Stratford Boat Club's adaptive athletes show their class at Maidenhead Regatta

STRATFORD Boat Club’s adaptive squad enjoyed a successful outing at the Maidenhead Regatta on Saturday, winning four of the five events they competed in.

First up was Andy Morris racing against an Oxford sculler who was given a 20-second head start in his singles’ final.

Morris succeeded in clawing this back halfway down the course, eventually winning by a comfortable four lengths.

Rob Pedley then took on a sculler from Belfast in his final. The competitor from Northern Ireland was also given a 20-second head start.

It was only in the last 100m that Pedley poked his nose in front, winning by a few lengths as his opponent faded.

The next event turned out to be an all-Stratford final as new boy Dan Browne took on the more experienced Gillian Middleton in the mixed ability doubles/pairs.

Browne was given a head start which he and his steerer, Joe Moore, never relinquished.

The final win for Stratford came in another mixed ability doubles/pairs event where Dan Godefroy and Jake Blatcher came up against a combined Lagan/Maidenhead crew.

Rowing smoothly down the whole course, the result looked inevitable well before the finish, with Godefroy and Blatcher drawing applause from the crowd for what looked like effortless rowing.

Blatcher was also in singles action at the Maidenhead Regatta and in his first race, he beat Reading University after their sculler unfortunately capsized.

His second race was against Ardingly and in an epic encounter Blatcher lost out by one-quarter of a length.

Head adaptive coach Mark Dewdney said: “We are pretty happy with the outcome. It has been a while since our last event and I was concerned we would be a bit rusty. We are off to Oxford Regatta in a fortnight and hope for similar results.”