In Her Own Words: Maggie's Rowing Experience at the Junior Sculling Head Regatta
At Tolworth Girls’ School, we take immense pride in celebrating the passions and achievements of our students—and few embody this better than Maggie in Year 9, who recently competed in the Junior Sculling Head Regatta at the iconic Dorney Lake, home of the 2012 Olympic rowing events.
“So it was, the race was called the Junior Sculling Head. So that's like, there were 600 crews there, which is a lot of people and lots of different clubs.”
Year 9 student Maggie recently competed in one of the UK’s biggest junior rowing events at the Olympic rowing venue, Dorney Lake. It was a huge milestone in her journey as a young rower—and one she tackled with strength, focus, and determination.
“We did 1.8K from start to finish on one side. That was the first half. And then we turned. We took a little bit of a break—we sort of pushed how much time we could use because we needed a break—and then you do it backwards again, back down to the finish. So it was 1.8K and then a turn and then 1.8K again down to the finish.”
“As we went past the finish they would call out our boat number—they would go ‘Boat 455, stop’—and then we all just like collapsed.”
This wasn’t just another race for Maggie—it was also a first for her partner.
“My friend, it was actually her first ever race. She did such a good job for her first race. She was having a bit of a panic attack in the boat because she was really worried, but she was okay at the end.”
“I was not very well the next day. I got heatstroke on the water. I didn't wear enough suntan because we were on the water for like two hours and the sun was just—it was crazy. I got a bit burnt on my face, on my cheeks. But I still came into school because my mum made me.”
Where It All Began
Maggie has only recently taken up rowing, but her determination has propelled her forward—fast.
“Yeah, I only recently started doing it and competing. We sort of—we started competing almost as soon as we could. So as soon as we joined, they said, ‘Can you get your race licence so we can put you in as many races as possible.’ So that was quite cool.”
“They didn’t have very high expectations of where we’d come because we’d only been rowing for like three months by that time. So it was sort of just like to get the feel of it and get practice of races and stuff.”
The inspiration behind her new passion? Her mum.
“So I got into it because I’ve always wanted to do it because my mum rowed in the 80s actually, at the same club I’m rowing at now. And she's always talked about it. She’s always said how much she loved it. So I’ve always been like, I want to do that when I’m older.”
But rowing doesn’t come easy—it requires serious commitment.
“Because it's quite a demanding sport, it’s like—it’s all over, and it’s like five days a week.”
“So I did two weeks of learning to row in the summer holidays, which we booked in at Kingston Rowing Club. And then they asked certain people if they wanted to come back and join the actual rowing club. It’s because obviously they couldn’t ask everyone to join. And they asked me back, and then I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to do it.’”
“So then I joined in September, about the same time we started school, and then I’ve just been training since then.”
Race Day Results
Maggie’s hard work is already paying off.
“There were 49 entries in Division 12, which is what we were put up against. That was what we were in, because otherwise it wouldn’t be fair to put us up against people with more experience, or older, or more people in the boat, or less people in the boat, you know.”
“So there were 49 entries in that one and we came 24th—which was—we were really happy with that because there were two women’s J14 boats. We were the B boat, so 24 was really good for us.”
“And then because we were the B boat, in the 49 entries there were two grades: A grade and B grade. And in B grade, we came second out of the whole of the B grade. So that was really good.”
Maggie’s performance, mindset, and commitment show just how much can be achieved when passion and perseverance come together. From her first strokes at a taster session to competing at Dorney Lake, she’s already shown incredible promise—and we can’t wait to see where her rowing journey takes her next.