 Maidenhead Junior Regatta took place on Sunday 17th May over a 500m upstream course, finishing just downstream of the railway bridge.The weather ranged from sunny through light showers to heavy downpours. In the afternoon, crews had to deal with challenging windy conditions and rough water but despite this there were many excellent races with parents and coaches cheering the crews from the regatta enclosure.
There was a large entry this year. As well as Maidenhead RC, Tideway Scullers, Headington School, Claire's Court school, Sir William Borlase School, Reading RC, Henley RC, Eton Excelsior RC, Guildford RC, Weybridge RC and Molesey RC all sent crews to compete in the 16 events. Events were for boys and girls coxed quads for J12 through to J15 ages and double sculls for J16s, with two categories at J13, J14 and J15 level - "Beginner" for less experienced crews and "Club" for more experienced crews (but restricted to juniors who have not competed at national level events). Unfortunately, regular attenders Lady Eleanor Holles School were unable to attend this year due to an outbreak of swine flu at Hampton School, with whom LEH share a boathouse.
There were 127 (128 if you include a re-row) races - one every four minutes from just after 8am until nearly 6pm with just an hour's break for lunch.
Maidenhead RC had a particularly successful day, finishing with four wins (the most of any club), two for the boys and two for the girls.
Prizes were presented at the end of the day in the clubhouse by former Maidenhead Junior, Rob Williams, who won a World Championships Bronze medal in 2007, and who will be representing Great Britain in the lightweight double sculls in the forthcoming Rowing World Cup.
Winning Maidenhead Crews
J14 'Club'
In the J14 'Club' event, the Maidenhead crew of Lewis Morgan, Will Brockwell, Josh Taylor, Oliver Palmer, with cox Connor Lane, beat Tideway Scullers in the first round and, by a quirk of the draw after Tideway Scullers had won their repechage race, faced the same crew again, with the same result, in their next race. In the final, they lined up against the Claire's Court 'A' crew and drew away to a comfortable 2 lengths win.
J16
The J16 double scull ofMatt Granger and Stephan Blakeslee fought their way through three rounds to emerge as victors in the final against the Claire's Court 'B' crew.
WJ14 'Club'
The Maidenhead WJ14 'Club' Quad of Ella Campbell, Caitlin O'Shea, Emily Beaumont and Danielle Blakeslee, coxed by Zoe Broadbent had a thrilling first race against the Sir William Borlase School 'B' crew, which resulted in a dead heat. This meant that they had to return immediately to the start to race again. This time they gradually pulled ahead and won by a length. In the semi-final they raced the Borlase 'A' crew and defeated them (at the first attempt this time) to reach the final. Meanwhile, Borlase 'B' also reached the final through the repechage against Molesey RC, so the final was set up for a repeat of the heat. Fortunately, Maidenhead repeated their performance of the heat re-row and pulled away towards the end to win by just over a length. This was quite an achievement by the Maidenhead crew as two of them are still only WJ13s.
WJ15 'Beginner'
The Maidenhead WJ15 'Beginner' Quad of Alex Black, Alicia Wiltshire, Ariana Renucci and Ciara Haughey, coxed by Emily Birch surprised themselves in the heat by steadily pulling away from Guildford RC to achieve a confidence-boosting win. The semi-final was a dramatic affair against Eton Excelsior with one of the Maidenhead crew losing her blade in the rough conditions. The crew stopped so the blade could be recovered leaving them some way behind but, undeterred and confident from their first round victory, they set off in pursuit and had overhauled the opposition by the time they reached the regatta enclosure. In the final, they faced a crew from Borlase and in a tough race, the Maidenhead crew prevailed by just over a length. This was a first regatta win for all the girls in the boat except the cox.
Other Maidenhead Crews
The youngest Maidenhead crews,the WJ12 'A' Crew ofMaddy Dobson, Hannah Woffinden, Grace Poynter and Caitlin Wiltshire, coxed by Lexy Dobson and the 'B' crew of Charley Higgs, Ella Mutch, Matilda Swift and Charlotte Gibson, coxed by Kate Woffinden both won their first races and the 'A' crew then won their second race and progressed to the quarter final before being knocked out by a very strong Headington crew.
The Maidenhead J16 double scull ofJosh Lee and Max Bridgeman-Williams won their first race but were eliminated in the repechage by Guildford RC.
The composite Maidenhead/Weybridge WJ16 double scull of Daisy Green (Maidenhead) and Claudia Daley (Weybridge), with only two practice outings together, raced bravely against much more experienced crews but were eliminated in the repechage by eventual finalists Reading RC.
The Maidenhead J15 'Club' crew ofLewis Morgan, Will Brockwell, Josh Taylor, Oliver Palmer plus cox Connor Lane were eliminated in their repechage race by a Claire's Court crew which then progressed to the final.
Victor Ludorum
The Victor Ludorum prize of 100 for the most successful visiting club was won by Reading RC with three wins. This prize was set up by Janet Blogg in memory of her late husband, Harold Blogg, who was a member of Maidenhead RC for over 30 years, many of which as regatta secretary, and a very active Amateur Rowing Association umpire. Both Janet and Harold were great supporters of junior rowing.
Overall results:
| Maidenhead RC |
4 wins |
| Reading RC |
3 wins |
| Headington School |
2 wins |
| Henley RC |
2 wins |
| Tideway Scullers |
2 wins |
| Molesey RC |
1 win |
| Sir William Borlase school |
1 win |
| Eton Excelsior |
1 win |
Full list of event winners:
| J13 Club |
Reading RC |
| WJ12 |
Headington School A |
| WJ14 Beginner |
Henley RC |
| J16 Club 2x |
Maidenhead RC |
| WJ13 Beginner |
TidewayScullers |
| J13 Beginner |
Molesey RC B |
| WJ15 Beginner |
Maidenhead RC |
| WJ15 Club |
Borlase B |
| J14 Club |
Maidenhead RC |
| J14 Beginner |
Henley RC |
| WJ13 Club |
Headington School A |
| WJ16 Club 2x |
Eton Excelsior RC |
| J12 |
Reading RC A |
| J15 Club |
Tideway Scullers |
| J15 Beginner |
Reading RC |
| WJ14 Club |
Maidenhead RC |
Photos:
 The winning Maidenhead WJ14 'Club' Quad
 The winning WJ15 'Beginner' Quad
 All the Maidenhead RC winning girls
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