See picture(s) of Ally Brooks & Sarah Perkins leading the field at Metropolitan Regatta held at Dorney Lake where the Olympics will take place in 2012.

http://events.birdmanphotography.com/?Action=VF&id=2206416250&ppwd=tb2598mf

Not knowing how they would perform after just a couple of weeks training together for the double sculls event, this young talented crew were delighted to perform well and win the event at the Metroplolitan Regatta on both days against a strong field of 22 doubles which included Henley RC who won at a recognised European regatta in Gent, Belgium. This composite crew were led to the 750mtr mark by Henley RC but had the power and confidence to make their move and take a clear 2 lengths lead at the point where they moved. They went on to win by 12 seconds from 2nd place crew Henley RC with other established crews finishing further back. Ally Brooks & Sarah Perkins repeated their success on day 2 of the Metropolitan regatta.

Ally Brooks and Sarah Perkins teamed up with Alice Ancora and Natalie Trinder of Maidenhead RC to double up and compete in the quadruple sculls on the second day. In this event they won the semi-finals and had a good race in a six lane final to finish 2 lengths down on Reading University A crew. The Reading University A crew had four former junior internationals on board. Reading University went on to win at Henley Womens Regatta.

Henley Womens Regatta 19th to 21st June 2009.

This left 3 weeks of further training to step up to the Womens Elite 2x’s scull event at the prestigious Henley Womens Regatta. The press surrounding this particular event was all about two Olympians who were strongly tipped to meet in the final of Elite 2x’s.

In the first round Ally Brooks & Sarah Perkins received a row over which may have had something to do with beating this particular crew by 30secs at the London Metropolitan Regatta held over 2,000 metres.

Next round saw Ally Brooks and Sarah Perkins racing against Sarah Winckless (double World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist) and Victoria Wood in the semi-finals of Elite 2x’s. Racing hard off the start Ally Brooks & Sarah Perkins took an early lead which they gradually increased every stroke to move out to a 4 and a half length lead crossing the finish line. This was a special moment racing and winning against an Olympian.

Having now knocked out one of the favourites they next had to race a Leander crew comprising Olympic Gold medallist and world champion Debbie Flood, and lightweight Jane Hall who won gold in the lightweight quadruple sculls at the World Cup in Poznan last year and silver at the 2007 World Championships.

This Leander crew set a new course record in the semi-finals and Ally Brooks & Sarah Perkins knew they had to race their best to win against this highly rated double from Leander RC. At the start both crews went off rating 50 looking to gain an early advantage, Ally Brooks and Sarah Perkins raced very well to be pushing the Leander crew at the halfway point and only 1 length down. During the second half of the course the Leander double pushed hard to move out and cross the finish line 3lengths ahead of Brooks and Perkins.

View the video of the final at 1m 47sec http://events.birdmanphotography.com/?Action=VF&id=2206416250&ppwd=tb2598mf

This was a truly exceptional performance from two girls just out of junior rowing and competing at the very highest of standards at Henley Womens Regatta.

Well done to both athletes for establishing an excellent reputation at these two leading UK regatta’s.

Billy Brooks