|
One of the UK’s top regattas took place at Dorney Lake on the weekend of 30/31st May over the full 2000m course. Maidenhead Rowing Club entered five women's crews and came away with two excellent wins.
Saturday
In the Women's Intermediate 1 double sculls Maidenhead entered two crews in a hotly contested field of 21. Maidenhead’s senior crew of Fay Littlewood & Claire Cann competed in the 2nd of 3 heats where the first 2 crews past the finish line went through to the final. Maidenhead raced well against 6 other crews but at the finish line they crossed the line in 3rd place just missing out on a place in the final.
Maidenhead’s second crew was a composite with Sarah Perkins of Corio Bay RC Australia and Ally Brooks of Maidenhead RC. Both these girls have just returned from University in Boston where they have been competing in the University first eight. Switching back to sculling, they were a little unsure how well the switch would go but they paced themselves well in the third heat where they qualified in second place for the final. In the final, both girls were confident that they could go faster, and battle against the other heat winners which included a fast Henley RC double (winners in Gent) and the Mortlake Anglian crew who were very fast starters. Mortlake led the final until the 1,000m mark when the Maidenhead composite put in a sustained push that saw them scull past Mortlake to take a comfortable 3 lengths win with Henley RC also passing Mortlake in the final stages to take second place.
In a straight 6-boat final, the Women's Intermediate 1 Coxed Four of Helen Stewart, Sarah Archibald, Claire Wallace, Katie Dunlevy and Claire Toney (cox) finished third behind City of Oxford RC and Stratford-upon-Avon RC and well ahead of fourth placed York City RC.
Sunday
The winning Maidenhead composite double from Saturday moved up to Womens Senior doubles class and raced well, gradually moving through the field to win the semi-final. In the final, Mortlake Anglian went off even faster than they had on Saturday and moved out to one and a half lengths at the 750m mark with Maidenhead composite in second place and Henley in third. By the 1,000m mark the Maidenhead composite drew level and within the next 200 meters they moved 2 lengths clear. They sculled in control to the finish line for a 2.5 lengths win over Henley RC and whilst conserving energy for their later quad event final.
The Women's Intermediate 1 Quad event saw both Maidenhead crews winning places in the final. The Maidenhead senior crew of Sarah Archibald, Claire Wallace, Katie Dunlevy and Claire Cann battled well to finish in 3rd place in their semi-final to qualify for the final. The Maidenhead composite crew of Ally Brooks, Alice Ancora, Sarah Perkins & Natalie Trinder won their semi-final against the Reading University 'A' crew which had 4 former junior internationals on board. In the final, the Maidenhead composite did not have a good start and Reading University took an early lead which they consolidated into a 2.5 length win at the finish, with the Maidenhead composite in second place and the Maidenhead senior crew finishing in 6th place. Overall, an excellent result to have two Maidenhead crews in the final of this tough event. |
