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Maidenhead Regatta 2011
Maidenhead Regatta was held on Saturday 13th August over the usual 500m upstream course with the finish just below Maidenhead railway bridge. Racing started at 9.00am and continued until 5.30pm with a total of 115 races at roughly 3-minute intervals. The promised rain was largely absent and racing conditions were generally good, disturbed only by cruiser wash. The regatta added an international dimension this year due to the entry of several Russian student crews from St Petersburg University. The students have been training out of Maidenhead RC since before Henley Royal Regatta and dominated each of the three events they entered, with, in several cases their smaller boats racing each other in heats and finals. Particularly welcome was a large contingent from Marlow RC whose boathouse suffered a major fire the previous week, racing in a combination of their own and borrowed boats. They were rewarded by winning the Victor Ludorum for the most successful visiting club with 10 event wins. Maidenhead RC was the most successful club overall with 14 event wins.
The origins of Maidenhead Rowing Club are not clear, but records of Henley Royal Regatta indicate that there was an entry from ‘The Star Club, Maidenhead’ in 1840, and as the club’s symbol is a green star, there may be some direct connection. The very first Rowing Almanack gives details of a regatta held in Maidenhead in 1860 and is known that the present club was in existence around the 1870s.
The club recorded its first Henley Royal Regatta win in 1924 in the Thames Cup, a second success followed in 1939 beating Tigre Boat Club from Argentina in the final of the coxless fours. Notable past members include Bert Bushnell, winner of the double sculls at the 1948 Olympics, and William Grenfell, later Lord Desborough of Taplow, who, among his many achievements competed for Oxford in the dead-heat boat race of 1877, rowed the Channel in an eight, became club captain, mayor of Maidenhead and was a notable punting champion (the Thames Punting Championships are still held to this day on the Maidenhead stretch). Somehow he even found time to climb the Matterhorn three times and the Niagara Falls twice as well as later serving as chairman of the British Olympic Association. Lord Desborough’s portrait is prominently positioned in the club above the stairs leading from the reception area.
In the mid-1970s, the club admitted its first female member, Laura Lion (nee Jenkinson), as a junior – the club rules had to be changed in order to admit her. Laura went on to represent Great Britain in several junior competitions and remains a member and active junior coach. Now, half the membership is female and the club currently has its first female captain, Keri Johnson.
Until 1998 the club was located in a timber and corrugated iron structure sandwiched between the Thames Riviera Hotel and the A4 road bridge. This was last extended in 1926 and by the 1990s was in a poor condition. However, in 1998, with the help of National Lottery funding, the club moved to a large modern purpose-built clubhouse on the other side of the river in Taplow, between the A4 bridge and Brunel’s railway bridge. Olympic champion Sir Steven Redgrave opened the new boathouse in June 1998. Crews row on the stretch between Boulter’s lock and Bray lock, a distance of approximately 3000m.
The move to the new larger premises in Taplow allowed the club to actively recruit new members, especially from local schools. Membership has nearly quadrupled since the move and now stands at well over 300. The club organizes two events every year, Maidenhead Junior Regatta in May and Maidenhead Regatta in early August.
Recreational rowing has been a feature of continental clubs for many years and is growing in popularity in the UK for both social and fitness reasons. Learn-to-row has now been supplemented by a learn-to-cox course, as coxes are always in demand. So if you are small, loud and bossy, there’s a role for you at the club!
The clubhouse boasts a splendid club room that is available for hire and has been used for many wedding receptions and parties, with the large doors and balcony providing a magnificent view of the Thames. The clubhouse is kept in good condition thanks to club ‘work days’ where all members are expected to lend a helping hand. It is always interesting to find out what other talents club members have – from carpentry to concreting, someone will know how to do it.
The club’s ambitions now are to capitalize on the 2012 Olympic rowing regatta which is being held at nearby Dorney Lake. It is hoped that some current and former juniors will be competing in 2012 and the club hopes to host rowers or supporters from at least one competing nation.
(Based on material from the Rowing Club's website, www.maidenheadrc.org.uk)