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2005/2006 News Archive

MAIDENHEAD Rowing Club’s junior athletes bring home 4 Golds, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze medals from a top European Championship event

Five talented Maidenhead junior athletes were selected to represent GB at the Coupe de la Jeunesse which was held in Groningen, Holland on 29th & 30th July.

This event was the culmination of a tough year of training and being involved in GB selection trials over 10 months to gain a selection on the GB team to compete at this prestigious European Championship regatta. This regatta was an opportunity to see how well GB junior crews are doing against 12 European nations.

Five magnificent Maidenhead junior athletes not only made the GB team but all came home with at least one medal from this prestigious event.

Louise Entwistle was selected as the Captain of the GB girls squad and went on to support the GB team and lead from the front by winning the Womens 2x sculls competition on both days with her GB partner Ruth Walzac from Hollingworth Lake RC. On the Saturday Louise took Gold for GB, Hungary took Silver and the Netherlands took Bronze. On the Sunday GB again took Gold with Austria taking Silver and Switzerland taking Bronze.

Phil Clapp of Maidenhead raced in the single sculls event for GB on both days and he also demonstrated that he is one of the best junior scullers in Europe as he went on to win Gold on both days and in style. On the Sunday Phil took Gold for GB from Austria who took Silver and Italy who took the Bronze. Maidenhead coach Tom Jost also selected to be GB coach to Phil Clapp was delighted with both days results.

David Jones of Maidenhead competed in the GB double scull with Josh Wedlake from Walton RC. On the Saturday they sculled strongly to take a Bronze medlal and on the Sunday they changed tactics to ensure they were in the race at halfway and this helped them improve their result to take the Silver medal. The Netherlands took Gold and Italy took Bronze.

Ally Brooks and Sophie Delaney both from Maidenhead RC competed in the GB junior quad scull competition where they made the A final on the Saturday finishing 5th.

On the Sunday with slightly different race tactics the girls quad raced well and were in Silver medal position leading the Netherlands until the last 200mtrs. On the line France took Gold, the Netherlands just piped GB for Silver and the GB quad were pleased to take home a bronze medal from this tough event.

Billy Brooks Captain of juniors at Maidenhead and coach to the GB JW double scull said “This was another significant milestone in the development of junior scullers at Maidenhead RC. To assist the GB team to win this event overall and, by supplying local junior athletes that all won medals at this European level event, is not only a credit to the GB team but especially to the Maidenhead junior athletes, coaches and the club members at Maidenhead that help out all year. These Maidenhead athletes were not available to compete at National Championships this year because of GB training so it was good to see them all move on to win European junior medals. We are grateful to our local sponsors who’s support is vital to ensure we maintain the most up to date equipment available to help these high performance junior athletes continue to compete and the highest of European levels and their goal of competing at the 2012 Olympics”

Final placings for all Nations competing at the Coupe De La Jeunesse were as follows:

1st GB 14 Golds 4 Silvers 3 Bronze
2nd Italy 4 Golds 5 Silvers 6 Bronze
3rd France 4 Golds 4 Silvers 3 Bronze
4th Netherlands 2 Golds 1 Silver 5 Bronze
5th Switzerland 1 Silver 4 Bronze
6th Spain 2 Silver 1 Bronze
7th Austria 3 Silver 2 Bronze
8th Ireland 3 Silver
9th Portugal
10th Hungary 1 Silver
11th Belgium
12th Slovenia
 

Junior Boys Win Well at Bedford

The Intermediate Junior boys enjoyed a successful day at Bedford Quarts Sprint Regatta on Sunday, returning home with massive quart pewter tankards to celebrate wins in the J16 double sculls, J14 single sculls and J15 single, double and quadruple sculls.

The boys coped well with the variable conditions, enjoying the challenges of strong gusty winds, choppy water and the narrow winding course. The event is the last before the group travel to the National Championships held in Scotland this weekend.

In the J16 1xTim Wildbore won his heat by more than 2 lengths, then sculled well in the semi final just losing to Beechinor of Bedford. In the same event Michael Compton and Adam Lilley lost out in separate races to Hasler of St Ives.

Tim and Adam teamed up in the J16 double sculls to win the final beating Star Club by 1½ lengths. Rob Ashburner sculled strongly in the J14 single sculls to win his heat against Frost of Staines by 3 lengths and then the final by 5 lengths over Neale from Norwich RC.

In the J15 age group Alex Ryde and Ertan Hazine won their heats comfortably then raced each other in the final. This was a hard fought battle with Ertan the eventual victor. The two joined forces in the J15 doubles event. The heat was fast and close, Maidenhead beating a Norwich/Norwich School composite crew by less than a length. In the final Alex and Ertan beat another Norwich School crew, this time by 3 lengths.

Alex was also a last minute substitute to complete J15 quadruple sculling crew with Ross McCorriston, George Poynter, Rob Ashburner and coxed by Tom O’Reilly. The quad beat home crew Bedford Rowing Club by 2½ lengths in the heats and Norwich School by 1½ lengths in the final, despite Rob dropping a blade at the start.

To summarise the winners:

• J16 2x Tim Wildbore & Adam Lilley
• J15 4x+ Ross McCorriston, Alex Ryde, George Poynter,Rob Ashburner & Tom O’Reilly
• J15 2x Alex Ryde & Ertan Hazine
• J15 1x Ertan Hazine
• J14 1X Rob Ashburner

Maidenhead Rowing Club Win 4 GB Honours for the J16 GB v France match held in Abberville, France on 9th July

GB France trials – Maidenhead Juniors continued to impress and 3 girls and 1 boy made it through squad/selection trials for the J16 GB v France match held in Abberville, France on Sunday 9th July.

Maidenhead RC saw yet again two more junior athletes achieve their first GB vests. Katie Lion who has been stroking a winning Maidenhead WJ15 quad all season won the club doubles time trials with Sophie Delaney and they both went on to race-off against 11 other doubles to win their GB vests.

Phil Clapp won his first cap by attending the boys J18 final trials and on day 1, he finished in 1st place. As a result Phil was duly awarded the single sculler slot for both the GB France match on 9th July, and the J18 Coupe De La Jeunesse match, scheduled to take place in Amsterdam on 29th & 30th July. Tom Jost was appointed coach to Phil for both matches.

This is the second cap for Sophie Delaney as earlier in the month she won her first GB place in the GB J18 team for the Coupe De La Jeunesse match to be held in Amsterdam at the end of July.

Ally Brooks also J16 was pre-selected as the fastest WJ16 sculler for girls. Ally like Sophie made it through the final rounds of J18 trials and was awarded the stroke seat in the Coupe quad that will be competing at Croningen, Amsterdam on 29th and 30th July.

At GB France trials Maidenhead entered a coxless four made up of 3, J15 athletes and one J16. Racing in this rowing event was competitive and the Maidenhead girls impressed as this was a new boat type to compete in.

The coxless four of Aimee Campbell, Rebecca Kerns, Alice Ancora and Katie Lion raced hard over the 1500mtr course and finished overall in about 5th place and only just outside selection. The first 3 crews were given seats in the coxless 4 and the 8.

At the GB France match in Abberville, The GB team won the match 8 – 4 and came away with best overall girls, boys and the team prize for GB.

Racing took place over 1500metres on a two-lane canal and the Maidenhead athletes assisted the GB team to win this overall event. Phil Clapp won his single scull by 8 secs, Katie Lion and Sophie Delaney won their 2x race by 6 seconds and Ally Brooks lost her race by 4 seconds. This was a very enjoyable experience for these young athletes who were supported in Abberville France by Maidenhead coaches Sean Kerns and Tom Jost.

Whilst this match was taking place the boys final trials in Nottingham for selection of the boys team for the Worlds and the Coupe continued. At the end of the boys trials it was excellent news to hear that David Jones once again wins a GB vest to compete in a 2x at the Coupe alongside his other club mates.

Maidenhead RC will have 5 junior athletes competing in the Coupe De La Jeunesse team in Amsterdam on 29th and 30th July. 2 boys and 3 girls.

 

Maidenhead Rowing Club Junior girls win GB selection at Final trials

The UK’s top thirteen junior girl scullers from across the UK assembled in Nottingham to carry out Final trials over 3 days to seek selection into the junior GB team.

Maidenhead Rowing Club had a record number of four scullers present which is an achievement in itself as this final line up was against proven top junior scullers from all over the UK.

On Wednesday evening all the junior scullers had to complete a 2k single sculling test and the end result of this test was a check on rankings and the objective to reduce the scullers from 13 to 12.

At the end of this first session the main effect for Maidenhead was that Laurian Pepper finished in a blanket finish with 2 other scullers and was given a time 0.8seconds behind Oakes of Warrington and therefore did not make it through to day 2 of testing. Only 9 of the 13 scullers tested achieved GB selection and Maidenhead contributed 3 scullers to this years GB team.

The top 4 scullers went into day 2 to be speed tested for suitability for the World Junior Championships. To achieve this level of selection crews need to achieve 94%+ of predicted Gold Medal winning times. Louise finished fourth in the single sculls test so had to impress on day 2. On day 2 Louise won the 2x seat racing matrix which then put her in a top group of 3 scullers to be further tested in 2x combinations. End result was that Louise did achieve 94% of Gold Medal winning time with Lucy from Hollingworth Lake but the GB selectors decided to go with just a single sculler, Lucy at this top level junior regatta as the Hollingworth Lake sculler had achieved close to 94% but had an unbeaten track record over the past few months winning at International regatta’s Munich and Amsterdam and against top international competition.

This decision resulted in Louise and Ruth from Hollingworth Lake RC being given the Coupe 2x slot and recognised as the top boat in the Coupe team. A great achievement in itself but disappointment for both girls as they had their sights set on attending the Junior Worlds Rowing Championships this year.

At the same time, the remaining 8 scullers carried out extensive seat racing in two quads to achieve a ranking from 5 downwards. After 18 timed pieces over two days and all girls being tested to the max it was fantastic news to hear that Ally Brooks and Sophie Delaney had both made the next level selection for seats in the Coupe quad. Ally was awarded the stroke seat and Sophie winning her first GB vest was awarded the bow seat. They will be joined by Alice Leake at 2 from Newark RC and Sarah Cowburn at 3 from Worcester RC.

Both the Coupe quad and the double will be based for the next 3 weeks at Maidenhead RC. The Coupe sculling team is seen as particularly strong this year and it is a credit to the Maidenhead Club infrastructure, coaches, sponsors And all helpers at Maidenhead to have 3 girls out of only 9 that were selected in total on the sculling side.

Billy Brooks was appointed coach to the Coupe 2x and Neil Double from Hampton School was asked to coach the Coupe quad which has two Maidenhead members on board.

The boys final testing will be carried out at the same place from Wednesday 5th July and we hope to have news about Phil Clapp and David Jones and what they achieve at final trials next week.

On Tuesday 4th July Maidenhead juniors will be involved in one day of trials at Nottingham competing for selection in the GB team at J16 level for a match against France on 9th July. Crews will race over 1500mtrs at Nottingham and first across the line will be selected.

Maidenhead has 3 crews competing for GB France selection as follows:

• Coxless four of Aimee Campbell, Rebekah Kerns, Alice Ancora and Katie Lion;

• Double Scull of Sophie Delaney and Katie Lion;

• Single scull of Ally Brooks;

We wish all athletes going through final selection much success this week.
 

Maidenhead Rowing Club athletes Make History at Henley Womens' Regatta by winning two events

Maidenhead Rowing Club sent along a record number of crews to this top International event for Women held over the first 1500m of the historic and prestigious Henley Royal Regatta course.

For the first time since the event was established, 19 years ago, Maidenhead managed to win 2 women's events. A major achievement for a local club competing against fairly tough International competitors.

For this event a number of crews had to race off in a head format on the Friday morning to qualify through for the main side-by-side racing that commenced on Friday afternoon with Semi-finals and Finals carried out on the Sunday.

Maidenhead had four crews that reached the latter stages competing on the Sunday with two of these crews going on to win a much sought after Henley Women's medal.

Juniors

The first Henley medal win on the Sunday came from Maidenhead’s leading International junior athletes Louise Entwistle and Ally Brooks who competed for the Ravner Cup in School Junior Double Sculls. In their first round they were drawn against a double from St Neots who had a crew member on board that was part of last years winning quad. Ally and Louise blasted out of the blocks and led by 2 lengths after the end of the Island and went on to steadily draw out to a 4.5length lead at the finish. In the semi-finals they were up against a strong crew from Fairmount RA USA who had beaten City of Oxford Rowing Club and Maidenhead’s B double in earlier rounds. Again Maidenhead went out fast of the start and again led by 1 length at the end of the island steadily powering down the course to a 3.5length lead. The final against Dame Alice Harpur School saw Maidenhead destroy the competition leading by 4.5lengths at 500m mark moving out to an easy verdict at the finish in a time of 5m 57secs.

Other Maidenhead junior crews who competed included:

Rebekah Kerns and Alice Ancora (who are both only WJ15’s) competed well and raced in the School Junior double sculls event going out in the first round to Fairmount RA USA. This Maidenhead double were fast out of the blocks and led at the end of the island by 1/2length. At around the 500m mark the USA crew drew level and being 3 to 4 years older they had that much more power that enabled them to draw out to a 4length lead at the finish. This USA crew turned out to be the second fastest crew in the event.

Maidenhead juniors Laurian Pepper and Caris Marsh teamed up with Alice Leak (Newark RC) and Kara Wirt from Upper Thames Rowing Club to compete in the Schools Junior quad sculls. 3 of these girls are going through final GB selection stages. In their first round they led from the start against Canford School and went on to record an easy verdict and progressed through to the semi-finals. Here they came up against a quality crew from Henley Rowing Club who posted the same time in winning its heat. Henley were fast off the start and immediately led the Maidenhead composite quad. A tough battle ensued down the course with the Maidenhead composite not letting Henley extend its lead beyond the 1length. Pushing hard to the finish the composite went down by a margin of 7/8ths of a length. This was a good performance considering the composite quad had very little time to train together as a quad. Henley led in the final until last 500m when a USA crew moved ahead to win by 3/4length.

Maidenhead’s World Class Start athlete, Philipa Cuss was also rowing in a coxed four with athletes from Reading and Wallingford. In Phillipa’s first attempt at Henley she did well to win against George Herriots School by 1.3lengths and went out to Dame Alice Harpur School in the semi-finals by 1/3rd length. Dame Alice Harpur in turn went out to Headington School by 2 lengths in the final.

Senior Squad

This year, the main Women’s Squad sent three crews to Henley Women’s Regatta. An Intermediate Eight, an Intermediate Coxed Four and a Senior Double Scull. All crews had been training hard throughout the winter season under the watchful eye or Sports Director Eric Sims. Competing in Head Races and Regattas the 8 and 4 showed a lot of promise and Henley Women’s Regatta was much anticipated by both the Club as a whole and the crew members.
The second Henley medal winning crew for Maidenhead came from Vicky Sims and Natalie Trinder competing in the Senior Womens double sculls. Vicky Sims has been competing successfully recently at Scottish National Champs where she won a Gold and Silver medals and is seeking a Scottish vest for the Commonwealth Games. Natalie Trinder is a former member of Maidenhead’s successful junior squad in her first year of senior rowing, so this was excellent for the club to see this level of success involving a junior in her first year at senior level.

Racing, as expected, was tough for this lightweight double, but the strength and determination showed through as they steadily progressed winning some tough races to advance to Sundays finals. On route Maidenhead double raced against composites Upper Thames RC/University London which they won by 3lengths, in the semi-finals they raced a strong crew from University London and Lea RC which they battled hard to win by 2 lengths at the finish. In the final Tideway Scullers School pushed Maidenhead hard but Maidenhead RC responded well to cross the line 1.5lengths ahead in a time of 6m 04secs to win the Rosie Mayglothling Trophy for Senior Double Sculls.

On Friday, both the Intermediate Eight and Coxed Four had to go through the Qualifiers as both events were heavily oversubscribed. Starting with the 8, the crew flew over the start and was complimented by the regatta’s commentator, calling them ‘lively’ and ‘very strong’, as they sailed past the enclosure. The 8, comprised of Katherine Chapman, Claire Wallace, Helen Stewart, Jo Macbeth, Debbie Thomas, Anne Rees, Louise Perry, Jo Wright with cox Owen Davies, were delighted to hear that they had qualified and would go through to the next round. Here they met a very strong Cambridge 99 ‘A’ crew. The 8 fought pushed against this very strong boat all the way, but unfortunately lost out on a place in the 2nd round by 1½ lengths.

The coxed four were keen to mirror the 8s performance in the qualifiers and did just that. Choosing to go off from a standing start, the 4, comprising of Christele Blin, Caroline Dakers, Keri Johnson, Anne van Diem with cox Jill Danby, flew past the barrier and boating area and impressed quite a few including the commentators who were quick to say this crew were most certainly ‘favoured’ and looked ‘strong’ coming over the finish line. Sailing into the 1st round the 4+ then met Staines BC. Although late at the start, the club were allowed to race and rowed strongly into the first third of the race. Maidenhead pushed hard and although rowing to their limit, were beaten by 1½ lengths. Although certainly disappointed with their loss, the 4 were pleased to learn that their heat was the fastest on the day.

Coaches

Captain of Juniors Billy Brooks said “I was very pleased to see the progress the crews are making moving from semi-final achievements in 2005 to winning events in 2006. The junior squad remains strong at the club and we have an exciting few years ahead of us. It was pleasing to see a first batch of junior women move into the senior squad this year and help them achieve success at HWR including the win in double sculls”.

It was also a fantastic result for Maidenhead Rowing Club Women’s Squad. The squad has certainly shown promise over the past year, rowing strongly in headraces and regattas and for some it has been a steep learning curve, going from complete novice to competing at senior 2 and shows that the appointment of Eric Sims has been invaluable to the progress the club is making.
 

Maidenhead Rowing Club athletes Win 2 Golds and one Silver
at the Scottish National Rowing Champs

Maidenhead Rowing Club sent along three female athletes (2 juniors and one senior) to compete at this years Scottish National Rowing Championships on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th June, to Strathclyde Country Park, Watersports Centre, Scotland.

On the Saturday, the first medal for Maidenhead came in the Womens light-weight sculls where Vicky Sims was competing against a strong field of competitors all out to impress selectors for potential Scottish selection to the Commonwealth Games. Vicky sculled the 2k course into a cross headwind well and was pleased to finish one length behind the winner and take a well earned Silver medal.

Next down the course was Laurian Pepper and Ally Brooks competing in a straight final of womens junior double sculls. From the start Maidenhead went out into a joint lead with a top Scottish junior double composite from Nithsdale and George Watsons College. Sculling strongly this young crew did well to cross the line just 6secs down on a strong Scottish double and take 2nd place. Both these junior doubles finished the course in times that were more than 25secs faster than the senior womens 2x. As the final was only 4 boats no Silver medal was awarded for this event.

Third Maidenhead boat down the course was Ally Brooks competing in the WJ16 single. Ally went out of the blocks fast and had to contend with a very strong head wind. Ally led from the start and moved out to a 1length lead at 250m moving out to a large lead of approx 40seconds at the finish to take a pleasing Scottish Gold medal.

On the Sunday Vicky Sims competed in the Womens lightweight quad sculls and again they sculled strongly down the course leading by 1.5l at halfway when Vicky caught a crab which allowed the 2nd place crew to draw level. Regaining composure and with focus and strong sculling the composite lightweight quad went on to regain a lead of 1.5l again and crossed the line to take a Gold medal.

All 3 Maidenhead athletes impressed the Scottish selectors and will all likely to be given an opportunity to row for Scotland in 2006, Vicky Sims focus was on improving her chances of selection for the Commonwealth Games team.

An excellent weekends results from members of Maidenhead Rowing Club with Scottish roots.
 

National Schools Regatta, Nottingham 26th – 28th May 2006

Maidenhead athletes bring home 8 crew medals: 3 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze

Over a weekend packed with more than 26 full hours of racing and with conditions varying between rain with head winds and gusting cross winds to sunshine and crosswinds, Maidenhead boys and girls performed excellently, reaching many finals and bringing back a haul of 8 medals. . This is the best ever performance by Maidenhead’s junior athletes, testing themselves against the best young rowers in the country. The medal haul beating last years 1 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze.

Maidenhead Rowing Club entered 17 crews from a team of (16 girls and 12 boys, aged 14 to 18) in this years National Schools Regatta held at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepoint, Nottingham. 27 Individual medals were won by Maidenhead athletes.

This event is seen as the Schools equivalent to the National Championships, so the event is taken very seriously by top rowing schools as the Championship event results do affect the seeding for Schools at Henley Royal Regatta. Any medal is hard to come by and arguably seen as more difficult than National Championships.

Our thanks to our 2006 junior sponsors who include AP Printers, Maidenhead Rotary, Michael Shanly Trust and Timberland who have supplied several packages of boats and equipment to help our juniors continue to compete at this highest National Schools level competition.

Racing started off on Friday with Maidenhead’s youngest crew of Anna Campbell and Emma Kerns just missing qualifying for the second round of the J14G 2x.; in the final a very strong crew from Aberdeen schools won the overall competition.

The girls also had two crews entered in the J15G2x, Alice Ancora and Rebekah Kerns plus Katy Lion and Maddie Reynolds, both crews had won their semi-finals to meet in the final. Alice and Rebekah won the gold medal by 2 second from a strong crew from the Lady Eleanor Holles school in Hampton, with Katy and Maddie not going as well as they did in the semi’s finishing in fifth place.

Later in the day the boys had two crews entered in the J152x, Ertan Hazine and Alex Ryde and Ross McCorriston and Simon Lilley. Ross and Simon had the fastest time in the eliminators and they beat Ertan and Alex in the semi by just over a second, both crews qualifying. In the final their positions reversed with Ertan and Alex finishing in a time of 3.45.76 holding off Ross and Simon to take the bronze medal by just under a second. An excellent result for both boys doubles.

Robert Ashburner, having to row up a year at J15 as there was no event for J14’ s, made his way through the eliminators to the semi final but, after a slow start, narrowly missed the qualification cut off to the final.

Saturday’s Results
On Saturday the weather changed and racing became slightly easier, although a strong head win made times slower, even so all of Maidenhead’s competitors made it to the finals of their respective events.

The J15 4x+ of Rebekah Kerns, Maddie Reynolds, Aimee Broadbent, Carmel Bevan and cox Emily Webster rowed well through the heats to the final. In the final, they were 3rd from the start; they overtook Bedford High School and were sitting just behind Kingston until the 250m mark. Then they edged slowly in front and finished in Gold position by 2 seconds. Their delight was compounded as they received their trophy and medals from rowing legend Sir Matthew Pinsent.

The J16G 2x, Aimee Campbell and Sophie Delaney raced well in the heat and were the fastest qualifiers. In the final, they went off at a stunning pace, leading the field down the course, sadly the blistering pace took its toll on the Maidenhead girls and they were overtaken in the last 250m by several crews, with Maidstone Invicta coming home first and with the tired Maidenhead crew slipping back to fifth place.

Dave Jones was the Maidenhead entry for the CH 1x. He won his semi in style, leading for most of the race and winning by 5 seconds in 8:35.91.
In the final, Dave settled into fourth place soon after the start but could not move his way back up into the medals.

There was a last minute substitution in the Ch 2x. Sam Ashburner was called out of “retirement” to crew with Phil Clapp. They won through easily to the finals but again were pipped at the post to finish just out of the medals in fourth place.

In the ChG 4x our crew of Ally Brooks, Louise Entwistle, Caris Marsh and Laurian Pepper won through easily to the final and then rowed well to the Gold medal. They attracted some very favourable commentary from the tower, which remarked on their excellent blade work and on the aggressive lead by stroke who was being backed up by the rest of the crew, winning their heat in style by an astonishing 43 secs ahead of their nearest opponents . In the final Maidenhead once again dominated the event, and won easily by 10 sec over a crew from Dame Alice Harper school.

Sunday Results
In the J16 2x Tim Wildbore and Adam Lilley rowed well in their semi final to finish 4th, just failing to qualify for the final.

The J16 G 4x of Alice Ancora, Ally Brooks, Katy Lion and Sophie Delaney attracted more compliments from the commentating tower, “calibre of sculling from Maidenhead is particularly pleasing” and “very sharp on the catch”. The girls went on to win the silver in the final losing to a strong crew from Henley by 8 secs.

In the J16G 1x Aimee Campbell was 4th in her semi- final just failing to qualify for the final .

The J15 coxed quad of Ross McCorriston, Alex Ryde, Ertan Hazine, Robert Ashburner, cox Tom O Reilly achieved the fastest time in the semi finals. In the final they fought hard to match Windsor Boys’ aggressive start then settled into a very comfortable second place for the rest of the race, winning the silver medal, in a time of 7.23.58

Sam Ashburner stood in for the second time in the weekend in the Ch 4x, when the crew of Sam Ashburner, Max Gerrard, Dave Jones and Phil Clapp won a bronze.

In the ChG 1x, Maidenheads GB athlete Louise Entwistle sculled well to come through the heats in to the final, in the same event Philippa Cuss and Charlotte Weekes sculled well but were just edged out of a place in the final . In the final Louise Entwistle came up against a strong sculler from Imperial College, sculling well the race for second place went right to the end with the Maidenhead sculler being pipped by Larsen from Dame Alice Harper 8.57.11 and Louise took Bronze in 8.57 .95.

In the ChG 2x Laurian Pepper and Caris Marsh after winning a gold medal on the Saturday in Ch G 4x were given a very hard semi-final draw and just missed out on qualifying for the final finishing in 4th place.

A very pleasing set of results from the whole junior section.

Summary of Wins

Gold
J15G 2x Alice Ancora, Rebekah Kerns.
J15G 4x+ Rebekah Kerns, Maddie Reynolds, Aimee Broadbent, Carmel Bevan cox Emily Webster.
ChG 4x Ally Brooks, Louise Entwistle, Caris March and Laurian Pepper

Silver
J16 G 4x Alice Ancora, Ally Brooks, Katy Lion, Sophie Delaney
J15 4x+ Ross McCorriston, Alex Ryde, Ertan Hazine, Robert Ashburner, cox Tom O Reilly.

Bronze
J15 2x Ertan Hazine, Alex Ryde
Ch 4x Max Gerrard, Sam Ashburner, Dave Jones, Phil Clapp.
ChG 1x Louise Entwistle

Many Thanks to Fiona Dobson, Maggie Bevan and Kate Ashburner for helping to keep track of all the results and producing such a good information to help produce this final NSR report.
 

Wallingford Regatta 30 April 2006

With the first swallow signifying the start of summer Wallingford regatta as a rower signifies the start of the regatta season. With a cheer we all say , the winter and the head season is behind us , the first true regatta of the season took place at Dorney on Saturday. Wallingford, the first real test of the regatta season following the long tough arduous heads over the winter , really puts in place the hard training over the winter and is a true test of fitness and stamina. Multi lane racing over 1500m at Dorney always poses a challenge to any rowers when the conditions can rapidly change a race and result Maidenhead sent over 20+ crews from the Advanced Intermediate and Senior squads to Wallingford Regatta at Dorney Lake on Sunday. The conditions were tough to start with and got progressively worse as the day went on, with the cold wind picking up and the dark clouds eventually getting the better of the patchwork blue sky, with racing starting at 8.00am and finishing just before 7pm with 130+ races, this was a long day in testing conditions.

Maidenhead scullers and rowers performed well to have 3 victories at this prestigious regatta as well as a number of very good competitive events
In the Mens Senior 3 sculls race Phil Clapp sculled fantastically down the course to win by 4 secs in his first mens senior event from Barrett of Burway and Lee of Latymer Upper.

In the WJ15 4x+ , Maidenheads crew of Katie Lion, Maddie Reynolds, Aimee Broadbent ,Carmel Bevan and cox Emily Webster came through the heats beating Kingston Grammar to qualify and then to beat them in the final by 3 secs in a time of 5.52

In the same event for boys the Maidenhead crew of Ertan Hazine , Alex Ryde, Ross McCoriston and Rob Ashburner with cox Tom O’Reilly came through the heats winning convincingly by 4 secs, and in the final beat Kingston Grammar school and Westminster by the same margin in a time of 5.20
In the Womens Senior 2 X Ally Brooks and Louise Entwistle came first in their heat to Weybridge ladies and won a place in the final. In the final they met the Walzcak sisters from Hollingworth Lake , who are also GB athletes, who proved too strong, winning the race with Maidenhead in 4th place, 6 secs behind the winners.

Coming 3rd in their heat, and on times probably the strongest of the heats, the WJ16 4 x crew of Alice Ancora, Sophie Delaney, Aimee Campbell and Rebekah Kerns were up against it in the final, and the result in the final was between the same 3 crews who had contested the first heat, with this time the crew from The Lady Eleanor Hollies boat club beating Bedford High School by 4 secs, with Maidenhead in a photo finish with BHS at the line, narrowly losing out by 1 sec.

The WJ!4 event had 2 Maidenhead crews A and B out of the 17 crews, with the B crew being selected from the WJ13s in the intermediate group . The A crew of Carmel Bevan, Emma Kerns, Anna Campbell , Hannah Shimmin and cox Emily Webster winning through to the final coming 2nd to Bedford High School. The B crew of Fifi Bevan, Lexy Dobson ,Gabby Watson, Rebecca Reeve and cox Emma Sanerkin also went through to the final, winning their heat in style . In the final the very strong boat from Lady Eleanor Hollies started off at such a fast pace and were 4 secs ahead at the 500m mark, and pushed harder to be 5secs ahead by the end and were never caught. The Maidenhead A and B crews were neck and neck down the course with every stroke the lead changing, until in the end the strength of the older girls pushed them ahead to beat the B crew by 2secs . A fantastic result for the young ones, rowing a year up , who had only come together as a full crew just before Easter , being able to compete at this level.

Max Gerrard competed in a new Walton/Maidenhead composite in the J18 quadruple sculls finishing less than a second behind the winning Marlow crew. Max went on to scull again in the afternoon in the J18 single sculls coming fourth in the event which was won by Loveday of Marlow.

Junior Inter-Regional trials - Seven Crews Selected

At a very blustery Dorney, over a 1500m course, Maidenhead’s young crews competed for places in the Upper Thames Rowing squad to compete at the Inter Regional Championships on the 14th May at the National Watersports centre in Nottingham . The conditions on the day were extremely windy, and the crews had to battle hard to finish in good times.

Maidenhead entered 16 crews across the junior section with 4 boys and 12 girls crews. On a very successful day, and despite the conditions, Maidenhead had 7 crews "The Magnificent Seven" selected for the Championships on the 14th May.

Division 1
The day started off with the quads, and with the WJ16 4 x of Alice Ancora, Aimee Campbell, Ally Brooks and Rebekah Kerns finished in 2nd place, coming in 4 secs behind the selected Henley crew who won the recent National Sculling Head. In the WJ15 event the newly formed crew of Katie Lion, Maddi Reynolds, Aimee Broadbent and Carmel Bevan sculled well to win in a time of 6min 16secs to become the first Maidenhead crew selected .In the WJ14 event Maidenhead entered 2 crews the “A” crew of Emma Kerns, Anna Campbell, Hannah Shimmin and Fifi Bevan with cox Laurian Pepper came in third in 6.42 to a strong Marlow crew 6.33 who were selected . The Maidenhead “B” crew of Lexy Dobson, Felicity Young, Henrietta Jenkins, Lucy Brockwell and cox Rachel Aldridge , struggled with the conditions, coming in 7th in 7.28 .

Division 2
Maidenhead boys crew of Ertan Hazine and Alex Ryde started the division off well with a fine win in 5.58 in the J15 2 x from Walton a crew who had previously beaten them. In the girls WJ15 2 x Maidenhead’s crew of Rebekah Kerns and Katie Lion were selected after winning in a time of 6.42 from Eton Exclesior. In the WJ16 2 x Maddi Reynolds had to step in for the ill Sophie Delaney and sculled well with Aimee Campbell to come second in 6.44 to the winning Marlow crew.
The final race in Div 2 was the WJ14 2x. Maidenhead’s 2 entries in this event came in 3rd and 4th to a good crew from City of Oxford . The Maidenhead “B” crew of Fifi Bevan and Rebecca Reeve coming in 3rd in 7.03 and the “A” crew of Anna Campbell and Emma Kerns 4th in 7.08

Division 3
The conditions in Div 3 started to worsen and it made things really rough for the single scullers. In the J16 1 x event Phil Clapp sculled well to win and be selected in 6.06. In the same event for the girls WJ16 1 x , Ally Brooks won comfortably in 6.52 from a sculler from Dorney Boat club. Maidenhead continued to perform well and in the WJ15 1 x Alice Ancora won in a time of 7.01. With only 2 events remaining, Maidenhead’s final winner was in the J14 1 x where Robert Ashburner won in a very good time of 6.37 form Eton Excelsior . In the WJ14 1 x Carmel Bevan of Maidenhead finished 4th in 7.46 and Lexy Dobson, rowing up a year, 8th in 8.40

 

Maidenhead Junior Girls Eight Win Bronze at Schools Head Rowing

For the first time in the club's history Maidenhead Rowing Club entered a Junior girls 8 at this major event on the famous Oxford and Cambridge boat race course.

The Junior womens 8 had a training session against UL last Sunday where the training plan was to race UL womens 2nd crew over 3 x 6min pieces on the Tideway course. On the Saturday this same UL womens crew raced last years winning junior 8 from Headington School Oxford over the same distance. UL won 2-1 over the 3 x 6min pieces. So this training session would indicate how close we might be to Headington.

This young Maidenhead crew set off from the Schools Head start at Chiswick Bridge and raced UL womens crew for 6mins. The crews were neck and neck the whole way with Maidenhead pulling out to a half-length lead at the end of the 1st 6min piece. Both crews paddled down the course to Hammersmith Bridge where they started their second six minute piece. UL took a slight lead early on but then this young Maidenhead crew drew level at the 3 min mark and then went on to pull out a lead of just about a length at the finish. UL decided not to race Maidenhead on the planned 3rd 6min piece so Maidenhead did this by themselves. End result was a pleasing 2-0 result against a leading University London crew that went on to finish 41st at this years WHORR.

On the Schools Head race day a couple of seat changes had to be made due to Ally Brooks being hit with a sickness bug. So Louise Entwistle moved from 7 to stroke and Katie Lion joined the crew at 7, Alice Ancora 6, Rebekah Kerns 5, Caris Marsh 4, Sophie Delaney 3, Aimee Campbell 2, Laurian Pepper bow with Charlotte Weeks coxing. Despite these lastminute crew changes this young crew which included 3 * 15year olds did the club proud by putting up an exceptional rowing performance to start at the back of the junior 8 division and to proceed down the course overtaking 6 crews and finishing a very credible 3rd place. The steering practise Charlotte Weeks received in the training session against UL the week before proved to be very useful on race day. Headington School won this event Molesey came second.

The good news for Maidenhead is that six members of this crew can compete in this same event again next year. So with this excellent new starting position the aim will be to attempt winning this J18 level event in 2007.

This was an excellent performance considering ALL the 8 competed successfully the day before at the National Sculling Head in Henley.

Maidenhead Juniors return from the National Junior Sculling Head of the River at Henley with 2 Golds, 2 Silvers and a Bronze

Maidenhead Juniors returned from this most prestigious of events crowned as the top performing club with an impressive medal haul.

The National Junior Sculling Head of the River inaugural event was staged at Henley-on-Thames over a 3,200 metre, upstream course. The event took place on Wednesday 8th March and was held over three divisions.

Maidenhead Rowing Club selected six junior crews to enter this event held on the famous stretch of the Thames at Henley. Junior athletes ranged in age from 12 to 18.

Competition was as expected very tough with crews entered from all over the UK.

Weather was also challenging on the day for competitors with a strong head wind and
rain in Division 1 followed by more rain and perhaps less wind in the later divisions.

Division 1

Maidenhead’s WJ18 quad had to make a crew change on the day and re-organise half the crew into new positions. With Ally Brooks suffering with a sickness bug, Louise Entwistle moved to stroke and Caris Marsh moved to the 3 seat. Sophie Delaney joined the crew at 2 and Laurian Pepper steered the boat at bow. This demonstrated the strength in depth the squad has as they went on to race well overtaking a crew from Stourport Boat Club and during the early part of the course they closed on the main competition from St Neots. Maidenhead were delighted to hear that they won this event by 4secs from Dame Alice Harpur School with St Neots RC in 3rd place a further 2secs behind. This was a really exceptional win taking into account the crew substitution on the day and the toughness of this event.

Maidenhead’s J15 boys quad of Alex Ryde, Ertan Hazine, Ross McCoriston, Robert Ashburner and cox Tom O’Rieley put in an exceptional performance to finish in second place taking a Silver medal finishing only 3.6secs behind Windsor boys School and 13secs ahead of Newark RC. This result looks very promising for these boys and should be the start of a very successful 2006 and 2007 season.

Maidenhead’s young WJ14 quad which included Emma Kerns, Anna Campbell, Hanna Shimmin, Fifi Bevan and cox Charlotte Weeks put in a very good effort to finish 4th out of an entry of 37 crews in their event. This young Maidenhead crew did find the distance tough but they all put in a good effort to finish only 2secs of Bronze and seven seconds of Silver.

Division 2

An exceptional scull by probably Maidenhead’s fastest ever junior boys quad saw this determined quad of Carl Delaney, Sam Ashburner, Phil Clapp and Dave Jones take on the best junior quads in the country and, just like the girls, proved they are the fastest junior quad in the Country at this present time. Windsor Boys picked up Silver 6.6secs behind and Yarm School picked up Bronze 10.2 secs behind Maidenhead. It is worth noting that this Maidenhead crew has 3 GB Junior squad members on board including last years junior Internationals Carl Delaney and Sam Ashburner.

Maidenhead’s talented WJ16 crew of Alice Ancora, Rebekah Kerns, Sophie Delaney and Aimee Campbell steers, who had two members on board who won this event last year, had to settle for 3rd place and a Bronze medal this year. This was another good result taking into account that Sophie Delaney had already sculled the course earlier in Division 1 when she substituted in the WJ18 quad.

Maidenhead’s newly formed WJ15 quad who have been showing some good form in training continued to demonstrate that they are a leading boat in this age group. The crew of Katie Lion, Maddie Reynolds, Aimee Broadbent, Carmel Bevan and cox Emily Webster performed exceptionally well in a loaned Claires Court School ERB boat and went on to win a Silver medal.
 

Maidenhead Rowing Club athletes leave Wallingford LDS with an impressive medal haul