Captain Dan Hawke has spoken of his pride at leading Maidstone Invicta Rowing Club to the world-famous Henley Royal Regatta.

Hawke and the senior men’s crew came through a gruelling qualification time trial on Friday to take their place among the sport’s elite in Berkshire.

It’s been several years since Maidstone last raced at Henley and Hawke, 26, is thrilled to have ended that wait.

He said: "It’s my first year as captain here and I’m proud of the commitment from the crew.

"It’s a good step for Maidstone. Our senior squad has dwindled in the past couple of years and it seems to slowly be growing again, which is good to see."

Maidstone took to the water on Wednesday in the first knockout round of the Wyfold Challenge Cup. They lost by four lengths to City of Bristol Rowing Club 'A'.

They were one of 60 entrants vying for a place at Henley and took part in pre-qualifying at the Metropolitan Regatta, Reading Amateur Regatta and Marlow Regatta after racing together for the first time in Nottingham in May.

Hawke said: "We were in an eight until April and then we decided to split up, go into a four and we did some build-up.

"Eighteen boats were pre-qualified for Henley by the stewards, including some Dutch and US crews, which left 14 spaces.

"Those 32 boats went off last Friday one after another in a time trial, 30 seconds apart and the quickest 14 got the spaces.

"We had to just go for it. It was painful, probably the hardest race because you have nothing to push off, you don’t know how quickly you’re going.

"In the actual race, you’re side by side, so if you’re ahead, you know you’re winning but there’s no real gauge in qualifying as to how you’re doing."

The crew, coached by Peter McLarney, also includes Kaan Belton (stroke), Mason Shoebridge (two) and Jamie Waterhouse (three) with Hawke at bow.