The 600 metre course is set in parkland in the centre of the town which makes it pleasant for spectators and is a fair course for the oarsmen with no other river traffic.  The weather was very hot and sunny with a refreshing breeze..

As the name suggests the prizes are quart tankards, much prized by the winners.

Maidenhead Rowing Club sent a team of boys to the annual Bedford Quarts regatta last Sunday.

The 600 metre course is set in parkland in the centre of the town which makes it pleasant for spectators and is a fair course for the oarsmen with no other river traffic.  The weather was very hot and sunny with a refreshing breeze..

As the name suggests the prizes are quart tankards, much prized by the winners.

First race of the day was the J14 double of Tom O’Reilly and Simon Lilley against the home club Bedford Star. The Maidenhead boys had a dreadful start and gave away nearly two lengths. They kept their heads however and pushed hard along the course with good technique. Bedford Star’s technique became scrappy as the Maidenhead crew put them under pressure and the Maidenhead crew went into the lead with 100m of the race left and they eventually won by a length. In their second race they were up against local home rivals Claires Court crew of Aber and Hyman. Claires Court had a good start and sculled very powerfully to beat Maidenhead by two lengths. Aber and Hyman lost very narrowly to Peterborough in the final mainly due to bad steering.

The second event of the day for Maidenhead was J15 doubles. Once again, the double from Maidenhead of Tim Wildbore and Adam Lilley and the Claires Court double of Cremin and McCormack were drawn together. Both crews had a good start and the Claires Court double were neater in bladework. However, the power of the Maidenhead crew saw them take the lead and they won by one and a half lengths. In the final Maidenhead were against St Neots who once again had a very neat crew, but again the power of the Maidenhead boys prevailed and they won by over two lengths.

The last event and race of the day was a straight final in the J14 boys quads between the Maidenhead crew of Ross McCoriston, Ertan Hazine, Sergey Kleshnev, Alex Ryde, coxed by Tom O Reilly, and a crew from Weybridge who were 8 seconds faster than Maidenhead at Walton Head over 3000m in the Winter events. The Weybridge crew had an illness on the day and managed to get the Norwich single sculler to deputise after his J14 singles final.  Both crews went off the start very hard and at high rating around 40 strokes per minute. Maidenhead edged out to a half length lead by 200m and the Weybridge crew were under great pressure. The Weybridge bow man then caught a massive crab and the momentum of the boat was such that the carbon fibre loom of the scull snapped as it caught on the rigger with the blade still in the water. Maidenhead were generally unaware of the problem and sprinted to the finish to claim their quart tankards.