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22nd August 2011
Becky claims Silver medal as Reading youngsters shine at England Athletics Championships!!
The U15 and U17 England Athletics Championships were held this past weekend at the
Bedford International Stadium. A number of Reading Ac athletes made the journey to compete in Bedford and they all produced
some very good performances in their respective events. Pride of place went to Becky Keating, whose form in the hammer of
recent weeks has been nothing short of fantastic. Having won the Southern title a fortnight ago, Becky added another medal
to her collection as she gained the silver medal on day 1 with a best throw on the day of 48.87m.
There were other fine
performances from the Reading Ac youngsters, Jonny Davies, who has had recent success in the 3000m, that has included winning
county, national and British Schools titles in that event, stepped down to the 1500m for this championships to test his competitiveness
over the shorter, faster distance. Jonny made light work of his heat and finished first to advance to Sunday's final,
where he ran a fine race and was in contention with 200m to go, just missing out on the medals in a frantic finish, he finished
4th with a time just outside his personal best with 3.56. U17 multi eventer, Georgina Westwoood finished a respectable 5th
in the U17 ladies high jump, her being height on the day was 1.69m clearance.
A club record was also broken at these
championships, coming in the form of Dan Brock, who is showing some superb end of season form in the 400mh event. He shattered
his personal best in the heats with a new u17 club record of 56.30 in finishing 3rd in heat 1. He competed admirably in the
final, although not quite as quick he did race round in a time of 56.88 for 8th in the final, nonetheless a fine result from
an athlete who has developed hugely in this event in the past 3 months. Chelsea Pritchard competed well in a very high
standard discus competition and finished in 9th with 31.81m. Oscar Boughen leapt 1.72m on his way to 7th in the U15 boys high
jump final. Ben Pearson was another who gained a 9th place finish, his came with a 6.20m effort in the U17 men's
long jump. Katie Hannawin and Ayub Hakeem competed in their resptive 100m heats, Katie clocking 13.07 in the u15 girls 100m
heats, with Ayub racing to a time of 11.79 in heat 2 of the u15 boys 100m.
20th August 2011
Southern Womens team remain on course for league title with convincing victory!!
The U15 and Senior side of Reading Athletic Club produced yet another dominanting display
in their 4th fixture of the Premier Division of the Southern Women's League as they travelled the short distance to Abingdon
looking for another strong performance to strengthen their grip at the top of the Premier Division table.
The team did
not disapoint. Despite it being a mid-august fixture, when summer holiday's usually play a huge part, the club were able
to field a near full strength team at Abingdon and produced one of their most dominant display's of the season. 32 victories
were gained during the day, whilst only 9 events from the 58 contested, saw them finish outside the top 2. 2 club record were
also set during the day, in the form of Julie Wilson and Sue Francis.
The U15 girls only dropped 9 from in the
entire day as they gave a confident showing. Chelsea Pritchard and Amy Herrington dominated the throwing events, completing
a clean sweep of all 3 throwing events. In the shot, Chelsea claimed her 2nd pb in as many weeks with an impressive winning
effort of 10.82m. Amy also threw a fine effort to win the b-string with 9.09m. The discus saw the girls just a dominant. Chelsea
finished with a winning effort of 30.44m, with Amy gaining 1stB with a superb 24.95m. The javelin was just as good, Chelsea
ended with 24.74m and Amy finished the javelin competition with a 23.88m winning effort.
Jess Gilkes and Amber-Leigh
Hall dominanted the 100m, with Jess romping to victory in 12.9, whilst Amber, still an U13, was equally impressive with a
13.2 clocking. Jess returned later for the 200m with Lottie Moore, with the former taking 2ndA in 28.1 and the latter taking
victory in the b-string.
Lauren Herrington and Ella Saunders made easy work of the 800m, Lauren run a superb gun-to-tape
effort as she won the race in 2.32, whilst Ella turned in a much improved performance as she won the b-string. Lauren had
earlier taken a deserved win in the high jump, with Mollie Pritchard winning he b-string, both girls clearing 1.40m. Lottie
Moore returned to the track to join Andi Vietz as they scored well in the 1500m. U13 Leonie Bennett leapt out to a new pb
in her first U15 competition as she took 2nd with a 4.50m leap. Whilst Lauren and Amber scored good points in the hurdles.
To round off a successful day, the 4x100 team of Lauren, Alice Page, Lottie and Jess took victory in 54.1
The senior
ladies were just as impressive as they made sure of a strong points haul with some impressive performances. The day started
with a club record as Julie Wilson launched the hammer out to a new V40 club record of 35.24m for 2ndA, with U17 captain,
Danni Opara, also taking 2nd in the b-string. Julie then moved on to the Javelin, joining Laura Pearce. Laura enjoyed as return
to form as she won the event with a 31.41m throw, whilst Julie added her first victory of the day with a 26.75m effort to
win the b-string. GB Junior Internationl Danni, then combined with Julie for the Shot and the end result saw yet another double
victory for the club. Danni comfortably won the event with a 12.89m winning distance, whilst Julie threw a season's best
to win the B with a 9.74m effort. Julie then tackled her 4th throwing event as she joined Charlotte Webb in the discus circle.
Charlotte was just pipped into 2nd in the final round as she threw 35.21m, whilst Julie added victory number 3 by throwing
33.39m in the b-string.
Senior Ladies captain, Shelley Bowen showed great form in a tight 100m race. She finished the
stronger and took victory in a time of 12.2, whilst Zara Bennett equalled her personal best when taking 2ndB in 12.9. In the
200m, Shelley crossed the line 3rd in the a-string, whilst Zara went one better taking 2ndB. Amy Bond ran a solid 400m race
for 2ndA, whilst U17 Beki Taylor secured a much deserved victory in the b-string, having earlier ran a solid 400mh race, where
she took 2nd place. Lee Fellowes enjoyed a season's best performance as she clocked 74.0 in winning the 400mh b-string,
before going on to take 3rd in the sprint hurdles. Tayla Benson proved a real asset during the day and enjoyed 2 hurdle victories,
she opened up with a confident display in the 300mh where she won in 48.3, before clocking 13.7 in winning her debut race
in the 80mh event. The middle distance squad enjoyed another fine day at the office. Rachel Phillips gave a strong account
for 2ndA in the 800m race, with Shirley-Ann Dix claiming victory in the b-string. Julia Henderson clocked a season's best
in winning the 1500m race, whilst Sue Francis rolled back the years with another great shwoing, to beat her own V40 club record
with a 5.00.1 clocking that won the b-string. Hayley Pearce ran a brave 3000m race despite not feeling 100% for 3rdA, whilst
Anna Boniface enjoyed a new personal best as she won the b-string.
More good points were scored in the jumping events,
Amy Holder's good pole vault form continued as she leapt up to 3.00m for overall victory, whilst Lucy Hillen equalled
her personal best as she leapt 2.70m to win the b-string. April Taylor enjoyed a much better high jump competition as she
leapt 1.55m for victory, with Beki Taylor's first time in the event for a while saw her take 2ndB. Meryl Austin joined
April in the long jump and both leapt well gaining 3rd place a piece, Meryl then moved to the triple jump and joined Cynthia
Sitei, as they too both took 3rd place in their respective strings in a good standard competition. Rounding off the day, the
4x100 relay squad were just edged into 2nd place, but the 4x400 team ended the day on a winning note as they took victory
in 4.16.0 to give Reading a comfortable victory and extend their lead at the top of the table by 56.5 points with one match
to go on September the 3rd.
16th August 2011
Senior men give a valiant effort in round 3 of BAL!!
On Saturday Reading's senior men's team were in action in Abingdon in there
3rd match of the season. Going into the competition Reading were sitting in 3rd place out of 6 teams overall but sadly due
to a lack of athletes being available for competition points were lost all over most events and Reading finished in last place
dropping them into joint last place with Nene Valley and Mansfield going into the final match on the 27th August in derby.
Those athletes that did compete pushed themselves to the limit taking part in events that usually they wouldn't take part
in making them a credit to there club.
In the Throwing events the Hammer was at a time of the day when the weather conditions
were not that favourable as the hammer had to be launched into a strong headwind. In the A string Nathan Walters faced the
usual tough competition put just sadly couldn’t quite find form coming 6th, Brian Flatley who doesn’t train for
the Hammer stepped up and got a single throw in for a point but subsequently came 6th.
In the Discus team Captain Michael
Dyer took on the A string and throwing just over 32m which was good enough to take 5th place whilst in the B string Walters
was up again throwing just over 27m holding 4th place.
In the Javelin only just back from on-going Injuries Tom Kingston
was back in action for the first time this season, due to being out of competition form had a good first round throw just
under 43m but sadly didn’t get any further in following rounds coming 5th. In the B String Luke Wale part of readings
sprint squad who is an ex-decathlete threw just over 33m to also take 5th. The final throws competition of the day was the
Shot putt, Michael dyer again in action threw 11.94 a seasons best to take 4th whilst making his Senior men's debut in
the B string was Junior Alec Thomas who threw just over 10m coming 3rd in the B string.
In the Jumping events the first
competition to get underway was the Long Jump Dyer starting out his day of competition with a solid 6.23 taking 4th. In the
B String to make up points having never competed/trained in the event Team Manager Rich Kinnersley got 2 jumps in and retired
as was just under a metre behind the competition.
In the High Jump Flatley and Dyer were both in action jumping well
to secure to 3rd places in both strings.
On the back straight the Pole Vault was in full swing with again Flatley and
Dyer competing, both putting there strongest efforts in to, Flatley on his Final Vault biting his tongue to clear 3.80m taking
2nd place. Having not found his best form from last year Dyer had an excellent competition coming joint 1st with a fellow
athlete from Victoria Park.
Back in the sandpit saw the Triple Jump finishing off the Jumps with Flatley once again leaping
in the most technical event of the day jumping just shy of 12.50 coming 5th. In the B string from the sprints team saw Sam
Hickman taking to the task but unfortunately on first first jump twisted his left leg on take off and injured himself not
getting a legal jump in.
On the track the events showed some excellent determination to finish all the distances and
multiple events were taken on by many different athletes. In the Sprints the 100m saw Rian Corbin take in the A string, always
facing strong competition came 5th in 11.03secs, in the 2nd race Luke Wale got an excellent start and held on to come 4th
in 11.26secs. In the 200m both Reading athlete taking part took home personal bests, Corbin up again lined up in the A race
running 22.49 coming 5th. Whilst in the B race making his 2011 debut Michael Nevill got an excellent start which excelled
him to win the race in 22.21secs.
In the 110m Hurdles Michael Dyer kept his unbeaten record of 2011 going winning by
over 0.5 of a second. In the B, Bertie Lewis new to the event this year continued his fine form coming 2nd for the 3rd time
this season. In the 400m Hurdles, Junior Lewis in his preferred event took on the senior competition and held on to come 3rd.
In the B, Captain Dyer had an excellent middle sector pulling through the field to come 2nd.
In the 400m flat race making
his senior men's debut was U17 Liam McDevitt, having had a very successful season in the junior league matches stepped
up to senior level and came 2nd, this race proved some valuable experience. Backing Liam up in the B string saw Mark Robinson
coming 4th in 52secs. Moving into the Middle Distance events saw Junior Jack Williams taking to 800m running an excellent
first 600m tactically sitting in the pack just to unfortunately be out kicked in the final stages coming 3rd. New to track
this season Luke McAra was in the B string having a brave first 400m leading the pack only again to be out kicked in the later
stages coming 4th.
Up again were Williams and McAra in the 1500m, both clearly feeling the effects of the 800m from
2 hours prior ran with tires legs both taking last places. Into the Long Distance events the 3000m steeplechase saw team Manager
Kinnersley running solo without a B string setting off a relaxed pace and overtaking the field in the later stages getting
a personal best and finishing in 3rd. Next up was the 3000m flat race, Again Kinnersley was on the track with another Junior
athlete debuting, Jonny Roberts. Kinnersley feeling the effect of fatigue from the steeplechase started off strong but faded
in the later stages witch gave Roberts something to catch finishing in his personal best time of 9.38min.
Finishing off
the days competition saw the relays. First up was the 4x100m, Reading had an outstanding team competition and a time that
could have been there seasons best with Luke Wale, Michael Neville, Rian Corbin and Liam Mcdevitt sadly being disqualified
over a change over issue.
In the 4x400m, Mark Robinson got the team off the start line bringing the baton round to pass
to Neville (only just recovered from the 4x100m 15 mins prior) who held on to the back of the pack to pass to Kinnersley who
sprinted away from the line immediately over taking the Bournemouth team holding on to the end before passing the baton on
to the final leg athlete McDevitt who held onto 5th Place cross the line ending the days competition.
Sadly with the
few good results that were produced over the day the team felt dejected as this had been the worst showing for the team over
the season and it was our Home match, the Team now have to come out determined to come at least 3rd or 4th in Derby on the
27th of August in-order to stay in the BAL next season or we face the dreaded playoff match on the 17th September to hold
on to our place otherwise we will be back in the Southern Men's League in 2012 a place we shouldn't be as we can beat
all the teams in Div 4 B.A.L. on results.
15th August 2011
Georgina Wins National Multi-Events Title at Stoke!!!
Reading Athletic Club's talented multi-eventer, Georgina Westwood, made her way to Stoke-on-Trent
to compete in the England Athletics Combined Events Championships, as she competed in the U17 Heptathlon competition. It proved
an excellent day for Georgina as she produced some superb results over the two-day competition as she gained a personal best
points score to comfortably take the Gold Medal and the England Athletics title.
Day one began with the customary opening
event, the sprint hurdles, which at this age is run over the 80mh distance. Georgina got off to a strong start with a 12.65
clocking that placed her in 7th place overall after the opening event. The shot putt came next and has proved to be one of
Georgina's stronger events as she threw a very good 10.29m to win that event, which in turn saw her leap up into 3rd after
2 events. The high jump followed next and Georgina leapt up to 1st in the overall standing's as she took 2nd in that event
with a 1.62m clearance scoring 759 points in the process. The 200m bought a close to day 1, Georgina clocking 26.99 to
end the day 1 in 2nd place overall, just 4 points behind the leading athlete.
Day 2 began with the Long Jump, which
proved another strong event, a personal best leap of 5.33m saw her take 3rd and score 668 points which kept her 2nd overall,
but now 30 points behind the leader. However Georgina showed her competitive side as she produced some excellent form in the
closing events, the pen-ultimate event - the javelin, saw her reclaim top spot with another personal best performance, throwing
33.21m to gain 2nd in the event and open up a fairly comfortable lead. The final event was the traditional middle distance
race - the 800m, where Georgina again set another personal best as she clocked 2.32.52 to end up winning the competition with
a comfortable 55 point winning margin with her final score of 4604 points a new personal best score in the heptathlon.
7th August 2011
Promotion just missed for Senior ladies of Reading Ac!!
Reading Athletic Club's senior ladies team made the trip to Leeds this
past Sunday to contest the third and final round of the UK Women's League. Going into the match the ladies held joint
first in the league and were in with a chance of promotion from the league. The team gave yet another great account in what
was a keenly contested match. They provided probably their best overall set of results, but were ultimately not strong enough
to hold on and just missed out on promotion again as they finished 3rd overall in the league table.
The team can take
heart from their efforts and their effort and commitment cannot be faulted and they again gave a performance that was a credit
to theirselves and their club.
The day began with the usual field events, with the hammer and long jump underway. The
hammer circle saw a strong showing from the duo of Coral Stewart and Julie Wilson. Coral threw a season's best in round
6 to gain 4thA, whilst Julie scored some vital points with a solid 2ndB. April Taylor and Cynthia Sitei, who was making her
UK League debut, competed in the long jump, taking 5th and 4th respectively.
Caroline Parmenter, who again showed her
commitment to the club by travelling up from Devon for the match, and Lee Fellowes got the track races underway in the 400mh.
Caroline ran well taking 5thA with Lee Fellowes comfortably taking 2ndB, with only 0.1 seconds seperating the girls on time.
Julia Henderson and Hayley Pearce were up next in the 800m, despite a bit too casual start, Julia finished like a train to
snatch 3rdA, whilst Hayley ran a tactically sound race, despite being boxed in, she never panicked and showed great strength
in the final 60m to snatch the victory on the line - her first victory in this high level league.
Senior captain Shelley
Bowen was up next in the 100m a-string and she came through in 12.3 for 3rd place. Zara Bennett finally went under the 13.0
second barrier in the b-string as she took 3rd with a 12.9 clocking. Julie Wilson was back in the throwing cage, this time
with Charlotte Webb, as they contested the Discus. Charlotte threw well and gained a new personal best with a throw over 36m
to take 2nd, with Julie also throwing well to gain 2nd in the b-string. Meryl Austin and Cynthia Sitei were out in action
in the triple jump, both jumping well, Meryl gaining 5thA with Cynthia taking 2ndB. Julia Henderson and Shirley-Ann Dix both
took solid 5th places in their 400m races. Rachel Phillips and Sue Francis lined up in the 3000m and Rachel again produced
another top class performance in the UK League, finishing 4th just outisde her personal best with 10.19.8. Sue held on for
3rdB with a 11.06 clocking. April Taylor leapt 1.50m on her way to 3rdA in the high jump, with Caroline Parmenter taking 2ndB.
Caroline then re-joined Lee for the sprint hurdles, with Caroline 5thA and Lee 4thB. A delayed start due to heavy rain, finally
saw the pole vault underway, but it was well worth the wait as Lucy Hillen made sure her trip was worthwhile as she leapt
up to a new best of 2.70m to take a good 2ndA. Shelley and Zara were back out on the track for the 200m, Shelley again placing
3rd in the a-string, whilst Zara clocked 26.9 on her way to 5th. Julie Wilson and Charlotte Webb made their way to the shot
circle and both competed well in a high standard competition. Rachel Phillips was back on track, showing her high levels of
fitness, as she joined Sarah Wilkins for the 1500m. Rachel placed well with 4thA with a 4.48 clocking, whilst Sarah battled
well to gain 4thB. Laura Pearce and Charlotte Webb ended the field events with some strong scoring in the javelin event. The
final few events saw the 4x100 team of Lee, Shelley, Zara and Caroline take 5th. Anna Boniface clocked herself a new pb in
the 2000m s/c as she continues to progress at this event. Finally the 4x400 quartet of Shelley, Julia, Shirley and Hayley
clocked the fastest 4x400 time of the season in taking 5th place.
1st August 2011
A team of Under 13 Girls and Boys travelled to Kingston, Surrey last Sunday to represent Berkshire in the Southern Inter Counties track and field athletics meeting. 13 counties took part and the Berkshire team was mainly drawn from clubs based in the county.
On a very warm afternoon Berkshire won the Girls' match with 336.5 points just 1.5 points ahead of host county Surrey with Hampshire finishing third with 330.
There were some very good performances in both track and field events with many personal bests (pb's) achieved. Seven of the Girls' county team came from Reading AC. Daisy Wirth was 5th A string in the 70metres hurdles in a new pb of 12.09 seconds. She then achieved another pb in the long jump with 4.48 metres (2nd B string) before earning valuable points in the high jump with a leap of 1.25 metres.
Amber-Leigh Hall has only recently joined Reading AC but is already achieving top quality performances as seen in the 70m hurdles - 12.16 (1st B string). She then switched her attention to the sprint events where she came 2nd B string with 13.46 in the 100 metres and the same position in the 200m in a new best time of 27.73 seconds.
Hannah Willis continued her recent good form with a new pb in the 800 metres in a time of 2 minutes 30.95. Leonie Bennett competed in the long jump gaining good points with a best of 4.36 metres and Rebecca Ryan did well in shot put - her best throw being 7.46 metres.
Katie Holt has recently discovered how well she can throw the javelin and achieved a new pb of 21.91 metres and a 4th B string position. She then went on to run the non scoring 800 metres in 2 minutes 41.14.
With so many talented athletes available Leonie Bennett, Rebecca Ryan and Phoebe Thomas had to be content with running in the non scoring 100 metres and all did well and showed how evenly matched they are with times of 14.24, 14.26 and 14.30 seconds respectively!
The last girls' event of the day saw Phoebe, Amber, Rebecca and Kennedy Bays from Bracknell combine in the 4x100metres relay to produce a very good time of 54.41 seconds achieving 3rd place of the 13 counties taking part.
Reading AC also provided 6 Under 13 Boys for the Berkshire team competing alongside the Girls at Kingston. They all performed well and 3 of them - Blaine Lewis-Shallow, Richard King and Matthew Rawlings - are still young enough to be available for next year's team!
Blaine ran the 100 metres sprint in a new best time of 13.09 seconds taking 5th place in the A string. Richard ran the 200 metres and he too ran a new pb in 27.87 seconds for 8th place in A string.
Matthew Rawlings is another of Reading AC's talented young athletes and he also ran a new pb of 2 minutes 25.70 in the 800 metres A race for 6th place.
The events at Kingston were of very high standard and 3 other Reading lads did their bit to score valuable points for Berkshire. Nick Park ran the 75 metre hurdles race in 14.68 seconds - a season's best and the non scoring 100m in 15.45. Lewis Brailli threw 7.42 metres in Shot Put and Ben Corless competed in Long Jump with a best of 3.79 metres and also ran a good 1500 metres in 5 minutes 12.70 - a significant personal best of some 10 seconds!
To complete the Boys' programme, Nick, Richard, Blaine and Ryan Brackstone from Bracknell teamed up for the 4x100 relay and finished 9th with a good time of 55.64 seconds.
The Boys' team put in a spirited performance in a very competitive match and finished in 8th place with 281.5 points
