WJ14 Coxed Quadruple Scull                                 WJ15 Double Scull

All racing was over 2000mtrs with heats on the Friday, semi-finals on the Saturday and Finals on the Sunday.

Junior athletes from Maidenhead competed in eight events making the finals of five, resulting in 2 Golds, 2 fourth places and one 6th place. This was an excellent overall performance from the club and a wonderful opportunity to show Maidenhead juniors competing and winning at the highest levels.

Maidenhead came home with two magnificent National titles in the WJ15 2x and the WJ14 coxed quads events. Both events were won in style with impressive winning margins of 17 seconds and 8 seconds respectively.

First Gold medal came from the WJ15 double scullers of Louise Entwistle and Ally Brooks. Entwistle and Brooks raced on the Friday and through winning their heat they qualified for a direct place in the Sunday finals. Hollingworth Lake won the other heat and were seen as the main competition for the finals. In the final, Maidenhead lined up against Lea RC, Putney HS/Thames, Burway RC, Northwich RC and Hollingworth Lake RC.  With a good start Maidenhead took an immediate lead, at 500mtrs Maidenhead were 4 seconds clear over Hollingworth Lake with Northwich a further seven seconds behind. Maidenhead continued to keep up the pressure and at the 1000mtr mark they moved out to a ten seconds lead. The second half of the course saw Maidenhead turn on the power and go-away from all the field finishing 17 seconds ahead of silver medalists Holligworth Lake and 24 seconds ahead of 3rd place Northwich RC recording a very impressive win.

Second Gold came from the WJ14 coxed quad of Rebekah Kerns, Aimee Campbell, Alice Ancora, Chrissie Wright with cox Owen Davies. This young crew also won their heat on the Friday to qualify for a direct route into the Sunday finals. In this six boat final the main competition was expected from Evesham RC and Henley RC who also won direct places into the final. Maidenhead had a good start and nosed in front of the field leading at the 500mtr mark by half-a-length with Evesham in 2nd place and Henley RC in 3rd. At the 1000mtr mark Evesham put in a big push and reduced Maidenhead's clear water lead back to 3/4 of length. From this point onwards Maidenhead began to draw away with every stroke and at the finish line Maidenhead finished 8 seconds ahead of Evesham RC to take the clubs second Gold medal, Henley RC 3rd, Runcorn RC in 4th, Sir William Borlase School 5th and Marlow RC 6th

Competing in the WJ16 double sculls was Charlotte Weeks and Laurian Pepper. This crew had to qualify for the finals through winning their heat on the Friday beating Marlow RC, Sir William Borlase and George Watson's and finishing in 3rd place in the semi-finals on the Saturday behind Newark and Reading RC. The finals were expected to be tough with Newark RC and Reading RC having faster times and Maidenhead had to go two lengths faster to compete with Molesey BC. As it turned out Maidenhead had an excellent race with Molesey, and at the 1500mtr mark were 0.4 seconds behind, during the last 500mtrs Maidenhead raised its rate of striking and just pipped Molesey by 0.04 secs to take fourth place. Durham/Queen Elizabeth High School taking the bronze medal, Maidenhead 4th, Molesey 5th and Marlow 6th.

Competing in the WJun double sculls was Natalie Trinder and Jo Wright. After finishing second in their heat and qualifying for the Sunday finals Maidenhead did extremely well to improve on last years sixth position. Avon County won Gold, Weybridge Ladies Silver, Wycliffe Sculling Centre Bronze, Maidenhead 4th ahead of Latymer Upper School 5th and Marlow RC who finished in 6th place.

Competing in the Senior WLwt quads for the first time was Charlotte Weeks, Laurian Pepper, Natalie Trinder and Jo Wright. In a straight six boat final this young crew had a taste of what it will be like at racing at senior lightweight level. Although finishing in sixth place, experience was gained as the crew finished not too far behind top rowing clubs London, Wallingford/Thames. Vicky Sims of Maidenhead won a Bronze medal racing for Mortlake Anglian RC in this event.

Competing in the J15 single sculls was Max Gerrard and Matt Best. Both boys qualified through to the Saturday semi-finals. In the semi-finals the draw was tough with last years Gold, Silver and Bronze all drawn in the same heat as both Maidenhead scullers, with only 3 going through to the next round. The boys raced well in the semi-finals but had to settle for 4th and 6th positions.

In a composite J14 double with Marlow RC, Sam Prosser made it through to the semi-finals. In the Friday heats they came fifth, leaving them to race in the repechage for a semi-final place. Later in the day this composite double raced well and won its repechage. On the Saturday the conditions were tough and the boys came in 6th behind Upper Thames, Ardingly RC, two Walton crews and Merchant Taylors School.



Billy Brooks
Captain Juniors