The Senior Women's Squad and Advanced Juniors section competed in 10 events at Reading Small Boats Head on Sunday 15th October. Crews faced changeable conditions over the 3,300 metre downstream as strong gusts of wind tested crews technique, power and resolve.

Maidenhead came away with wins in WS2 Coxed Fours, WJ16 and WJ15 Single Sculls, and WJ14 Coxed Quad.

Senior Women
Maidenhead Women's Squad, now in their sixth week of winter training, kicked off their head racing season at this event, entering 5 events and coming home with one win.

The squad's top four of Alison Evans, Claire Wallace, Keri Johnson, Caroline Dakers and cox Emma Sanerkin, racing in WS2 4+ in both divisions, recorded the fastest two times in the class, easily beating their closest rivals from Reading Rowing Club. Their winning time was 15min 30s.

The squad's second coxed four of Helen Stewart, Sarah Hzecko, Hayley Wildmore, Jo Macbeth and cox Emily Webster, raced at WS4 4+ in Division 1 and finished 3rd in class with a time 16min 18s. In Division 2 they competed in WS3 4+ and though a slower time of 16min 32s saw them finish 2nd in class they were well beaten by a quick Reading University crew.

The squad also entered Senior 4 Quad consisting of Sarah Bennett-Baggs, Rosemary Elder, Olivia McDermott and Louisa Sutherland-Spiller in Division1. Their time of 15min 29s gave them 2nd place and was officially the fastest Maidenhead time of the day. In Division 2 a crew shuffle saw the new combination of Helen Jacob, Rosemary Elder, Louisa Sutherland-Spiller and Gillian Kidd record a time of 16min 7s. Despite difficult conditions and a strong headwind all crews did a good job and maintained their positions down the course.

Vicki Sims also entered her single in the WS2 1x class. She finished 2nd with a time of 16min 30s - a very creditable performance after her win in the Pairs Head the day before.

Advanced Juniors
In Division 1, WJ16 1x, Aimee Broadbent sculled extremely well to win the event in 17min 44s, 34 seconds ahead of Miles of Headington School.

In the WJ15 4x+, Lexy Dobson, Anna Campbell, Lucy Brockwell and Katherine Henderson with cox Zoe Broadbent, worked hard to keep the Headington school 'A' crew from overtaking them, which they did, but the Headington A crew finished in a time 19 seconds quicker. Headington 'A'  later went on to improve their time in the second division, dropping Maidenhead down to 3rd ahead of Headington 'B'.

The final event in the division saw the WJ14 1x's in action. Rebecca Reeve sculled very well to finish the top sculler in 18m 35s in this division. However Emily Beard from Reading, sculling in Division 2, came home to win the category in a time of 18min 17s. In this race Maidenhead also took 4th with Felicity Young in 19min 40s, 5th with Henrietta Jenkins in 19min 52s, and 6th with Rachel Aldridge in 21min 3s who unfortunately suffered equipment failure when her foot plate fell off.

In Division 2 the weather changed. The wind abated, the sun shone  and the course seemed to row quicker. In the WJ15 1x, Anna Campbell sculled really well to win in 18min 23s from Katherine Henderson, 2nd in 19min 17s and Lucy Brockwell in 4th place in 19min 26s.

The WJ14 4x+ crew of Felicity Young, Rebecca Reeve, Henrietta Jenkins and Rachel Aldridge with cox Zoe Broadbent, flew down the course to win in a time of 16min 2s, 44 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals from Headington School. This was a first win for the new boat supplied through sponsorship with Sports Match and Michael Shanly Trust.


Fiona Dobson / Huw Jenkins