club coach, Jon Houghton was beaming. “This course is never easy,” he said. “There’s a long, long wait after arrival to even launch and then sluggish, slow moving water and stiff head winds really take it out of you. That made Saturday the perfect test of our winter training indoor training programme and I’m really pleased with the performance of both crews.”

Both Jurassica and Exmouth ‘B’ were delighted to have passed lighter fine boat entries on their passage downriver, and ‘B’ crew cox Richard Robinson was full of praise for his doughty crew. He said: “We had three ladies and one guy, and two of them were over fifty, which puts them in the ‘Masters’ category. They stuck at it on the long straights that really test your fitness and your attitude.

“I’m glad to report that hunter-killer surge of raw adrenalin when we took our first scalp. This is racing at its best, with a top dressing of brilliant landscapes. We couldn’t be happier.”