Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive section attended both Marlow Town Regetta and the British Masters Championships at Nottingham over weekend. The highlight was the 14 year old Edward Owen-Smith winning the Chelton Cup at Marlow. The cup is battled out between the fastest male scullers. The final was between Edward and Marlow’s Hussein. Hussein had a much faster start but Edward’s better technique and fitness soon told and he ended up a convincing
winner. The Wards, Paulo and Ian, competed in the Mixed Doubles event. Unfortunately, they got caught on a buoy early in their race which put pay to their chances, eventually losing by just a couple of lengths.
The Masters Championships were offering 
adaptive racing for the very first time. The Stratford scullers, Gillian Middleton and Ricky Clutterbuck, finishing second and third in their respective events. Head Adaptive Coach Mark Dewdney commented, “Both sculled well against some first class opposition. I am very pleased with
them both. We attend some events to ensure the sport expands: the four clubs who competed at Nottingham will hopefully ensure the same opportunity for other adaptive rowers 
in the future.”
Also competing at the weekend were Stratford Masters Women: rowing in one of the last races of the day Ellie Davis and Gina Fusco competed in 2x Women’s Masters 50+ in a final of six crews. Ellie and Gina set off at a rate of thirty six strokes a minute and settled into a rhythmic row at rate thirty two strokes a minute. Feeling strong as they came to the last 200m they unfortunately
hit a buoy and had to recover their pace and missed the win by one second. Ellie Davis commented, “Despite no medal, we were pleased with our performance coming fourth out of 
twenty four crews competing in Women’s Masters 50+.”
For media coverage, see Stratford Observer back sports page https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2026/06/19&pages=24#page/24 and online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratford-boat-clubs-adaptive-athletes-star-at-marlow-and-nottingham also Stratford Herald page forty five and online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/owen-smith-leads-stratford-s-adaptive-rowers-with-chelton-cu-9470667