Maidenhead Rowing Club recorded six junior wins and one senior win at this year's Wallingford Regatta, held over a 1500m 7 lane course at Dorney Lake.

Wallingford Regatta is probably the first high standard regatta of the season and a chance for crews to measure themselves against some of the leading crews in the country at this time. Maidenhead demonstrated yet again that they have some of the top junior athletes in the country.

Also, Read here how the Women's Squad were only just pipped to an eigth club success.

Summary of Winning crews for Maidenhead were as follows:

1. J15 quad sculls – M.Motram, Matthew Reeve, Sam Prosser, J.Hockley with J.V.Der Valk as cox.
2. WJ14 quad sculls – Carmel Bevan, Maddi Reynolds, Katie Lion, Rebekah Kerns with cox Emma Kerns.
3. WJ15 quad sculls – Maddi Reynolds, Katie Lion, Alice Ancora, Aimme Campbell with cox Lizzy Gerrard.
4. WJ16 quad sculls – Aimee Campbell, Alice Ancora, Louise Entwistle, Ally Brooks.
5. WJ16 double sculls – Louise Entwistle and Ally Brooks.
6. WJ18 single sculls – Natalie Trinder.
7. WS3 single sculls – Sarah Archibald.

Full results are available on Wallingford's Website
Pictures of Maidenhead Crews are available on Big Blade's Website

The boys J15 Quad was a Maidenhead composite crew with Marlow.  Sam Prosser and Matthew Reeve were joined by Marlows J. Hockley and M. Motram with Maidenhead’s J. V, Der Valk, Cox. This crew was a fairly scratch crew put together with the intention to see if they could stop the continued winning performances from Windsor Boys School. The racing was split into 3 heats of 6 crews with the First and Second crews in the heats going through to the finals. Maidenhead’s composite crew raced in a heat against Kings School, Worcester, Windsor Boys B, RGS Worcester and Kings College B & C. The race was close for the first 1000m, then Maidenhead/Marlow drew away to win by 2 lengths in a time of 5.18, with The Kings School, Worcester coming in 2nd. Both these crew qualified for the final.

In the final, the Maidenhead/Marlow composite were up against - King's School Worcester, King's College School, Latymer Upper School, The Windsor Boys' School-A and Marlow/Maidenhead/Claires Ct Sch composite.  Latymer led out of the blocks and then the Windsor Boys School  took the lead and held it until the 1000m mark. The Marlow/Maidenhead composite pushed hard at 1000m and gradually fought back from being 3 quarters of a length down to be level with approx 100m to go. With each stroke the Maidenhead composite matched Windsor Boys and finally managed to edge ahead by about 2 feet to win a very close and hard fought race in a time of 5.08.
 
The junior girls ‘Chicks with Sticks’ put up an impressive performance yet again, coming away with wins across all the junior age groups they entered - WJ14 quad, WJ15 quad, WJ16 quad, WJ16 double and WJ18 single.

WJ14 quad of Carmel Bevan, Maddie Reynolds, Katie Lion, Rebekah Kerns with cox Emma Kerns, raced in a straight final. This young Maidenhead crew, racing together for the first time, combined some of the Advanced girls with the Intermediate girls. The competition was strong and Maidenhead led from the start and at half-way they held a ¾ length lead. During the final 250 meters Rebekah Kerns at stroke raised the rate of striking and drew out to an excellent 1.25 length win in 6:11 from Bedford High School with Molesey RC in 3rd place.

WJ15 quad of Maddie Reynolds, Katie Lion, Alice Ancora, Aimee Campbell with cox Lizzie Gerrard, competed in a heat and won by 1 length. In the final they again led from the front in control and won by 1 length in a time of 5:49 from Dame Alice Harpur School with Headington back in 3rd place.

The WJ16 quad of Aimee Campbell, Alice Ancora, Louise Entwistle and Ally Brooks raced in a straight final. This crew had already raced over the course in different boats and having not raced in this quad since winning the Schools Head were not as sharp as normal out of the blocks and were led by Latymer School. By 500m Maidenhead had moved out into a half-length lead over LEH School and at 1000m this was increased to 1 length and at the finish Maidenhead were 1.5 lengths in front finishing in a time of 5:40 with Headington School back in 3rd place.

The WJ16 double of Louise Entwistle and Ally Brooks managed to win in a time of 5:44 and by a convincing margin of 14 seconds from Bedford High School, with Molesey Schools Rowing Association a further 4 seconds behind.

In WJ18 single sculls Natalie Trinder had an excellent scull to win this event by 1.5 lengths over a Marlow sculler. At the halfway point, Natalie was 2 lengths down in 3rd place. Over the second half of the course Natalie attacked strongly managing to draw level and then take an excellent 1.5 length lead in the last 250 meters finishing in 6:27.

Sarah Archibald won the only senior pot, finishing 2 seconds ahead of a top junior Molesey sculler with C.Esterhuizen of Maidenhead finishing in a very good 3rd place.

The WJ18 quad of Rebekah Kerns, Laurian Pepper, Jo Wright and Natalie Trinder sculled well in a 7 boat final to finish in 3rd place just 2 lengths down on the winners from Molesey RC.

Most of the Advanced juniors will be next competing for a first time at Gent International Regatta on Saturday May 7th and Sunday May 8th.

Billy Brooks
Captain Juniors