On Sunday 26th, at a very blustery Dorney Lake, Maidenhead’s young crews competed for places in the Upper Thames rowing squad to compete at the Inter Regional Championships, to be held on the 14th May at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. The conditions over the 1500m course 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.
Division 1
The day started off with the quads, and with the WJ16 4x of Alice Ancora, Aimee Campbell, Ally Brooks and Rebekah Kerns finished in 2nd place, coming in 4 seconds 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, Carmel Bevan and cox Charlotte Weeks, sculled well to win in a time of 6min 16s 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, Fifi Bevan and cox Laurian Pepper, came third in 6min 42s to a strong Marlow crew (6min 33s) who were selected. The Maidenhead “B” crew of Lexy Dobson, Felicity Young, Henrietta Jenkins, Lucy Brockwell and cox Rachel Aldridge, struggled with the conditions, finishing 7th in 7min 28s.
Division 2
Maidenhead boys J15 2x crew of Ertan Hazine and Alex Ryde started the division off well with a fine win in 5min 58s from a Walton crew who had previously beaten them. In the girls WJ15 2x, Maidenhead’s crew of Rebekah Kerns and Katie Lion were selected after winning in a time of 6min 42s from Eton Exclesior. In the WJ16 2x, Maddi Reynolds had to step in for the ill Sophie Delaney and sculled well with Aimee Campbell to come second in 6min 44s to the winning Marlow crew.
The final race in Div 2 was the WJ14 2x. Maidenhead’s 2 entries in this event finished 3rd and 4th behind a good crew from City of Oxford. The Maidenhead “B” crew of Fifi Bevan and Rebecca Reeve coming in 3rd in 7min 03s and the “A” crew of Anna Campbell and Emma Kerns 4th in 7min 08s.
Division 3
The conditions in Div 3 started to worsen and it made things really rough for the single scullers. In the J16 1x event, Phil Clapp sculled well to win in 6min 06s and be selected. In the same event for the girls WJ16 1x, Ally Brooks won comfortably in 6min 52s from a sculler from Dorney Boat club. Maidenhead continued to perform well and in the WJ15 1x, Alice Ancora won in a time of 7min 01s. With only 2 events remaining, Maidenhead’s final winner was in the J14 1x where Robert Ashburner won in a very good time of 6min 37s form Eton Excelsior. In the WJ14 1x Carmel Bevan of Maidenhead finished 4th in 7min 46s and Lexy Dobson, rowing up a year, 8th in 8min 40s.
A summary of selected crews:
| WJ15 4x |
Katie Lion, Maddi Reynolds, Aimee Broadbent, Carmel Bevan & Charlotte Weeks (cox) |
| J15 2x |
Ertan Hazine,Alex Ryde |
| WJ15 2x |
Rebekah Kerns, Katie Lion |
| J16 1x |
Phil Clapp |
| WJ16 1x |
Ally Brooks |
| WJ15 1x |
Alice Ancora |
| J14 1x |
Robert Ashburner |
Full report with thanks to our new junior reporter - Fiona Dobson.
Billy Brooks
Captain Juniors |
