Maidenhead junior athletes Ally Brooks and Phil Clapp were selected to represent GB at one of the toughest European Junior International regattas on the circuit, competing against some of the best rowing athletes in Europe. This was of course a major achievement for the athletes and all the coaches involved at the club.
 
Performances at this regatta are looked at to help make decisions on the future path athletes should take when seeking selection for the junior Worlds to be held in Beijing in August this year.

At Munich, there was a light head wind on the Saturday morning, with a much stronger head wind during Saturday afternoon which continued on the Sunday.

Both Maidenhead athletes enjoyed their time competing at Munich and they would have learnt a great deal from the experience, which they can now take back to their club crews.
 
Ally Brooks
On the Saturday, Ally competed in a heat of JW1x and the task was to come first in the heat to make the A final, or second to make the B final. Any other position and you are out of the competition. Ally sculled well and racing strongly against 6 scullers, she battled it out with a Belgium sculler and a Swiss sculler to take second place by 3 seconds and qualify for the B final. In the B final Ally sculled well, but in a very stong head wind she found the conditions tough and finished in 5th place.

Ally’s main boat for the Sunday was the JW 2x where Ally teamed up with Sarah Cowburn to take 3rd place in their heat.

Also on the Sunday Ally was asked to step into the junior 8 rowing at 2. This GB scratch crew did well to finish a six lane heat in 3rd position only half a length off the winning crew. This qualified the crew for the final. In the final the eight did the best they could but with the various doubling up that took place during the day the toll of this was felt in the final where they finished in sixth place.

Phil Clapp
On the Saturday, Phil competed in the JM 1x and again with the toughest of European competion being present this was a good test for Phil. After winning his heat against scullers from Slovenia, Germany, Portugal and another German sculler and qualifying for the A final, Phil had a good scull in the final but could not match the pace of 2 slightly older scullers, but was pleased to take home a Bronze medal. Phil is young enough to do this event again next year.

On the Sunday, Phil competed in a double scull and a quadrupple sculling boat. After finishing 2nd in his heat of the double sculls Phil and his partner went on to take 4th place in the final. In the quad sculls event Phil finished in 1st place in his heat. A sub was put in for the final where they went on to finish 5th in the A final.

Next step for both Ally and Phil will be to attend final trials to be tested out in crew boats seeking the fastest GB crew boats possible to go forward to the Junior Worlds in Beijing this year.
 
Billy