Young athletes continue winning run with a strong citory in round 2!!
Reading Athletic Club's young male and female athletes contiued their good start to the Premier West Division fixture of the National Young Athletes League as they made the short trip to Bracknell. The club continued their push for a spot in the Southern region final in Mid-July with another comprehensive victory ahead of Southampton and host club Bracknell.

Female Report
16 victories were gained by the Reading girls across the 4 age groups in what was a very competitive match. The Under 13 girls gave a fine account on the day with Daisy Wirth again heading the team with 2 victories during the day, starting with a blistering 70mh victory in which she smashed her personal best with a new time of 12.2. She then later leapt a superb 4.20m for a convincing long jump victory. Phoebe Thomas continued her recent good run of form in some very close sprint races and took the runner's up spot in both the 75m and 150m, with times of 10.6 and 21.3 respectively. Leonie Bennett showed her potential for long jump with a pb of 4.05m for 2nd place. Rebecca Ryan took 2nd in the shot, having earlier taken 3rd in the 150m race. Maddie Ham clocked 10.9 for the 2nd week running as she placed 4th in the 75m. Kate McKim and Caitlin Stacey gave good accounts in the 800m event, as did Hannah Willis and Katie Holt in the 1200m events with Holt also recording 3rd in the sprint hurdles. The 4x100 relay team were involved in a very tense finish but the team did enough for victory clocking 56.0.
The Under 15 girls were nearly at full strength and that reflected in their scores. Katie Hannawin was a class apart in the 2 sprints, clocking 12.8 and 26.9 in the 100m and 200m races for comfortable victories. Freya Tubb is enjoying some superb forms in the jumps and a personal best of 4.98m saw her take the honours in the long jump, it will now surely only be a matter of time before she breaks the 5m barrier. Melissa Lowe continues to impress in her debut year in the pole vault event, taking victory again with a 2.40m clearance, having earlier clocked a pb for 3rd in the 75mh. Elsewhere Jess Gilkes ran a sound 13.1 for 2nd in the 100m, Rebecca Laing took 4th in the 200m. Georgia Walton placed 3rd and Lauren Herrington 5th in the 800m race, whilst Abby Reed took 4th in the 1500m, with Katherine West stepping in at the last minute to record 5th place. Nicole Harkness continued her good form of late with a 13.5 time for 2nd in the hurdles, before leaping 4.45m for 3rd in the long jump. Chelsea Pritchard gained a 2nd in the discus before also taking 3rd in the shot putt. Becky Keating gained a 4th place in the shot, whilst Amy Herrington - competing on her birthday, set a new best of 2.20m in the pole vault for 3rd and also gained 4th in the Discus. The 4x100 quartet were far too strong for their opponents and romped to victory in 53.0.
The U17 women saw a similiar story for the club and they too scored very heavily. Lukesha Morris completed yet another sprint double as she clocked a decent 12.4 in the 100m, before going on to run 25.4 in the 200m race. Beki Taylor enjoyed a good triple jump win, whilst U17 captain, Danni Opara enjoyed a double throws victory, firstly in the hammer event, before later in the shot, again going over the 12m barrier for the 2nd time in 2 days, this time throwing 12.20m. Amy Holder was another to enjoy a double victory, she leapt 2.60m to win the pole vault, whilst in between winning the discus with a throw of 33.74m. Elsewhere Jess Palmer ensured maximum points in the 2 sprint races as she took 2nd in both the 100m and 200m. Tayla Benson ran well for 2nd in the 300m, with Beki Taylor 3rd. Beki and Cerys Aicken both placed well in the 800m, with Natasha Harris-White and Emma Taylor tackling the 1500m. Georgina Westwood gained a hatrick of 2nd places. In the 80mh she ran 12.6 for 2nd, in the long jump she leapt 5.06m, before throwing a very good 32.58m in the javelin. Charlotte Gorman enjoyed one of her best ever days in the jumps events. In the long jump she leapt a personal best of 4.85m, before leaping out to another personal best in the triple jump with 9.35m. Anna Williams started her day with 3rd in the 80mh, before going one better in the 300mh with 2nd place. Natalie Cawthorne leapt a very sound 2.50m for 2nd in the pole vault, whilst to end the day the 4x100 squad romped to a clear victory, with the 4x300 team narrowly edged into 2nd place.
Male Report
Awaiting Male Report

Female side romp to second Southern League victory!!!
Reading Athletic Club's Junior and Senior girls combined with devastating effect this past Saturday with the second round of the Premier Division of the Southern Women's track and field league, as they made the long trip to Braunton, North Devon. Leaving at 6.30am, the team showed no signs of fatique and produced a blistering team performance with a very high score of 190 points, claiming 36 victories in the process.

The senior ladies were in a very dominant mood right across the board in every disipline. Senior captain, Shelley Bowen again led the way in the sprint events as she ran gun to tape efforts on both the 100m and 200m events, clocking times of 12.3 and 25.5 respectively, whilst Zara Bennett provided the perfect back up to Shelley as Zara made sure of a sprint double in both the 100m and 200m, winning the b-strings to ensure maximum points. U20 Captain, Pippa Rogan, again set new marks in the high jump, as she bettered her own club record with a new personal best height of 1.73m. April Taylor made sure of a maximum 8 points as she leapt 1.55m for 1stB. Pippa had earlier added a long jump victory to her name as she leapt 4.84m to win the event, Helen Buckley made sure of another Reading 1-2 as she won the b-string. The throwers were in top form, no more so than U17 Captain, Danni Opara, who in the shot produced the performance of her life. In round 5 she launched the shot an incredible 12.64m to not only win the competition by almost 3 meteres, but more significantly, leap to the top of the UK ranking's for her age group. Julie Wilson enjoyed a good result as she won the b-string. Both athletes had earlier taken maximum points in the first event of the day - the hammer, Julie showed some renewed form as she won the event with a 32.90m effort, whilst Danni's pb of 29.38m saw her win the b-string.
Julie then returned with Charlotte Webb in the discus, both having quite a battle, with Julie gaining the edge in the final round to win the event with 33.87m, Charlotte taking maximum points in the b-string with 33.53m. Only the appearance of a North Devon athlete who competed in the commonwealth games last year, could stop Reading from making a clean sweep of the throws, however Laura Pearce continued her good form with 2ndA, whilst Helen Buckley claimed another b-string victory as she won the b-string, making it 31 points from a possible 32 in the senior throws.
The middle distance ladies produced a perfect display as they took 24 points from a possible 24 on offer!
Beginning with the 800m, where Rachel Phillips showed the rest of her field a clean pair of heels to win by almost 100m with 2.23.9. Hayley Randell claimed the honours in the b-string to get the middle distance clean sweep underway. The 3k came next and Sarah Wilkins was impressive in winning the event with a 11.27.7 clocking. Nicky Cooke was close behind as she won the b-string with 11.34.6, also in the race, non-scoring, was Charlotte Phillips who smashed her personal best by some margin, clocking 12.36.4. Completing a perfect day for the distance runners, Hayley Pearce showed great form in winning the 1500m race and with it setting a new personal best of 4.59.5, finally going under that 5 minute barrier. Debbie Taylor finished strong and was a clear winnier of the b-string event.
Lee Fellowes is finding some very good form in the hurdles, in the 400mh event she looked alot more confident and was rewarded with a season's best of 75.1 for 3rdA, whilst later on she took victory in the 100mh event with a new personal best of 17.3. Over in the pole vault, Sian Wakerley gained 2nd in the a-string, whilst Sarah Bishop leapt 2.10m for 1stB, Sarah then later gained vital points in the triple jump, as did Meryl Austin, who leapt 9.63m.

The U15 girls added 12 victories to that total as they too enjoyed some very impressive performances. Again it was the throwing squad who enjoyed some very strong performances. Katherine West kicked things off when winning the javelin event with a 28.46m winning effort. Chelsea Pritchard and Becky Keating then continued that trend in the shot putt, with Chelsea winning the competition with a 9.60m effort, Becky throwing 9.28m for top marks in the b-string. Chelsea then returned to the field and completed a throws double by winning the final event of the day - the discus, as she threw a solid 29.20m to win, whilst in the b-string Amy Herrington produced the throw of her life as she gained a new personal best of 25.73m for b-string victory.
Nicole Harkness was in very good form, she was a class apart as she won the 75mh in a season's best of 13.1, Lauren Herrington completed the double as she won the b-string with a fast 13.7. Nicole had earlier won the long jump competition with a 4.32m leap, with Mollie Pritchard ensuring she gained maximum points with a 3.66m b-string winning effort, this was to be Mollie's 2nd b-string victory of the day, having earlier taken 1stB in the high jump, where Lauren leapt 1.38m for 2ndA.
Katie Hannawin ran well in some competitive sprint races, placing 2nd in the 100m with 12.8, Amber McDonnell ran 13.4 in winning the b-string event however. The 200m saw Katie again finished 2nd place, with Amber gaining 3rdB. Jodie Penny and Abi Froud ran the 800m and for Jodie, she produced one of the performances of the day in terms of improvement, knocking 15 seconds off her personal best she cane 3rdA with a time of 2.40.1, whilst Abi won the b-string, not far behind, Loren Hunter also enjoyed her first track race of the season as she compete as a non-scorer. Ella Saunders and Lydia Blythe ran the 1500m, for Ella it was her return to racing after a little spell out with injury, she ran very confidently and was narrowly beaten into 3rd place, Lydia ran well in her first time over this distance and gained 2ndB.

To round off a successful day the senior 4x100 squad romped to victory, whilst the U15 girls claimed 2nd place, the same position was gained by the senior 4x400 team in the final event of the day.

Young athletes off to a flyer with comfortable 52 point winning margin!!
Reading Athletic Club's young male and female athletes kick started their Premier West Division of the National Young Athletes League, in style this past Sunday as the Palmer Park club hosted round 1 and made full use of home advantage by producing an impressive 52 point winning margin. An equally impressive 44 victories were gained across the 6 age groups.
Male Report
Awaiting Male Report
Female Report
The female side enjoyed a very productive day, despite missing around 10-11 first team regulars to other commitments, they still had the depth to field a very strong team that secured 24 of those victories.
The Under 17 Women scored very highly and from the 18 events contested in that age group, they won 11 of them. Lukesha Morris was in a class of her own in the 2 sprint races. She was never troubled in both her 100m and 200m as she clocked times of 12.5 and 26.4 respectively in what a brisk headwind for both races. Beki Taylor completed a trio of sprint victories as she won the 300m event. Rosie Bishop produced the best race of her life as she gave a very assured tactical display to win the 1500m event in a new personal best time of 5.04.3. Anna Williams is proving a real asset to the U17 team and she comfirmed that with 2 victories and 2 personal best performances. Winning the 80mh in 14.4 and the 300mh event with a time of 51.5. On the field, U17 captain Danni Opara was in top form again as she took victory in the opening event, the hammer throw, before yet again setting a new shot personal best with a huge throw of 11.91m for victory. That performance now lifts Danni up into 3rd in the UK as she continues to progress superbly in this event. Amy Holder completed a double victory for her, as she won the pole vault with a 2.30m clearance, before producing a superb discus competiton with a winning throw of 34.90m, currently the 6th best throw in the UK. Noteable runners up positions were gained by Beki Taylor in the 800m, Ellie Ballantine in the Hammer and Javelin, Charlotte Gorman in the long jump, Sian Wakerley in the pole vault and Rachel Rajkumar in the high jump.
The Under 15 girls continue to be a very strong section this year and  they too enjoyed some very good results. No Less in the sprints, in which Reading have a very large and also very talented sprint squad. Jess Gilkes yet again produced another eye catching performance in the shorter sprint race and was a clear winner of the 100m as she clocked 13.5 on her way to victory, with team mate Amber McDonnell storming through in the final 20m to take a very good 2nd place. Jess then stepped up to the 200m where she joined Rebecca Laing. Both girls produced a superb race and they, along with an athletes from Bedford were all given the same time of 28.5, with Rebecca given 2nd and Jess 3rd place. Lauren Herrington ran a very sound 800m race and was rewarded with a season's best of 2.27.8 for 2nd. The field events saw Reading score their usual hefty amount of points, with Chelsea Pritchard leading the way with 2 victories to her name. She threw the shot 9.70m for victory before launching the discus 23.80m for victory number 2. Freya Tubb's good high jump form continued and she leapt a good 1.50m for victory, whilst Katherine West completed a treble throws victory as she won the javelin with another good 27.40m winning effort. Strong runner's up positions were gained from Melissa Lowe in the pole vault, with team mate Charlotte Samuel gaining 3rd with a pb of 2.10m, Amy Herrington with 2nd in the discus, Freya Tubb in the long jump, Ella McNeill in the high jump and Mollie Pritchard in the javelin.
A strong showing was also gained from a very talented U13 squad. On the track Daisy Wirth kicked things off and set the trend for the day as she looked very impressive as she raced to a time of 12.7 to win the opening track race - the 70mh. Victory number 2 soon followed as she then went on to win the long jump with a leap of 4.07m, before completing the hatrick with a 1.25m clearance for victory in the high jump. Hannah Willis had 11 seconds to spare over her nearest rival as she won the 1200m event with a time just outside her personal best. Rebecca Ryan shaped herself up nicely for next week's Berkshire Quadrathlon with a hugh personal best of 7.39m for victory in the shot putt, having earlier taken 4th in the 75m event, where club mate, Maddie Ham claimed 3rd place, both girls clocking 11.0 Phoebe Thomas had a good day with 2 runners up positions, starting with a 1.20m clearance for 2nd in the high jump, later she showed good form in the 150m race and gained a very strong 2nd position, clocking 21.8 in the process, with Eilisha Phelan taking 3rd. Caitlin Stacey gained a runners up spot in the shot putt having earlier taken 4th in the 800m, whilst Molly Bates, who came down at very short notice to fill the 800m event, finished 5th, elsewhere on the track, Kate McKim set a new 1200m pb with 5th in the 1200m event.
The round off the day, the relay sqauds excelled. The U17 women were first away and the quartet of Cat Mitchell, Tayla Benson, Anna Williams and Lukesha Morris won in 53.4. The U15 squad of Rebecca Laing, Freya Tubb, Amber McDonnell and Jess Gilkes claimed victory in 53.5. The U13 girls quartet of Daisy Wirth, Rebecca Ryan, Phoebe Thomas and Madeline Ham were far to good for their opponents and won with a fast 56.6. Finally the 4x300 squad made sure a clean sweep of the relays were achieved as they were just 3 seconds off the club record, as Rosie Bishop, Cerys Aicken, Emma Taylor and Beki Taylor won with a time of 3.00.7.

Pippa and Danni gain club records in Junior League Fixture!!
Reading Athletic Club's Under 20 men and women's side travelled to Hillingdon to contest the opening round of the Brent Division of the National Junior League. Both the male side and female side produced some very good results, in what was a much more competitive fixture than in previous years. They team came away with a very strong second position that included 2 club records during the day.

Female Report
It was again the case of the team captains leading by example for the female side as the U20 captain, Pippa Rogan and the U17 captain, Danielle Opara, both added their names to the club record books with 2 very impressive performances. Pippa produced a really superb effort in the high jump, having to contend with jumping into strong winds the day previous at Wycombe, Hillingdon proved no different, infact possibly even stronger winds gusting around the high jump area. However she showed a lot of composure in the competition and produced the performance of her life as she leapt up to a magnificent 1.72m to break her own U20 club record for the event, the height a new personal best, currently places her 4th in the UK rankings.
For Danielle, she set the tone for the day as she competed in the opening event of the day, the shot putt and she was a clear winner as she threw 11.73m in the opening round to take victory and break the U20 club record that has stood since 1993. Danielle also threw a superb 33.06m in the discus for the runner's up spot. She was due to compete in the hammer, but the wind was at one stage so strong, the cage was deemed unsafe to use, which led to the cancellation of the event.
April Taylor made sure the high jump event gained maximum points as she leapt up to 1.58m for b-string victory. Charlotte Webb enjoyed a very usefull day with 2 victories. She won the b-strings of the shot and discus with distances of 9.25m and 30.94m respectively. Lucy Hillen and Sarah Bishop both leapt well in the pole vault, despite having to jump into the wind, Sarah equalled her personal best with a 2.30m clearance to win the b-string whilst Lucy leapt 2.45m, the same heigh as 2 other girls, but having to settle for 3rd on countback.
The sprint races were very hotly contested during the day but Rachel Pithers and Jess Palmer more than held their own. In the 100m, Rachel clocked 12.9 for 5thA with Jess 3rdB in a season's best of 12.8.The 200m saw Jess tackle the a-string and finish a strong 3rd, Rachel claimed 2nd in the b-string, clocking a new personal best in the process. Amy Banning gave a good account in the 400m and can be happy with her 4th place finish. Jess Gibbon made her first appearance for the club on the track, having impressed over cross country, she ran a sound opening 800m race and finished 3rd with 2.26.1, Emma Taylor finishing likewise in the b-string. Naomi Forshaw gained a 5th place in the 3000m.
Rachel Pithers and Charlotte Gorman both gained runner's up spot in the long jump with Charlotte also jumping well in the triple jump. To round the day off, the 4x100 team secured 2nd place, with the 4x400 team taking 3rd.

Male Report
The male side were under the new management of Charlotte Webb and they have made a superb start under her supervision as they produced a very good all round team effort, scoring 6 victories in the process. Ryan Bonifas led the way with 2 of those victories. He leapt up to 1.90m in the high jump, having earlier taken 3rd in the long jump. He then threw a solid 41.36m for b-string victory in the javelin, an event in which Reading gained maximum points as Ben Taplin was a convincing winner with 48.05m.
Neil Hallett gained a solid b-string victory in the long jump with a 6.03m effort, whilst Scott Davies leapt a very decent 3.20m in the pole vault for victory, before later going onto take a strong 2nd in the 110mh. Liam MacDevitt had a busy but productive day, starting in the 100m where he took 5thB. He then returned to the track for his favoured event, the 400m where he ran an impressive gun to tape effort to claim a well fought victory in a fast time of 50.3. He rounded off his day with a 22.9 clocking for 3rdA in the 200m event. Neil Hallett was the 100m a-string athlete and he clocked 11.7, whilst 2nd claim athlete, Aiden Marshall, took 5thB in the 200m. Jack Williams was involved in a close 800m race, just being edged into 2nd, clocking 2.00.2, another 2nd claim athlete from Team Kennet, Luke Conway ran well in the b-string and he too was involved in a sprint for the line, just being edged into 2nd also.
Ed Stockdale claimed the runner's up spot in the 3000m, whilst David Lewis placed similiarly in the 2000m steeplechase as he clocked a time of 6.33.8 for 2ndA, Jonny Roberts placing likewise for the b-string with a time of 7.22.1.
Alec Thomas showed good form in the shot putt, as he threw 11.73m for the runners up spot in the a-string, before later going onto take 3rdB in the discus. He also managed to complete his hammer competition before the later cancellation of the women's, as Alec threw 20.55m for 4thA.
To bring close to the competition, the 4x100 squad raced round to 5th in 46.3, whilst the 4x400 team signed the team off with 3rd place with a time of 3.43.9