M5, Outer Cove are this year's Royal St. John's Regatta champs

After a joyous, record-breaking morning, the M5 women's crew capped off the 200th Royal St. John's Regatta by once again being crowned women's champions.

The M5 team set a new Regatta record with an official time of 4:56.10 during their morning race. The previous record was 4:56.70, set in 2003 by team OZFM.

While they had hoped to beat their own record in the evening trials, they hadto settle on being this year's women's champions, alongside men's team Outer Cove, who took the final race of the evening.

'It's absolutely amazing'

M5's timegave them an easy win in Wednesdaymorning's qualifying race.

When they got word of their time at the finish line, the team was visibly emotional, with tears of joy and plenty of hugs to go around.

"I'm on top of the world, I don't know what else to say," said Alyssa Devereaux.

"It's absolutely amazing. It's hard to describe."

Katie Wadden said it's a "dream come true" to clock a record-breaking time forthe 200th annual regatta.

"This is the icing on the cake," she said.

"We've been just 100 per cent committed now for three years to this very intense program, and to make it all come together today is pretty special."

• The Royal St. John's Regatta is on, and we're there all day

Devereaux, Beaton,Wadden, Amanda Hancock, Amanda Ryan and Jane Brodiemake up the M5 team, alongside their cox Dean Hammond and coach Bert Hickey.

Champions again

In the women's championship race Wednesday evening, the crew followed theirrecord run with another comfortable win.

Despite the first false start of the day, the M5 women took an early lead, which they extended through the turn, posting a time of 5:03.58.

Hancock, who was also part of the record-setting OZFM team in 2003, said she couldn't be prouder of her M5 teammates in winning another championship.

"[I'm] the most proud, I love these girls so much. We worked so hard," she said.

Smith Stockley followed in second place with a time of 5:17.35, while the the Cahill Group finished third at 5:17.62.

Meanwhile on the men's side, the Outer Cove crew also built on an early lead to take the championship with a time of 9:06.34.

The team fell short of the men's course record, however, something coxswain Mark Hayward said the crew were gunning for.

"We wanted the record real bad," he said.

"Any given day, a better pond, we would have had it, but you've got to give it all with whatever conditions are given"

The win was rower James Cadigan's 10th regatta championship, but he doesn't take the success for granted.

"It's always sweet. It never changes, it's always gratifying and it's the [culmination] of all the hard work we've done," he said.

Cadigan's teammate Brent Hickey said all that hard work is worth it to win a championship.

"We're addicted to training. We love it. We're like a family, this boat;we loved every part of it," Hickey said.

M5 on their record-breaking row

6 years ago

Duration 1:08

The women's team set a new record at the Regatta Wednesday morning

Record unofficially broken last week

The M5 women unofficiallybeat the record last week with a time of4:55.33.

Last Tuesday, they rowed for the record during a regular practice.

• Up The Pond in record time: M5 women unofficially break Regatta record

For the past three years, the crew has trained six days a week fromJanuary to August. Each rower has put in more than 1,000 kilometreson the rowing machines alone.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador