Junior Rowers News Section 2005/2006 Maidenhead 5th August 2006 The first weekend of August saw us at Maidenhead. Jess Hall & Emma Gadsden, again in the Womens Junior 15 Double Sculls, had a good win over an Eton Excelsior crew in the semi final but came up against Eton’s top crew in the final who stormed away from the start and were uncatchable over the 500 metres of that course. The rest of the team were Tim Bailey, David Phillips, Sarah Ient and Alex Forster who, to use a phrase of David’s "gained valuable experience". Burway 23rd July 2006 At Burway, Chloe Carter was the first of the day to row and started it off well with a win against a Maidenhead sculler. The Women’s Junior 15 Quad scull also had a good day, overcoming Marlow (always a hard club to beat) by a good margin in the semi final. In the final they gave Sir William Perkins School a very hard race which was neck and neck all the way but Perkins just got their bows in front to win by a third of a length. The Women’s Junior 15 Double of Jess Hall & Emma Gadsden did well to beat Maidenhead by 3 lengths but in the later round were side by side with Weybridge over most of the course but Weybridge just managed to get their nose in front at the line. Tom Henton in only his third Regatta had his first win in the Junior 13 single sculls. Kingston 8th and 9th July 2006 At Kingston early in July, 16 year old Tom Bloomfield won an adult Senior 4 single scull and then with Mike Bailey also won his J16 age group in a double scull over the 100metre course on the Saturday. The following day over a shorter 500m course, the junior team of Tom Wade, Jess Palmer, Jess Hall, Emma Gadsden and Chloe Carter were not quite so successful. They all did their best but there was some stiff opposition and regretably only Tom Wade made a final. Thames Ditton Regatta 13th May 2006 The Junior Section was in action here for the first time. This regatta is unusual in that it although it is a knockout competition, they also put on a separate (plate) event for beaten first round competitors. Both our girls’ crews were beaten in the first round by Weybridge and Wallingford but were drawn against each other in the Plate event. This proved an exiting race with Jess Hall and Emma Gadsden just beating their club mates Emma Phillips and Bethan Watson. This put them into the semi final where they met a Kings School, Canterbury crew. Jess and Emma rowed really well starting off neck and neck but Kings eventually pulled away to win by 2 lengths in a very fast time. Alex Forster completed the squad racing in a single for only the second time. In her heat she went extremely well but was up against a very strong girl from Kings School Canterbury who turned out to be the eventual winner. The Chairman commented afterwards "It was the first regatta for most of this group, they all gave of their best and more and should be proud of their achievements." Ball Cup Regatta Dorney Lake, Eton Sunday May 7th 2006 The Club took a small group of local school pupils to the Ball Cup Regatta at Dorney Lake, Eton last week. This event, over a straight multi-lane course of 1000 metres, is aimed at schools with small numbers of rowers and is a very useful first regatta of the season to gauge their progress against other competitors in the same age groups. Burgess Hill School and Brighton College both entered two competitors. For the former, Alex Forster and Dom Daly in the Women’s J18 group went off with an explosive start and rowed extremely well to come second to an outstanding crew from the American School in London. For Brighton, Polly Hutchinson & Shanti Rajkumar in the Women’s J15 group rowed very tidily and controlled until one of them lost her blade but managed to recover it very quickly and end up in 5th position. Warden Park entered 6 young people, 2 Doubles and 3 Singles. The latter had a mixed day against some very proficient competitors from the Thames side Clubs and managed a 3rd (Tom Henton) and two 6ths (Jason Sinclair and Chloe Carter). The double of Chloe Carter and Anita Ramanan went really well and came a creditable 4th, just ahead of their Brighton College club mates. Anita’s younger sister Anjali lost her regular partner a week before the event through illness but persuaded Zoë Hayward to take the place and against some “well fancied” schools came a very respectable 7th. Overall, a successful day with all the young people really giving of their best and more and having the opportunity to row on the most perfect stretch of water normally only available to elite rowers. QUICK REPORT LINKS Maidenhead 05 August Burway 23 July Kingston 8/9 July Thames Ditton 13 May Ball Cup Regatta Dorney Lake 07 May