The 12-year-old Belvoir High School pupil beat the previous under-13 record for 2km by just half a second at Concept2 Rowing Machine's Nottingham headquarters.

Paced by Newark Rowing Club team-mate Nick Parnell, Callum completed the distance in 7min 12.7sec. The previous record was set by Croatian Marian Uroic four years ago.

Callum also bettered the British record by 2.8sec which had stood for nine years.

He began indoor rowing at Bingham Toot Hill School in September 2006.

Within two months he had won a gold medal at the British Indoor Rowing Championships, which was followed by wins in the Welsh Indoor and English Championships.

He joined Newark Rowing Club and has had some success with the club in regattas across the country in coxed quads, pairs and recently in single sculls.

He was a bronze medallist in last year's British Indoor Rowing Championships, and won gold in the Welsh Championships and silver at the National IRC at Battersea.

As part of on-going assessment of training progress, under the guidance of their coach Claire Parnell, each month the junior rowers at Newark row a timed 2km on the Concept2 ergo.

During the spring, Callum gradually improved his times culminating in him unofficially breaking the under-13 world record in June 2008.

He repeated the exercise on Saturday and had his effort verified and ratified as an official world record.

Immediately after breaking the record, staff at Concept2 had a T-shirt made to mark the occasion.

Callum's next competition is over 2km at the National Rowing Championships at the National Watersports Centre, Holme Pierrepont, next Friday.