This annual schools head, held over the famous 4.25 mile Chiswick to Putney course, attracts all the top rowing schools in Great Britain and is a true measure for club and school crews on how they are doing compared to all the top schools and clubs.

This year there were no J14 or J15 quad scull events, so both Maidenhead girl crews had athletes competing 1, 2 or even 4 years above their own age!

Despite giving away so many years the junior girls (pictured left) still managed to win the JW16 quad sculls event by a respectable margin of 23 seconds. Three of this crew (Ally Brooks , Alice Ancora  & Aimee Campbell) won the WJ14 class last year and despite these three crew members being under age for this J16 class, they still managed to win at this higher age group and in convincing style with Louise Entwistle on board. From the start this young Maidenhead crew went off at a fast pace rating 36 for the first minute and settled down to 33 for the main part of the race. Between Chiswick Bridge and Barnes Bridge the Maidenhead quad overtook two WJ16 8’s and continued to overtake a further 2 eights as they sculled strongly to Hammersmith Bridge. From here on the crew worked hard on the catches and in the water and managed to real in and pass two boys fours. Steering a good course this young fit crew managed to step on the accelerator for the last 1000mtrs and finish the course in a fast time of 20mins 31seconds to take this J16 quad title. In second place was Evesham Rowing Club 20mins 53 secs, 3rd place was Northwich RC in 21mins 17secs.
 
Maidenhead’s WJ18 quad scull (pictured right) of Natalie Trinder at stroke, Jo Wright, Laurian Pepper and Rebekah Kerns steering, also did extremely well to finish in 5th place, especially taking into account that most of the top 10 crews at this age group had GB J18 candidates on board looking to impress selectors. All credit to this Maidenhead crew as they had one J14 on board who steered the course well. A similar race plan to the J16 crew this crew attacked the course from the start and raced well overtaking 4 or 5 quad sculls over the length of the course. This 5th place finish was a credit to the consistent endurance training all these young athletes have worked so hard at. St Neots won this WJ18 event in 20mins 12 secs, 2nd was Latymer School in 20m 20secs, 3rd was Kingston GS in 20m 39sec, 4th was Canford School ‘A’ crew in 20m 41sec and 5th was Maidenhead in 20m 45secs.

The boys J16 quad sculls crew (pictured above) is a new combination which is showing continued improvement after each outing. In a hotly contested J16 event the Maidenhead boys of Phil Clapp, Max Gerrard, Matt Reeve and Matt Best sculled well over the course overtaking a number of crews and finishing in 4th place in this J16 division. Tiffin School won in 18m 50secs, Henley RC 2nd in 18m 58secs, St Leonards 3rd in 19m 09sec and Maidenhead 4th in 19m 10secs.

Dave Jones and Sam Ashburner raced in the J18 quad sculls for Sir William Borlase School (pictured above)and finished in joint first position having to share the honours with Windsor Boys School.

Billy Brooks
Captain Juniors

Photo's Courtesy of Big Blade