Maidenhead Rowing Club

Maidenhead Rowing Club entered 11 crews in this years Pairs Head of the River Race held in London over a testing 4000m course from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge on Saturday 15th October 2005.

This year's large club entry came from across the whole membership section of the club including the senior mens squad which had 2 crews, the junior boys squad 3 crews, the womens squad 1 crew and the junior girls squad 5 crews. Overall the club performed well with some outstanding performances from the junior boys and junior girls.

Louise Entwistle and Ally Brooks continued their winning form and produced a commanding performance to win the WJ18 Double Sculls division in a time of 13min 46s.

In WJ16 Double Sculls, Rebekah Kerns and Alice Ancora (pictured above), still only J15’s, sculled magnificently to win their division in a time of 14min 35s, setting a new course record for this age group.

The Pairs Head is a major event for crews to establish how well they are going against other top athletes across the country. 342 crews entered this years event. Racing conditions were variable with early divisions suffering a gusty headwind and choppy water over the whole course, making progress difficult. Later the wind dropped, lending calmer water for the other divisions.

The competition in this year's WJ18 Double Sculls was strong with a number of GB squad crew members out to show what they could do. Louise Entwistle and Ally Brooks (pictured left) sculled strongly down the course overtaking 5 or 6 six crews to record a time of 13min 46s, 13 seconds ahead of their main opposition from Headington School Oxford who had two leading GB internationals on board. This winning time would have placed them in 3rd place in Elite Womens double sculls only 23 seconds behind Olympian Debbie Flood and partner.

In WJ16 Double Sculls, Rebekah Kerns and Alice Ancora set off two boats ahead of their main opposition who were also from Maidenhead and with this prime start position they sculled well and managed to move away by 10 seconds from Maidenhead’s other WJ16 double of Sophie Delaney and Aimee Campbell. This was a reversal of the encounter that took place between these two Maidenhead crews last weekend at Wallingford, so the next race will prove to be an interesting battle between these crews.

J18 Double Sculls. Sam Ashburner and Carl Delaney(Wallingford), although not pleased with how their race went, came away with a top performance and finished in 2nd place in a time of 12min 55s, 13 seconds behind the winning crew from Walton RC and ahead of some other leading GB junior athletes, 24 doubles competed in this event. Max Gerrard and Phil Clapp also put up a star performance finishing the course in 13min 6s and in a very credible 5th place only 5 seconds behind leading GB members from Windsor boys. This bodes well for the new season as these two Maidenhead doubles plan to race in a quad scull so the early signs are that this quad could be fast this season.

Maidenhead’s top boys and girls double scullers were provided sponsorship in the form of new boats to help them perform at the highest levels. These new ERB International racing boats, sponsored by Global Currency Exchange and Sports Match, have provided these top junior athletes with the equipment they require to compete at the highest levels. With impressive wins at Wallingford and now the Pairs Head both these top crews are now on their way to challenge for further GB vests in 2006.

In the Mens Senior 4 division we saw two Maidenhead crews battle it out for who was to be the top Maidenhead mens crew. This went to Lee Bruce and Roland Peters who completed the course in 13min 58s to be placed 10th in their division and 11 seconds ahead of Phil Lawton and Gareth Aitkin who finished in 13th place out of 27 doubles in this division.

In the Mens J16 division the competition was as usual strong and Tim Wildbore and Adam Lilley sculled well to record a good time 13min 57s, one second ahead of the mens double time and placing them 11th out of 18 doubles in their division.

In Womens Senior 3 doubles we would have expected Sims and Trinder to have won this division but they had to withdraw on the morning due to Sims suffering from a cold. Maidenhead’s second crew in this division Charlotte Weeks and Jo Wright sculled well to record a time of 15min 1s and be placed 9th out of 12 entries in this division.

In the Womens J18 division, not only did Maidenhead win this, but Caris Marsh and Laurian Pepper put up another good performance to be placed 3rd in a time of 14min 14s out of 18 doubles in this division.

In the Womens J16 division Maidenhead excelled by not only winning the division and setting a new course record, but we also finished in 2nd position with Sophie Delaney and Aimee Campbell narrowly missing out by just 10 seconds. There were 7 crews in this division. The winning Maidenhead time was 14min 35s, 2nd was Maidenhead in 14min 45s and in 3rd position was Lady Eleanor Holles School who finished in 15min 10s.