Courtney Bilbrough and her Tower Hamlets crew mates were just pipped at the post in Saturday’s London Youth sailing regatta.

Their arch rivals from Lambeth got past the finishing line inches ahead of them at the regatta at the Royal Victoria Docks.

So the team that took the gold last year had to settle for a silver this time.

“We really want to beat Lambeth,” said 12-year-old Courtney. “It’s like a rivalry. It was a lot of fun, but difficult to win.”

Even so, the team took home a handful of individual medals on a ‘wave’ of success.

Courtney—pictured with 2008 Olympic champ Pippa Wilson who was among Saturday’s spectators—led the way with a gold in the Optimist junior female event.

Team-mate Callum Dixon, 11, won silver in the Optimist junior male event and 16-year-old Thomas Moody and 14-year-old Charlotte Finn won bronze in the Pico mixed event.

The Thames Water Regatta, relaunched in 2008 after several years’ absence, is growing in popularity with 852 registered entrants on Saturday, 15 per cent more than last year.