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: 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze. 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.





Picture from Natures Images.

Maidenhead Rowing Club entered 17 crews, from a squad of 16 girls and 12 boys aged between 14 and 18, into 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 school's equivalent to the National Championships, so the event is taken very seriously by top rowing schools as the Championship event results affect the seeding for schools events at Henley Royal Regatta. Any medal is hard to come by and is arguably seen as more difficult than at the 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.

Friday
Racing started off 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, 2 seconds ahead of 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 partnering Alex Ryde and Ross McCorriston partnering Simon Lilley. Ross and Simon had the fastest time in the eliminators, beating Ertan and Alex in the semi by just over a second, though both crews qualified. 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 in J15 1x 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
The weather changed and racing became slightly easier, although a strong head wind 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 after 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 2 seconds clear. 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 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 seconds ahead of their nearest opponents. In the final, Maidenhead once again dominated the event, and won easily by 10 seconds over a crew from Dame Alice Harper School.

Sunday
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 J16G 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 seconds.

In the J16G 1x Aimee Campbell was 4th in her semi- final just failing to qualify for the final .
 
The J15 4x+ 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 during the weekend, this time in the Ch 4x, and along with crewmates Max Gerrard, Dave Jones and Phil Clapp won a bronze.
 
In the  ChG 1x, Maidenhead's GB athlete Louise Entwistle sculled well to come through the heats in to the final, in the same event Philippa Cuss and Charlotte Weeks 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 who went on to win. Louise sculled well and the race for second place went right to the end with the Maidenhead sculler just 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 ChG 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, Laurian Pepper
 
Silver
J16G 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.

Thanks to the boat transportation shared between Steve Clapp, Adrian Delaney and Jamie Broadbent. Two full trailers were required at this event.

Thanks also to Sean Kerns who ensured all junior crews had no problems with boats, got to the start in time and Sean was in charge of managing the trailer boat loading and unloading, all very time consuming support tasks for the juniors.


Billy Brooks
Captain Juniors