Summary of National Schools medal wins:

Friday 28th May racing over 1000m.

Max Gerrard competed in J15 single sculls and he did extremely well to make it through to the finals, finishing 2nd in his heat and then 3rd in the semi-finals to earn a place in the final. In the final Max did not have his best of starts but raced well to finish in a very credible 5th place and only 4 seconds off the Bronze.

Aimee Campbell and Chrissie Wright entered WJ14 double sculls and did well to win their first heat and qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals the racing was tough, Maidenhead were battling with Sir William Perkins for 3rd place, at 500mtrs Maidenhead were 4th 2.2 seconds down on Sir William Perkins and although pushing hard in the final 500mtrs Maidenhead were 2/100th of a second down at the finish line just missing out on a place in the final.

Maidenhead also entered two boys crews in the J14 coxed quad sculls. The first crew of Markus Clover, Matthew Reeve, Tom Halloran, Sam Prosser with cox Josh Prosser competed in the Canterbury Cup for 1st quads. Maidenhead competed well and in their heat they finished a very close 2nd behind St Edwards School and qualified for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals the competition was again tough and Maidenhead had to settle for 6th place finishing 0.5secs behind Tiffin School. This was good experience for this newly formed crew.

Claires Court School (Jack Rider, Josh Cremin, Phil Clapp, Rubins Van der Valk and cox Anthony Toma) also entered this event and they made it through to the final after some very close racing. In the final Claires Court raced extremely well to pick up a Bronze medal 0.3secs behind Silver and only 1.5seconds off the Gold medal.

The second J14 boys coxed quad sculls entered the Nautics Cup. This crew comprised of Toby Courtney, Andrew Cadden, Adam Lilley, William Beaumont with cox Rebecca Reeve. This crew raced well in its heat finishing ahead of Windsor Boys 'B' crew but behind Dulwich, Abingdon and Merchant Taylors to take 4th place, just missing out on a place in the next round. This again was good experience for this new crew.

Saturday 29th May racing over 2000m.

The final was lined up to be a good race with Maidenhead already achieving a great success by having both its crews qualifying for the finals in this hotly contested event. The final was a very tough race for both Maidenhead crews with Newark taking the lead at 500mtrs with Hollingworth Lake and Maidenhead 'B' battling for 2nd place down the entire course. At the finish line Maidenhead 'B' crew (Entwistle and Brooks) took the bronze medal with Maidenhead 'A' crew finishing in 6th place. This was an excellent result for both crews as three of these girls were racing above their age group and can race at this age group again next year.

The boys crew of Jones and Ashburner moved up to compete in the Championship doubles. In their first round they led from the front and finished 8 seconds ahead of Runcorn with St Peters in 3rd place. In the semi-final the racing became harder. Maidenhead were led to the 1000mtr mark by Windsor Boys School with Marlow one length behind. Maidenhead went on to win the semi-final by 4 seconds from Windsor Boys with Marlow finishing in 3rd place. Expectations were high for the final. American School led to the first 500mtrs with Maidenhead in 4th place. Windsor Boys took over the lead at 1000mtrs with American School in second place and Marlow in third position. Maidenhead pushed hard in the last 500mtrs but were unable to move into a medal position and finished 4th behind American School who took the Bronze, Marlow who took the Silver and Windsor Boys who took the Gold. Maidenhead boys can compete again in this event next year.

Sunday 30th May racing over 2000m.

Day 3. One Gold (WJ15 2x) and one Bronze (WJ16 2x) medal in the bag from the first two days of racing. Maidenhead had 5 crews competing on the last day and all crews were keen to add to the club medal honours.

In the Championship Girls 2x Maidenhead's crew of Natalie Trinder and Jo Wright exceeded their expectations by finishing second in their first heat behind Kings Chester and ahead of Sir William Borlase School who took 3rd place. These 3 crews qualified for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals Maidenhead raced well and from being in 3rd place at 500mtrs they moved passed Marlow RC to take the all important 2nd place at 1000mtrs, this position they held until the finish line taking 2nd place by 2 seconds from Marlow and winning a place in the grand final. The final saw the top crews in the country at this age group come together. Maidenhead finished in 6th place in the final.

Maidenhead entered a WJ16 quad which was a combination of the WJ15 2x and the WJ16 double. This crew combination demonstrated their ability to race and showed the high level of fitness they have achieved through the winter training. In their first race they were drawn against Canford, Sir William Borlase, Dame Alice and Lady E Holles. Under instructions to finish in a safe 3rd place and save themselves for the next round the girls were fast out of the blocks and led to the 500mtr mark at 1000mtrs they took the rating down and allowed Canford School to pass them finishing in a comfortable 2nd place. In the semi-final the draw was tough being drawn against most of the top quads - Molesey, Headington, Geo Watsons, Dame Alice and Star. Maidenhead new that they would have to race this semi-final to win a place in the final, at the 500mtr mark Maidenhead were in equal 3rd place behind Molesey and Geo Watsons. At 1000mtrs Molesey led with Geo Watsons in second place Headington now up to 3rd place and Maidenhead in 4th. With 500mtrs to go Maidenhead were still in 4th place 0.5sec off 3rd and 1.5secs off 2nd place. The last 500mtrs was a pleasure to see as this young crew turned on the speed and went passed two crews. The commentary was along the lines of "Maidenhead finishing like a train as they raised their rate of striking" and went passed both Headington and Geo Watsons to take a well deserved 2nd place and qualify for the final. The final was again a tough race but Maidenhead went from 4th to take 3rd place around the 1250mtr mark which they moved out to a clear 5 seconds lead to take the Bronze medal finishing behind Molesey and Lady E Holles. Three of the crew can race this event again next year so this was an excellent achievement for such a young crew.

The boys entered 3 crews in the J16 single sculls. Max Gerrard who is a J15 did well to come 3rd in his heat and qualify for the semi-finals behind a Tideway Scullers and Stourport sculler. Jones and Ashburner did what we have become to expect of them by winning both their heats. In the first semi-final Ashburner and Gerrard were drawn in the same heat and finished 1st and 4th respectively. Ashburner going through to the finals. Jones led from the front in his semi-final and came home in 1st place 4 seconds ahead of a Stourport sculler. The final was lined up to be a good race with both Maidenhead scullers expected to medal. In the final Jones led from the start and moved out to a six second lead at the finish line to take a Gold with Ashburner moving from 3rd place to second place at 1000mtrs and following Jones home to take a Silver medal.

Medal haul of the weekend increased to two Gold, one Silver and two Bronze which was a magnificent result for the club.