Wallingford Regatta, now the biggest one day regatta in the UK, is the first real test of the regatta season after the hard training over the winter and is a true test of fitness and stamina. Maidenhead sent only 7 crews this year from the Junior Advanced and High Performance squads, as over-subscription hindered a full entry.

Racing started at 8am and finished just before 7pm with over 130 races, so this was a long day in testing conditions. Maidenhead scullers and rowers performed well to achieve 4 victories at this prestigious regatta, as well as a number of very good competitive results.

Pictured: Lucy Walczak and Louise Entwistle with The Dorney Trophy for Women's Elite Double Sculls.

Multi-lane racing over 1500m at Dorney always poses a challenge to any rower where the conditions can rapidly change. This year was no exception with conditions deteriorating as the day went on and a strong, cold wind, changing from cross to tail, sent white horses down the course at various times during the day.

Girls
In the WJ16 Double Sculls Maidenhead had 2 entries, Maidenhead 'A' of Maddie Reynolds and Aimee Broadbent and Maidenhead 'B' of Fifi Bevan and Gabby Watson who were racing 2 years up. In a straight final, Marlow went quickly off the start and continued to push hard to move away from the other crews. As all of the crews pushed towards the finish, the Marlow double kept their lead with Maidenhead 'B' in 2nd place and the Maidenhead 'A' crew in 4th.

In the WJ15 Coxed Quad straight final, Maidenhead's crew of Anna Campbell, Emma Kerns, Rebecca Reeve, Lucy Brockwell and cox Zoe Broadbent sculled well down the course, and finished 4th in a competitive race where Headington school 'B' beat Headington school 'A' in a close finish.

The WJ14 Coxed Quad of Felicity Young, Henrietta Jenkins, Rachael Aldridge, Lexy Dobson and cox Zoe Broadbent (pictured left) sculled in the second of two heats where they had a poor start after Lexy Dobson caught a crab. They continued to push down the course but never looked like catching the Headington School 'A' crew, who won by 19 seconds. Nevertheless, they had achieved their objective of qualifying for the final by finishing in second place whilst not sculling flat out. After strong words from coach Laura Lion and 4 hours for the crew to reflect, the girls started well in the final, but were still two seconds behind both Headington and Marlow (winners of the first heat) at the 500m mark. At 1000m, Headington, who had probably expected to win as easily as in their heat, could not shake off Marlow and Maidenhead, with all three crews neck and neck. Marlow then made a push and took a slim lead from Maidenhead with Headington unable to respond. Maidenhead now made their own final push for the line and, sculling beautifully, went past Marlow and away in the final 250 metres winning by two lengths (6 secs) with Headington a further 2 seconds back, to take The Portcullis Cup.

Maidenhead's Louise Entwistle teamed up with fellow GB Junior Lucy Walczak from Hollingworth Lake and ambitiously entered the Women's Senior Elite Double Sculls, competing for The Dorney Trophy. They made it through to the final where they faced a senior double from Leander club, who at the 1000m mark were only one second ahead of the Maidenhead /Hollingworth Lake composite. With the composite starting to apply pressure, the Leander crew caught a crab and lost a stroke. Seeing this, the Maidenhead/Hollingworth double took the advantage and pushed hard to the end, winning by 2 seconds from the Leander crew for a famous win and a big scalp.

In the WJ18 Quad, another straight final for The Yeatman Cup, Maidenhead's crew of Louise Entwistle, Alice Ancora, Sophie Delaney and Katie Lion (pictured right), led from the start and pushed hard to comfortably win in 5m 18s, 9 seconds ahead of Marlow and Bedford High school. Both Katie and Alice are only WJ16 athletes, so this was a tremendous performance.

Boys
The Maidenhead boys section made just one entry which was a J16 coxed four composite with Maidstone Invicta for the Stakhanovite Cup. The four was formed from two double sculls medallists from last years National Championships. Ertan Hazine and Alex Ryde from Maidenhead teamed up with Alex Torbica and Craig Turner from Maidstone and with Emma Sanerkin from Maidenhead coxing. The field consisted of eleven well known rowing schools and the Maidenhead/Maidstone club composite were rowing for the first time together on the day. The semi-final saw a good race develop between four crews for three final places. Maidenhead/Maidstone, Eton College 'A' and Shiplake were the qualifiers edging out Pangbourne by 0.19 seconds. The final saw four crews get an early lead on the rest of the field. Eton College 'B' made a fast start but could not maintain their pace. The Maidenhead/Maidstone composite, rowing with good technique and long strokes in the water edged, ahead of the field to win by 7.5 seconds in a time of 5m 6s, from Eton College 'A' with Westminster Schools in third place.

Senior Women
The Maidenhead senior women competed in the Women's Senior 2 coxed fours. Unfortunately, with just three crews progressing to the final, their close fourth place in the heat, only 6 seconds behind the heat winners Molesey, was insufficient. However, their coach, Eric Sims, was greatly encouraged to learn that they were faster than all the crews in the second heat.